Dean's Provision No. 29/2010

Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences

Dean's Provision No. 29/2010

Title:

Rules for Filing, Submitting and Publishing of Final Theses
 

In effect from: September 29, 2010

For the implementation of Article 18a Para 1 of the Consolidated Study and Examination Code of Charles University (hereinafter the "CODE"), Article 6a Para 1 of the State Doctoral Examination Regulations (hereinafter "SDER") and Article 13 of Rector's Provision No. 6/2010  (hereinafter "RP 6/2010"), the following provision has been issued to complement and specify procedures pertaining to the announcement of topics, submission, filing and accessibility of final theses.

Article 1

Introductory provisions

1. Final theses comprise Bachelor's, Master's, State Doctoral and Dissertation theses, in accordance with § 45 Para 3, § 46 Para 3 and 5, § 47 Para 4 of the Higher Education Act of the Czech Republic. The thesis has a paper (printed) as well as an electronic version.

2. A student, or a participant of the State Doctoral examinations (hereinafter "the student") bears the responsibility for the submission of both paper and electronic forms of the thesis, the accuracy and completeness of the files entered in the Student Information System (hereinafter "SIS"), and their correspondence to the submitted paper form of the thesis; the Faculty bears the responsibility for the act of publishing the thesis.

3. From a time-frame perspective and in accordance with Article 4 of RP 6/2010, final theses are classified into 3 groups:

   1. "new theses", i.e. theses submitted for defence after September 29, 2010,

   2. "older theses", i.e. theses submitted for defence in the period between January 1, 2006 and September 28, 2010,

   3. "theses prior to 2006", i.e. theses submitted for defence before January 1, 2006.

Part I

Bachelor's, Master‘s and Dissertation theses

Article 2

Faculty coordinator, responsibilities and powers of the Faculty staff

1. In accordance with Article 12 Para 1 of RP 6/2010, the Dean has appointed a Faculty coordinator responsible for filing and publishing final theses; the Vice-Dean for Student Affairs holds the position of the coordinator.

2. The activities of the Faculty coordinator are stipulated in Article 12 Para 3 of RP 6/2010. The Faculty coordinator primarily:

   1. communicates with the designated contact person from the Charles University Computer Center (hereinafter "CUCC") about matters pertaining to the filing of final theses, in accordance with Article 12 Para 1 of RP 6/2010,

   2. provides regular updates to the Faculty management regarding the state of final theses,

   3. gathers suggestions and advice from individual Faculty workplaces and Faculty management regarding the filing and publishing of final theses, processes them and submits them to CUCC,

   4. coordinates the activities of the Faculty in the area of filing and publishing final theses in collaboration with CUCC, i.e. s/he provides Faculty staff with instructions for the fulfillment of tasks related to the filing and publishing of final theses in their electronic form, in accordance with Paras 3–5, especially as regards activities in accordance with Para 3 Letters e) and f), Para 4 Letters f) and g) and Para 5 Letter c), and furthermore s/he verifies the fulfillment of such tasks.

   The Faculty coordinator is not the contact person for students. Should any questions arise, students can contact their thesis advisor or the workplace which has announced the topic of the individual thesis.

3. The heads of the Faculty's departments (hereinafter "departments") primarily:

   1. announce the topics of theses,

   2. assign topics of theses to students,

   3. record the date on which the paper form of the thesis is submitted and review the formal requirements related to the submission of theses in accordance with Article 5 Para 3,

   4. review the record of the thesis and its finalization in SIS (i.e. confirm the completeness of the record for the purposes of publication),

   5. gather other essential materials (paper form of the thesis, electronic form of the thesis, evaluations of the thesis, etc.) to complete the records of "older theses" in SIS, unless these are already available in the Faculty library,

   6. assisting with efforts to identify those theses which have already been incorporated into the university repository or the library system and the records of which are to be entered in SIS.

   The head of each department will delegate one or more members of the department staff to fulfill these activities.

