Written Document Format Options
Option 1: Students have the option of writing a traditional dissertation. The written dissertation should conform to the guidelines detailed in the Levy Library PhD instructions.
Option 2: Students who wish to use published manuscripts in their dissertation must comply with the following standards regarding inclusion of their published work:
When a student is first (or co-first) author on a publication he/she/they can include the entire manuscript as a dissertation chapter. There is no need to rewrite it.
The manuscript must be converted into the proper thesis format; typeset pdfs cannot be included in the dissertation.
Students must obtain copyright permission from the journal if necessary and follow all journal rules regarding inclusion in a dissertation.
When the work represents collaborative research, each chapter should include a page of attributions where the contributions of others are explicitly stated.
If a student is a middle author on a published manuscript, the dissertation cannot include the text of the full manuscript. Instead, the student should write a new description of the work that includes only his/her/their data.
A paper that has been submitted, but not yet accepted, can also be used as long as the above guidelines are followed. In addition, the following text should be added to the acknowledgements section of the manuscript: “The data in this paper were used in a dissertation as partial fulfillment of the requirements for a PhD degree at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Mount Sinai."
Either option must involve a substantive piece of original and independent research grounded in an appropriate body of literature and theory.The thesis must contain a Statement of Authorship page which is available on the Graduate School forms website.
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