Preparing to Submit the Thesis
Application for the Degree
Oral Final Examination – Signature Page
Online Submission of the Thesis
ETDs @ ProQuest
ORCID
Harvard Author Agreement
Redaction
Embargoes
Surveys
Open Access
After Submission
Bound Thesis Fee
Additional Bound Copies
Copyright and Publishing Considerations
Understanding Your Copyright and Fair Use
Copyright Registration
Acknowledging the Work of Others
Use of Copyrighted Material
Steps for Using Published and To-Be Published Work
Text
Margins
Pagination
Title
Title Page
Abstract
Body of Thesis
Figures and Tables
Footnotes
Bibliography
Supplemental Material
INTRODUCTION
All DrPH degree candidates at the Harvard Chan School are required to successfully complete and submit a thesis to qualify for degree conferral. This website provides information on the requirements for how to format your thesis, how to submit your thesis, and how your thesis will be distributed. Please follow the submission and formatting guidelines provided here.
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PREPARING TO SUBMIT THE THESIS
The electronic submission of your thesis and the original Signature Page are due on the dates specified on the Harvard Chan School’s Academic Calendar Summary for each degree awarding period (November, March, and May). These items must be submitted using the ETDs @ ProQuest tool in order for the degree to be voted. No exceptions will be made to this rule.
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Application for the Degree
There are three degree granting periods: November, March, and May. To apply for graduation, students must complete the Application for Degree on the my.Harvard portal by the deadline posted on the Harvard Chan School’s Academic Calendar.
Deadline extensions are not possible. Students who miss the deadline must apply for the subsequent degree conferral date (November, March, or May). The student is responsible for meeting submission deadlines.
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Oral Final Examination — Signature Page
All Doctoral Committee members are required to sign the Signature Page at the time of the Doctoral Final Oral Examination indicating their final approval of the thesis.
A scanned copy of the Signature Page should appear before the title page of the PDF online submission of the thesis; no page number should be assigned to the Signature Page. The title on the Signature Page must read exactly as it does on the title page of the thesis. The Signature Page will be included in all copies of the thesis.
Click here for instructions on how to merge the Signature Page into the thesis PDF.
The Signature Page for DrPH students must be formatted as follows:
This Doctoral Thesis, [Title of Doctoral Project], presented by [Student’s Name],
and Submitted to the Faculty of The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Public
Health, has been read and approved by:
______________________________________
(typed name below line – signature above)
________________________________________
(typed name below the line – signature above)
________________________________________
(typed name below the line – signature above)
Date: [Doctoral Project Official Approval Date (month day, year)]
ONLINE SUBMISSION OF THE THESIS
ETDs @ ProQuest
All DrPH candidates are required to submit a digital copy of the thesis to the Registrar’s Office as a PDF file via ETDs @ ProQuest by the deadline established for each degree conferral date. Theses must be submitted in their final format, as described in the section Formatting Guidelines. Students must check their formatting carefully before submitting. Formatting errors will prevent the students’ theses from being accepted and approved.
The online-submission tool can be found at: http://www.etdadmin.com/hsph.harvard
A how-to video for submitting a thesis via ETDs is available on the Countway Library website.
ORCID
ETDs @ ProQuest supports ORCIDs. ORCIDs are persistent digital identifiers that link you to your professional activity. You may register for an ORCID either before or during submission if you do not yet have one. To do so, you may go here.
The Harvard Library ORCID page provides information about the value of having an ORCID iD and how Harvard plans to use ORCID data. Additionally, please visit the Harvard ORCID Connect site to connect your existing ORCID iD to Harvard University.
Harvard Author Agreement
When submitting work through ETDs @ ProQuest, you will be consenting to the Harvard Author Agreement, which grants the University a non-exclusive license to preserve, reproduce, and display the work. This license, which is the same the Harvard Chan School faculty use under the School’s Open Access Policy, does not constrain your rights to publish your work subsequently.
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Redaction
Very few theses require redaction, which is the process of obscuring or removing sensitive information for distribution. ETDs @ ProQuest does support redacted versioning for these very rare cases where there is sensitive or potentially harmful material in the thesis (e.g., commercially sensitive information, sensitive personal data, risk of harmful retribution, etc.).
If your work is one such rare instance, then you may select the “I think I need to submit a redacted version of my thesis” on the file upload screen. You will then be prompted to contact the Office for Scholarly Communication, which will help you with your request.
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Embargoes
To forestall any potential challenges that a student may face in the publication process (e.g., if the candidate has a publication pending with a publisher or has previously published some of the content in the thesis and there is a publisher’s embargo that must be honored), the Harvard Chan School has instituted a default one-year embargo for submissions through ETDs @ ProQuest. The embargo starts on the date of the thesis submission deadline. With an embargo, the full text of the thesis will be unavailable for view or download for a limited period of time. The citation and abstract for the work, however, will be publicly available.