4. The heads of the Faculty library and the Masaryk Library of Social Sciences in Jinonice are primarily responsible for:

   1. storing the printed form of the thesis until it is incorporated into the university archive (one copy goes to the archive),

   2. securing accessibility of the printed form of the thesis, unless stipulated otherwise by law,

   3. instructing any person viewing the printed form of the thesis that information gained from it cannot be used commercially, nor claimed to be the result of the study, research or other creative pursuit of any other person than the writer,

   4. providing information about the cost of making extracts, transcripts or copies of the thesis and how these are to be secured in case the final thesis or its part is not available in written form,

   5. cataloguing the printed form of the thesis, or complementing the automatically generated bibliographic description with library data,

   6. completing the records of "older theses," including full-text files of the theses, in SIS,

   7. assisting with efforts to identify those theses which have already been incorporated into the university repository or the library system and the records of which are to be entered in SIS.

   The head of the Faculty library will delegate one or more members of the library staff to fulfill these activities.

5. The head of the Student Services Office is primarily responsible for:

   1. accurate and complete records of applications for thesis defence,

   2. the accuracy and completeness of the results of the thesis defence entered in SIS and in the student's documentation file; this concerns "new theses" as well as "older theses" (in the case of "new theses" a record of the course of the thesis defence is included),

   3. assisting with efforts to identify those students whose theses have already been incorporated into the university repository or the library system and the records of which are to be entered in SIS.

   The head of the Student Services Office may delegate one or more members of staff to fulfill these activities.

Article 3

Announcement of topics, assignment of theses

1. Individual departments, or staff designated by the heads of individual departments to perform such activities, announce the topics of theses via SIS. The student may also propose his/her own topic for their thesis and may address the teacher whom s/he wishes to have as an advisor. If agreement is reached between the advisor and the student, the advisor or a designated person will announce the new topic in SIS.

2. The student can register for a topic announced in SIS within the period stipulated by the Academic Calendar of the academic year. Registration will be performed electronically via SIS. The advisor will then confirm in SIS the assignment of a topic to a given student. Once confirmed, the assignment becomes binding. The student will prepare a project of the thesis on paper, including his or her identification data. The head of the department approves this project with his or her signature and archives it in its written form at the department. Any changes to the topic of the thesis are allowed solely upon the written request of the student, subject to review by the corresponding Vice-Dean of the Faculty.

3. Paras 1 and 2 also apply to Dissertation theses, except for the process by which student applications are approved. The approval of the proposed topic of the thesis, and its elaboration, by the corresponding Subject Area Board is a pre-requisite for the approval by the advisor.

4. Once the assignment of the thesis becomes binding, SIS allows the student to modify only some data related to the thesis. SIS enables the student to store his or her thesis, its attachments and abstracts in electronic form. 

Article 4

Further essentials, format, and submission of a "new thesis"

1. The thesis must fulfill all the criteria stipulated by the Consolidated Study and Examination Code of Charles University, the Faculty and the department which announced the topic. It must meet all the requirements of an academic text and be of an appropriate length in accordance with Para 4. Except in the case of Bachelor's theses, it must include an abstract in Czech as well as in English, or in the language in which the given study programme is offered.  Abstracts must be entered in SIS, together with an electronic version of the thesis. Furthermore, the thesis must contain the project of the thesis (placed at the beginning of the thesis), a summary of the conclusions of the thesis, and a list of the literature and any other sources used (including web pages).

2. The typographical layout of Bachelor's, Master's and State Doctoral theses must correspond to the template attached to this Provision. Any potential modifications to the standards can be stipulated in a special notice issued by the heads of individual institutes. The layout of Dissertation theses is stipulated by the corresponding Subject Area Board and its regulations.

3. The thesis must contain the following binding declarations:

   1. that the student himself/herself wrote the thesis,

   2. that all the sources and literature used have been properly cited,

   3. that the thesis has not been used to obtain a different or the same degree.

4. The length of the thesis is stipulated by the Rules for the Organization of Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University.

5. The student will submit his or her final thesis within the period stipulated by the Academic Calendar of the given academic year and in accordance to the planned date of the thesis defence, in two formats:

   1. The student will submit two copies in printed form to the department which assigned the given thesis. Prior to the submission of the thesis, the student will sign the declarations listed in Para 3.

