Authorship and acknowledgement

Read about our expectations of managing authorship of publications, including theses.

During the course of your thesis, your supervisors may provide advice about methodology, analysis and other academic matters, but not to an extent that it is unreasonable for you, the candidate, to claim sole authorship of the thesis. External examiners must be in no doubt that the work they are assessing is your own.

When theses are submitted for examination all candidates are asked to sign a statement that the below conditions have been satisfied.

Your thesis must:

• be your own work
• have been prepared specifically for the doctoral degree while under supervision at Victoria University of Wellington
• not duplicate work from a thesis, dissertation, or research paper that you have previously presented for another degree or diploma at this or any other university
• clearly reference and acknowledge the ideas and work of others, whether published or unpublished (plagiarism is prohibited)
• clearly acknowledge all assistance you have received in your research.

Read our information on academic integrity and the University's guidance on plagiarism.

Joint authorship

If you and your supervisor(s) wish to co-publish, you’ll need to agree in writing about issues concerning intellectual property and authorship.

Be aware of the academic conventions and University policy governing joint authorship, and discuss these with your supervisor(s). A template agreement is included as an appendix to the policy.