If a student would like to make her/his work available immediately by opting out of the embargo process, she/he may do so by selecting the No Embargo option during the submission process.
If, due to extenuating circumstances, a student is required to embargo part or all of their work beyond one year, she/he must request an extension during the submission process. An extension can be requested for up to two years. This request is subject to the approval of the student’s department chair(s) and the University Librarian.
Any embargo applied to the DASH version of the thesis will be applied to the Countway Library and Harvard Chan School department versions of the work.
Students do not need to take any action to remove an embargo. The embargo will automatically be lifted in DASH at the end of the selected and approved period. If a student would like to change the duration of his/her embargo request, then please contact the Registrar’s Office at registrar@hsph.harvard.edu or 617-432-1032.
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Surveys
The School of Public Health is asked to participate in the Survey of Earned Doctorates. This is an annual census of research doctorate recipients in the United States. Data collected from these surveys are used to make federal policy decisions regarding graduate education.
Students are required to complete the Survey of Earned Doctorates upon submission of their thesis. A Certificate of Completion will be sent to you, as well as to the Registrar’s Office.
Please click here to complete your survey.
Open Access
For information on open access, we recommend the Office of Scholarly Communication’s (OSC) Director Peter Suber’s brief introduction. He has also written about providing open access to theses. The OSC has produced several videos of Harvard faculty and students discussing open access. Two may be of particular interest: the first features Professors Gary King and Stuart Shieber, and the second features a recent Harvard graduate, Ben Finio.
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After Submission
Once you have applied for your degree and submitted your thesis online, it is checked for compliance by the Registrar’s Office and, if accepted, is piped to the following downstream systems:
- DASH: Your work will be sent to DASH (Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard), Harvard’s open access repository. Search engines index DASH, which means your work will be more discoverable and more frequently cited. You will be making DASH access decisions for your work at the point of submission. This will be the access copy of the thesis.
- HOLLIS: The metadata about your work will be sent to HOLLIS. This will make your work discoverable through the Harvard Library catalog.
- DRS2: Your work will be stored in Harvard Library’s digital preservation repository, DRS2. This will be the preservation copy of the thesis.
By default, theses will be made available through DASH one year after students submit their theses via ETDs @ Harvard for degree completion (see Embargoes). DASH is operated by Harvard Library’s Office for Scholarly Communication and is the University’s central service for openly distributing Harvard’s scholarly output.
Note that any embargo applied to the DASH version of the thesis will be applied to the Countway Library and department versions of the work.
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Bound Thesis Fee
Currently we are not receiving bound thesis copies. Doctoral students will not be charged bound thesis fees.
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Additional Bound Copies
Students may secure extra copies of their work for their own purposes. These additional copies may be purchased through Acme Bookbinding. or through ETDs @ ProQuest.
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COPYRIGHT AND PUBLISHING CONSIDERATIONS
Understanding Your Copyright and Fair Use
The Office for Scholarly Communication has created copyright-related resources for your reference.
The first addresses your copyrights and identifies some considerations when publishing (see “Planning to publish?”). It is important that you envision any future use you may like to make of your work. Any publishing contract you sign can affect your potential future uses, such as use in teaching, posting your work online on either a personal or departmental website, or any potential future publication. Before you sign a publication agreement, you can negotiate with a publisher to secure licensing terms that best suit your needs. It is important that you read any contract you sign and keep a copy for your own records.
The second resource discusses fair use (see “Fair use”), what it is, the laws that have determined its shape over time, and tips for ensuring that use of third-party material (including quotes, images, music, film, etc.) in your thesis is fair.
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Copyright Registration
Your work is copyrighted as soon as it is fixed in a tangible form. You are not required to register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office to enjoy protection of your work. However, if you choose to do so, you may register your work with the Copyright Office online.
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Acknowledging the Work of Others
Students are responsible for acknowledging any facts, ideas, or materials of others used in their own work. Students should refer to the statement on Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism in the Harvard Chan School’s Student Handbook.
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Use of Copyrighted Material
A thesis is a scholarly work, and as such use of third party material is often essential. Fair use applies to the reproduction of any third party material, including your own previously published work, that you may use in your thesis.
If you have questions about copyright and fair use, please contact the Office for Scholarly Communication.
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Steps for Using Published and To-Be Published Work
When submitting an article for publication that you intend to use in your thesis, you should secure permission to do so (along with permission to reuse your own work as you would like) from your publisher in your publishing agreement. If the default contract does not let you retain these rights already, then you should use an author addendum to secure these rights (see “Planning to publish?”).
