A doctoral thesis which, instead of a single scientific monograph, consists of a thematically coherent set of published scientific articles accompanied by an introduction and a summary is referred to as a publication-based doctoral thesis (so-called "thesis by publication" or "stapler thesis").
The articles included in such a thesis must not infringe any copyright. Doctoral candidates are obliged to ensure that the articles included in the dissertation meet the required accessibility conditions, as the full text of the doctoral thesis, pursuant to the Act of July 20, 2018, The Law on Higher Education and Science (Journal of Laws 2018, item 1668 with amendments, Article 188), must be made available online in the Public Information Bulletin no later than 30 days before the scheduled defence date.
The best solution is to include in the doctoral thesis only works published under Creative Commons licences. If an article has been published under any Creative Commons licence, it may be included in the thesis; however, it must contain full bibliographic information, including the DOI number (if available), as well as a clear licence designation.
If the doctoral thesis is planned to include a publication that is not open access (i.e. the author has transferred their economic copyrights), the rules specified by the copyright holder — the publisher or editorial office — must be strictly followed. In the absence of clear information from the publisher, or in case of any doubt regarding the possibility of including the article in the doctoral thesis, direct permission must be obtained. Such permission may be obtained by email from the publisher or, where available, via the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink® service.
When applying for permission, the following requirements should be clearly indicated:
- non-commercial use
- print and electronic versions
- publication on the website of the doctoral entity
- international scope
You can also check publishers’ policies on making publications available in institutional repositories and on employers’ websites. Publishers usually grant permission for articles to be published in the postprint version (accepted manuscript) in these locations after the embargo period has expired.
Below are guidelines from selected publishers. The information has been prepared based on statements published on the publishers’ websites and, unless stated otherwise, is valid as of May 2026.
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation:
No
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation available online [BIP/institutional repository]:
Yes
Direct e-mail address for publisher permission:
copyright@acs.org
The publisher's use of the Copyright Clearance Center's RightsLink® service (or an equivalent service) for request permissions:
Yes
Additional terms and conditions:
Appropriate citation of the article must be made as follows: "Reprinted with permission from [COMPLETE REFERENCE CITATION]. Copyright [YEAR] American Chemical Society."
Source of information:
https://pubs.acs.org/page/copyright/permissions_journals.html
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation:
No
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation available online [BIP/institutional repository]:
No information
Direct e-mail address for publisher permission:
rights@aip.org
The publisher's use of the Copyright Clearance Center's RightsLink® service (or an equivalent service) for request permissions:
Yes
Additional terms and conditions:
Appropriate citation of the article must be made as follows: "Reproduced from [FULL CITATION], with the permission of AIP Publishing."
Source of information:
https://publishing.aip.org/resources/researchers/rights-and-permissions/permissions/
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation:
No
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation available online [BIP/institutional repository]:
No information
Direct e-mail address for publisher permission:
customercare@aps.org
The publisher's use of the Copyright Clearance Center's RightsLink® service (or an equivalent service) for request permissions:
Yes
Additional terms and conditions:
Must provide the bibliographic citation and the APS copyright credit line.
Source of information:
https://journals.aps.org/copyrightFAQ.html
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation:
Yes
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation available online [BIP/institutional repository]:
Yes
Direct e-mail address for publisher permission:
permissions@asme.org
The publisher's use of the Copyright Clearance Center's RightsLink® service (or an equivalent service) for request permissions:
Yes [Copyright Clearance Center - Marketplace]
Additional terms and conditions:
No
Source of information:
https://www.asme.org/publications-submissions/journals/information-for-authors/journal-guidelines/rights-and-permissions
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation:
Yes
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation available online [BIP/institutional repository]:
Yes
Direct e-mail address for publisher permission:
openaccess@cambridge.org
The publisher's use of the Copyright Clearance Center's RightsLink® service (or an equivalent service) for request permissions:
Yes
Additional terms and conditions:
No
Source of information:
https://www.cambridge.org/about-us/rights-permissions/permissions/
https://www.cambridge.org/rights/permissions/authors.htm
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation:
No
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation available online [BIP/institutional repository]:
No
Direct e-mail address for publisher permission:
Online form: https://service.elsevier.com/app/contact/supporthub/permissions-helpdesk/
The publisher's use of the Copyright Clearance Center's RightsLink® service (or an equivalent service) for request permissions:
Yes
Additional terms and conditions:
No
Source of information:
https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies/copyright/permissions
https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies/sharing
https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies-and-standards/copyright#1-comparing-reuse-rights
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation:
No
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation available online [BIP/institutional repository]:
No
Direct e-mail address for publisher permission:
permissions@emerald.com
The publisher's use of the Copyright Clearance Center's RightsLink® service (or an equivalent service) for request permissions:
Yes
Additional terms and conditions:
The Version of Record (publisher PDF) may be included in the print version of dissertation. In an electronic deposit must be the submitted version under review (SMUR) or author accepted manuscript (AAM) version.
Source of information:
https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/publish-with-us/author-policies/author-rights
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation:
No
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation available online [BIP/institutional repository]:
No
Direct e-mail address for publisher permission:
pubs-permissions@ieee.org
The publisher's use of the Copyright Clearance Center's RightsLink® service (or an equivalent service) for request permissions:
Yes
Additional terms and conditions:
Include the following copyright notice in the references: "© [year of original publication] IEEE. Reprinted, with permission, from [author names, paper title, IEEE publication title, and month/year of publication]".