   2. An electronic version of the thesis, identical to the printed version (unless its specifications make this impossible, see Article 3 of RP 6/2010), will be uploaded by the student in SIS, through the interface at https://is.cuni.cz/studium/ in the module "Thesis (Selection of subject)", solely in PDF format version 1.3 and higher. Should the thesis contain an attachment or attachments (e.g. multimedia formats or original software), the student will upload the attachment as well (attachments may be in a format other than PDF); should there be more than one attachment, the student will insert one compressed file (e.g. ZIP or TGZ formats) comprising all the attachments of the thesis. The size of the files stored in SIS system is limited to 850 MB. In the event that any individual file exceeds 850 MB, the student will submit those files that are under the allowed limit via SIS; s/he will then submit any files exceeding the size, together with the printed version of the thesis, on DVD. Different methods of submission are allowed upon agreement with the department.

6. The date of submission of the printed and electronic versions of the thesis is identical; conditions for the submission of the thesis are fulfilled once the student has submitted both versions of the thesis.

7. The student is responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the submitted electronic version of the thesis and its attachments, and for its correspondence  to the paper version (especially as regards its contents). Serious discrepancies in content between the electronic and paper forms of the thesis can lead to disciplinary proceedings.

8. Should the student discover, upon the submission of the electronic version of the thesis, that s/he needs to carry out any additional modifications in this version, s/he will address the head of the department or the chair of the Subject Area Board with a request to unlock the records of the thesis in SIS to enter any modifications. The act of unlocking the thesis is only possible up to the deadline stipulated by the Academic Calendar for the submission of theses for defence. Should any changes be necessary in SIS after this period (changes of descriptive attributes or of attached files submitted by students), the designated member of the Faculty staff can execute such changes upon the approval by the head of the department or the chair of the Subject Area Board.

9. Should the thesis contain data, which cannot be published on the internet, the student will extract the corresponding parts of the thesis into an attachment. In such cases the student will request the exclusion of the attachment from publication, when submitting the thesis in SIS. This request may also be submitted by the advisor, no later than the date of the thesis defence.

Article 5

Application for thesis defence

1. The deadline for submitting the application for thesis defence is stipulated by the Academic Calendar of the academic year.

2. The application for thesis defence must be submitted on the prescribed form; the student will submit the completed and signed application at his/her department (in case of Bachelor's and Master's theses) or at the Student Services Office of the Faculty (in case of State Doctoral and Dissertation theses).

3. For the application for thesis defence to be confirmed, the student is required to submit the thesis in both printed and electronic versions. The designated member of the department will record in SIS the date the printed version of the thesis was submitted. SIS automatically records the date the electronic version of the thesis was submitted. The designated member of the department will review all the other essentials of the submitted thesis in accordance with Article 4 and will enter the results of such a review in SIS.

Article 6

Thesis defence

1. The printed version of the submitted thesis will be available for viewing by the public at least five working days before the defence takes place and for five days afterwards. Everybody is allowed to make extracts, transcripts, or copies at their own expense. Bachelor's and Master's theses will be accessible at the corresponding department; the heads of the Faculty's institutes are delegated the task of ensuring Bachelor's and Master's theses are made accessible. The rules regarding such accessibility will be governed by a special notice issued by the head of the institute. The notice will stipulate the first and last names of the persons designated by individual workplaces at the institutes to perform this task, as well as the rooms where the theses will be available for viewing. Dissertation theses (PhD.) will be available during the office hours of the designated contact person for doctoral studies at the Student Services Office. State Doctoral theses (PhDr.) will be available during the office hours of the designated contact person for other forms of education at the Student Services Office.

2. The designated employee will keep a record of the identity of any individual who views the theses, or makes any extracts, transcripts or copies. A corresponding Dean's Provision governs the cost of making copies.

3. The thesis advisor and the opponents will familiarize themselves with the electronic version of the thesis found in SIS. The department will provide a printed version of the thesis to the advisor and the opponents. The printed version will be available during the defence of the thesis.

4. After thesis has been submitted, and no later than five working days prior to the date of the thesis defence, an electronic version of the evaluation of the advisor and the evaluations of the opponents will be added to the record of the thesis in SIS, so that the student can familiarize himself/herself with them. The advisor and the opponents will also submit signed and printed evaluations to the corresponding department to be inserted into the student's file. Under special circumstances, and with the agreement of the head of the department, the designated contact person at the department may enter the evaluations in SIS on behalf of the advisor or the opponents.

5. Once the defence has been completed, the designated contact person at the Student Services Office or at the department will update the record of the thesis in SIS with a record of the courses of the thesis defence.