You may use your own previously published material as part of your thesis with the permission of the publisher. Again, refer to your publication agreement for details. If your contract does not specify these rights, then contact the publisher to negotiate this use.
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FORMATTING GUIDELINES
The following are instructions on how to format your thesis. If, after reading the instructions here, you have additional questions about the requirements, please contact the Registrar’s Office at (617) 432-1032; registrar@hsph.harvard.edu.
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Text
All text should be double-spaced on one side of the page with footnotes single-spaced. The font size should be at least 10 point, but no larger than 12 point. The font and font size should be consistent throughout. All text should be black.
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Margins
The margins of the thesis must be 1 inch on all sides.
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Pagination
Students’ theses must follow the pagination guidelines as illustrated below. It is customary not to have a page number on the page containing a chapter/paper heading. Drawings, charts, graphs, and photographs should be referred to as figures and should be numbered consecutively within the text of the thesis with Arabic numerals. Each figure should carry a suitable caption; e.g., Fig. 42. Arrangement of Experimental Equipment. Check pagination carefully and account for all pages.
| Page | Number Type | Count | Included in Table of Contents? |
| Signature Page | Not Paginated | Does Not Count Towards Page Numbers | No |
| Blank Page | Not Paginated | Does Not Count Towards Page Numbers | No |
| Title Page | Not Paginated | Counts Towards Page Numbers | No |
| Abstract | Roman Numeral (lower case) | Counts and should start with ii | Yes |
| Table of Contents | Roman Numeral (lower case) | e.g., iii… | No |
| List of Figures with Captions | Roman Numeral (lower case) | e.g., iv… | Yes |
| List of Tables with Captions | Roman Numeral (lower case) | e.g., v… | Yes |
| Acknowledgments | Roman Numeral (lower case) | e.g., vi… | Yes |
| Body of Thesis | Arabic | e.g., 1,2,3… | Yes |
| Appendixes, Bibliography, Supplemental Materials, Index | Arabic | e.g., 4,5,6… | Yes |
All page numbers should be consecutive and centered at either the bottom or top of the page.
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Title
The title of the thesis should be brief and should indicate the general subject treated. Nine words are usually sufficient to describe the investigation. Students are strongly encouraged to embed keywords into their title, so that the title will be retrievable on computerized listings.
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Title Page
The title page must contain the following information, well-spaced and centered on the page:
For DrPH Students:
TITLE OF DOCTORAL THESIS
STUDENT’S NAME
A Doctoral Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of
The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Doctor of Public Health
Harvard University
Boston, Massachusetts.
Date
(the month in which degree will be awarded, year of graduation (e.g., May 2021)
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Abstract
The abstract should not exceed 350 words. It should immediately follow the Title Page, and should state the problem, describe the methods and procedures used, and give the main results or conclusions of the research. The abstract should be double-spaced. The author’s name and the title of the thesis, as well as the name of the thesis advisor, should be included on the abstract page. The author’s name should be right justified, the title of the thesis centered, and “Thesis Advisor: Dr. ____________” should be left-justified at the top of the abstract page.
Thesis Advisor: Dr. [Advisor’s name] [Author’s name]
[Title of thesis]
Abstract
The text of the abstract, not to exceed 350 words, should be double-spaced. The first line of each paragraph is indented. Full justification of the text is not recommended.
ii
Students will also be required to submit a text version of the abstract via the online-submission tool.
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Body of Thesis
The thesis should consist of manuscripts suitable for publication in a scientific medium appropriate to the candidate’s field and/or approved reprints of the published work(s) (see Steps for Using Published and To-Be Published Work and Use of Copyrighted Material).
Technical appendices should be added where necessary to demonstrate full development of the thesis material. Papers published under joint authorship are acceptable provided the candidate has contributed a major part to the investigation. The degree candidate is expected to be senior author on at least one of the papers. In the case of manuscripts published under joint authorship, the co-authors or the advisor may be consulted by the readers or the CAD to clarify the nature and extent of the candidate’s contribution. In addition to evaluating the quality and significance of the work, those responsible for accepting the thesis [the Department(s) and Doctoral Project Committee] may determine whether the format is suitable for publication in a scientific medium appropriate to the degree candidate’s field(s).
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Figures and Tables
Figures and tables must be placed as close as possible to their first mention in the text. They may be placed on a page with no text above or below, or they may be placed directly in the text. If a figure or table is alone on a page with no narrative, it should be centered within the margins of the page.
Figures and tables referred to in the text may not be placed at the end of the chapter or at the end of the thesis. Figure and table numbering must be either continuous throughout the thesis or by paper (e.g., 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2). For example, there cannot be two figures designated in a thesis as “Figure 5.”