When posting your thesis on your university website, include the following message: "In reference to IEEE copyrighted material which is used with permission in this thesis, the IEEE does not endorse any of [name of university or educational entity]’s products or services. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. If interested in reprinting/republishing IEEE copyrighted material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution, please go to website to learn how to obtain a License from RightsLink. If applicable, University Microfilms and/or ProQuest Library, or the Archives of Canada may supply single copies of the dissertation."
In dissertation must be included an author accepted manuscript (AAM) version.
Source of information:
https://www.ieee.org/content/dam/ieee-org/ieee/web/org/pubs/permissions_faq.pdf
https://journals.ieeeauthorcenter.ieee.org/choose-a-publishing-agreement/avoid-infringement-upon-ieee-copyright/
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation:
No
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation available online [BIP/institutional repository]:
Yes
Direct e-mail address for publisher permission:
copyright@iop.org
The publisher's use of the Copyright Clearance Center's RightsLink® service (or an equivalent service) for request permissions:
Yes [Copyright Clearance Center - Marketplace]
Additional terms and conditions:
Include citation details and copyright notice: "© IOP Publishing. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved."
The only restriction is that if you want to share your thesis/dissertation online, permission to include the Final Published Version of the article within the online version of your thesis/dissertation will need to be sought from IOP. Alternatively, you may choose to replace the article in the online version of your thesis/dissertation with either a Preprint or the Accepted Manuscript version (after 12-month embargo period), provided you comply with IOP sharing policy.
Source of information:
https://publishingsupport.iopscience.iop.org/permissionsfaq/
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation:
No
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation available online [BIP/institutional repository]:
No
Direct e-mail address for publisher permission:
copyright@optica.org
The publisher's use of the Copyright Clearance Center's RightsLink® service (or an equivalent service) for request permissions:
No
Additional terms and conditions:
Posting by authors on an open institutional repository or funder repository - Accepted Manuscript (AM) after 12 month embargo.
Must include a working hyperlink to the online abstract in the journal and copyright notice: "© XXXX [year] Optica Publishing Group. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modifications of the content of this paper are prohibited."
Source of information:
https://opg.optica.org/submit/review/copyright_permissions.cfm
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation:
No
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation available online [BIP/institutional repository]:
Yes
Direct e-mail address for publisher permission:
contracts-copyright@rsc.org
The publisher's use of the Copyright Clearance Center's RightsLink® service (or an equivalent service) for request permissions:
Yes [Copyright Clearance Center - Marketplace]
Additional terms and conditions:
Appropriate citation of the article must be made as follows: "Reproduced from Ref. XX with permission from the Royal Society of Chemistry."
Source of information:
https://www.rsc.org/publishing/journals/processes-and-policies/licences-copyright-and-permissions
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation:
No
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation available online [BIP/institutional repository]:
No
Direct e-mail address for publisher permission:
reprint_permission@spie.org
The publisher's use of the Copyright Clearance Center's RightsLink® service (or an equivalent service) for request permissions:
No
Additional terms and conditions:
Publisher grants to authors the right to post an author-prepared version or an official version (preferred).
Must include a copyright notice: "Copyright XXXX (year) Society of Photo Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this publication for a fee or for commercial purposes, and modification of the contents of the publication are prohibited."
Appropriate citation of the article must be made as follows:
a) journal article
Author(s), "Article Title", Journal Title and Volume Number (Issue), Article Number (Publication Date). http://dx.doi.org/DOI
b) proceedings paper, poster, or presentation recording
Author(s), "Paper, Poster, or Presentation Title", Proc. SPIE Volume Number, Volume Title, Paper Number (Publication Date). http://dx.doi.org/DOI
Source of information:
https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/article-sharing-policies?
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation:
No
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation available online [BIP/institutional repository]:
No
Direct e-mail address for publisher permission:
journalpermissions@springernature.com
The publisher's use of the Copyright Clearance Center's RightsLink® service (or an equivalent service) for request permissions:
Yes
Additional terms and conditions:
Appropriate citation of the article must be made as follows: Material from: "AUTHOR, TITLE, JOURNAL TITLE, published [YEAR], [publisher - as it appears on our copyright page]."
"Reproduced with permission from Springer Nature."
Source of information:
https://www.springernature.com/gp/partners/rights-permissions-third-party-distribution/author-faqs/27836660
https://www.nature.com/nature-portfolio/reprints-and-permissions/permissions-requests
https://www.springernature.com/gp/partners/rights-permissions-third-party-distribution
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation:
Yes
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation available online [BIP/institutional repository]:
Yes
Direct e-mail address for publisher permission:
permissions@taylorandfrancis.com
The publisher's use of the Copyright Clearance Center's RightsLink® service (or an equivalent service) for request permissions:
Yes
Additional terms and conditions:
No
Source of information:
https://s100.copyright.com/help/rightslinkhelppages/Frequently_Asked_Questions_tandf.htm#Type_of_Use
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation:
No
The publisher permission is required to include article in the doctoral dissertation available online [BIP/institutional repository]:
Yes
Direct e-mail address for publisher permission:
PermissionsUK@wiley.com
The publisher's use of the Copyright Clearance Center's RightsLink® service (or an equivalent service) for request permissions:
Yes
Additional terms and conditions:
No
Source of information:
https://www.wiley.com/en-us/solutions-partnerships/permissions/general-queries/
https://authorservices.wiley.com/asset/Article_Sharing_Guidelines.pdf