Article 7

Review and public availability of the thesis

1. After the thesis has been defended, the author of the thesis will be given the opportunity to supplement the record of the thesis in SIS with a file containing errata (correction of typographical or other minor mistakes), within 15 days following the date of defence at the latest.

2. After the thesis has been defended, the designated contact person at the department will perform a review of the record of the thesis in SIS, including the attached files in accordance with Article 2 Para 3 Letter d), to check it is complete, and that it contains all the formal requirements to make possible the publication of its electronic version; this includes checking that the Czech and English titles of the thesis in its electronic version correspond to its paper version. The designated contact person will then confirm the record of the thesis for publication by the so-called finalization process, within 20 days following the defence at the latest.

3. The corresponding Vice-Dean of the Faculty will evaluate any requests to exclude some parts of the thesis from public view, in accordance with Article 4 Para 9. The designated contact person of the Student Services Office of the Faculty will enter the result of any such evaluation in SIS before the record of the thesis is finalized in accordance with Para 2.

4. Once the record of the thesis has been finalized and the period in accordance with Article 11 Para 1 of RP 6/2010 has expired (unless stipulated otherwise), the electronic version of the thesis will automatically be sent to the university repository for publication and the record of the thesis will be filed in the library system. The department will submit the printed version of the thesis to the Faculty library which will then make it available for public view via the subject database in accordance with Article 18a Para 6 of the CODE, or Article 6a Para 6 of SDER.

5. The exclusion of the whole thesis from publication is possible in those cases and through those procedures stipulated in Article 10 of RP 6/2010.

6. The advisor can submit a request in SIS to extend the period for the availability of the thesis in accordance with Article 11 Para 2 of RP 6/2010, on the day of the defence at the latest. The corresponding Vice-Dean of the Faculty evaluates the request to extend the period of the availability of the thesis. The designated contact person of the Student Services Office of the Faculty then enters the result of this evaluation in SIS before the record of the thesis is finalized in accordance with Para 2.

7. A review of the similarities between the text of the thesis and the database of earlier theses, maintained as part of the inter-university project Theses.cz, will be performed automatically upon the submission of the electronic version of the thesis, within one day of the submission of the thesis. The result of this review will be available in the record of the thesis in SIS, both to the student/author of the thesis, the thesis advisor, and the opponents.

Part II

State Doctoral theses
 

Article 8

Recognition of theses

In those cases, where a Master's or Dissertation thesis has been recognized as a State Doctoral thesis, the designated contact at the Student Services Office will make a record of the State Doctoral thesis, the study obligations, and the result of the defence in SIS (in this case, the date of the defence will also be considered to be the date of the recognition of the thesis). Furthermore, s/he will attach other corresponding files related to the thesis, but without the evaluations, which in such cases are not obligatory.

Article 9

Other doctoral theses

State Doctoral theses not covered by Article 8 will be governed by Part I of the present Provision.

Article 10

Final provisions

1. The process of completing the records in SIS of theses submitted for defence before this provision came into effect will proceed according to the following dates in accordance with Article 14 Para 8 of RP 6/2010:

   1. theses submitted in the period from January 1, 2010 to September 28, 2010 by September 30, 2011 at the latest,

   2. theses submitted in the period from January 1,2009 to December 31, 2009 by June 30, 2012 at the latest,

   3. The process of completing the records of "older theses" in SIS in accordance with Para 1 will be secured by the staff of the Faculty library in cooperation with the designated contact persons of the corresponding departments. If necessary, the Faculty coordinator and the designated contact persons of the departments may address the persons linked to individual theses (especially the advisors and the opponents) to obtain any data or documents relevant to the thesis that are missing.

2. This Provision annuls Dean's Provision No. 1/2008 regarding the Format and Submission of Qualification Theses, Dean's Directive No. 27/2007 regarding the Format and Submission of Qualification Theses, Dean's Provision no. 28/2007 (Rules for Filing and Storing Printed and Electronic University Qualification Theses for Designated Employees of UK FSV) and Dean's Directive No. 3/2006 (Public Access to Bachelor's and Master's Diploma Theses, Doctoral Dissertation and State Doctoral Theses).

3. This provision comes into effect on September 29, 2010.

PhDr. Jakub Končelík, Ph.D.

Dean of the Faculty

Download the complete text of Dean's Provision No. 29/2010 in .doc format.

Download the user manual for the  Thesis (Selection of subject) module in SIS

Download the Master Thesis Template