Headings of tables should be placed at the top of the table. While there are no specific rules for the format of table headings and figure captions, a consistent format must be used throughout the thesis. (See Citation and Style Guides)
Captions of figures should be placed at the bottom of the figure. If the figure takes up the entire page, the figure caption should be placed alone on the preceding page and centered vertically and horizontally within the margins. Each page receives a separate page number. When a figure or table title is on a preceding page, the second and subsequent pages of the figure or table should say, for example, “Figure 5 (Continued).” In such an instance, the list of figures or tables will list the page number containing the title. The word “Figure” should be written in full (not abbreviated), and the “F” should be capitalized (e.g., Figure 5). In instances where the caption continues on a second page, the “(Continued)” notation should appear on the second and any subsequent page. The figure/table and the caption are viewed as one entity and the numbering should show correlation between all pages. Each page must include a header.
Horizontal figures and tables must be positioned correctly and bound at the top, so that the top of the figure or table will be at the left margin (leave a 1 inch margin on the long edge of the paper above the top of the table).
Figure and table headings/captions are placed with the same orientation as the figure or table when on the same page. When on a separate page, headings/captions are always placed in vertical orientation, regardless of the orientation of the figure or table. Page numbers are always placed as if the figure were vertical on the page.
Figures created with software are acceptable if the figures are clear and legible. Legends and titles created by the same process as the figures will be accepted if they too are clear, legible, and run at least 10 or 12 characters per inch. Otherwise, legends and captions should be printed with the same font used in the text.
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Footnotes
Footnotes are reserved for substantive additions to the text and should be indicated by an asterisk in the text. Extensive use of footnotes is not encouraged. The footnote should be placed at the bottom of the page. A horizontal line of at least two inches should be typed above the first footnote on any page. Footnotes should be placed so that at least one inch is left at the bottom of the page. Use single-spacing within footnotes.
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Bibliography
To document the sources of information, a bibliography must be included at the end of the papers or thesis. References may be numbered or listed alphabetically. If references in the bibliography are numbered, then corresponding in-text references should be indicated by listing the number in parentheses after the name of the author.
Bibliographic Example:
23. Gibbs, C.S.: Filterable virus carriers. J. Bact., 23, 1932, 113.
In-Text Example:
“. . . as Gibbs (23) has stated.”
The initial number should be omitted if references are listed alphabetically.
Within any bibliographic section there should be consistency and adherence to an acceptable journal style for a bibliography. Each reference in the bibliography must contain the name of the author, title of the paper, name of publication, volume, date, and first page.
More than one publication by the same author in the same year should be indicated both in the bibliography and in the text by the use of underlined letters, etc., after the date of publication. The standard system of abbreviation used by the Quarterly Cumulative Index should be followed for the abbreviations of journal titles.
If students’ individual papers have different bibliographic styles, then it is not necessary to change the bibliographic style of one to match the other. Consistency within each bibliographic section is the most important element.
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Supplemental Material
Supplemental figures and tables must be placed at the end of each chapter/paper in an appendix. If additional digital information (including text, audio, video, image, or datasets) will accompany the main body of the thesis, then it should be uploaded as supplemental material via the ETDs @ Harvard online submission tool.
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- The Chicago Manual of Style. 16th ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
- Crews, Kenneth D. Copyright Law and the Doctoral Dissertation. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest, 2000.
- Day, Robert A. and Barbara Gastel. How to Write & Publish a Scientific Paper. 6th ed. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2006.
- MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Modern Language Association of America, 2008.
Strunk, William. The Elements of Style. 4th ed. New York, NY: Penguin Press, 2005. - Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 6th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2010.
- Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. Chicago
- Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing. 7th ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
THESIS SUBMISSION CHECKLIST
☐ Is the Signature Page unnumbered and positioned as the first page of the PDF file?
☐ Is there a blank page after the Signature Page?
☐ Does the body of the thesis begin with Page 1?
☐ Is the pagination continuous? Are all pages included?
☐ Is every page of the thesis correctly numbered?
☐ Is the placement of page numbers centered throughout the manuscript?
☐ Is the Title Page formatted correctly?
☐ Is the author’s name, in full, on the Title Page of the thesis and the abstract?
☐ Does the author’s name read the same on both and does it match the Signature Page?
☐ Is the abstract included after the Title Page?
☐ Does the abstract include the title of the thesis, the author’s name, and the thesis advisor(s)’ name?
☐ Is the title on the abstract the same as that on the title page?
☐ Are the margins 1” on all sides?
☐ Is the font size 10-12 point?
☐ Are all charts, graphs, and other illustrative materials perfectly legible?
☐ Do lengthy figures and tables include the “(Continued)” notation?
☐ Has all formatting been checked?
☐ Is the Survey of Earned Doctorates completed?
☐ Has the Survey of Earned Doctorates’ confirmation email or certificate been uploaded to ETDs @ Harvard?
