1. General requirements for doctoral theses consisting of several smaller works
Section 10.1 of the Regulations for the PhD degree at the University of Oslo states:
"The thesis shall be an independent, scientific work that fulfils international standards with regard to ethical requirements, academic standards and methodology.
The thesis shall contribute to the development of new scientific knowledge and must be of sufficiently high quality to merit publication as part of the scientific literature in the field.
The thesis can be a monograph or a compilation of several shorter papers. If the thesis is a compilation of several shorter papers, the relationship between them should be clearly explained.
One thesis may be submitted for evaluation by several candidates provided that their individual contributions can be identified."
The level of a dissertation is the same whether it is a monograph or consists of several smaller works (hereafter referred to as articles). The articles must have a level that is required for publication in recognized professional journals with peer review.
Requirements and guiding standards for the summary (the explanation of the context in the thesis) are specified below.
2. Scope of the articles
Requirements for the scope of the thesis must not be higher than that which makes it possible to deliver the thesis and complete the educational component with a research effort equivalent to three years' full-time work.
3. Co-authorship
In the case of co-authorship, the candidate's independent efforts are identified and documented through declaration(s) from co-authors that clarify the extent of co-authorship in the individual works.
The candidate must be the sole author of the summary.
The supervisor's function as a participant and contributor to the research project must determine the supervisor's role as possible co-author in articles that are part of the candidate's thesis. If co-authorship with a supervisor is applicable, this should be clarified with the candidate at the earliest possible time.
4. The summary
The summary in the thesis should not only summarize, but also compile the issues and conclusions presented in the articles in an overall perspective, and in that way document the coherence of the thesis. This also contains a summary of the dissertation's contribution to the research field.
If the thesis contains previously published articles, the summary must also contain professional updates, so that the thesis as a whole appears professionally up-to-date. Alternatively, such updates are made in each article.