• Doctoral, PhD and post-doctoral regulations
• Grundsatzordnungen (in German)
• Grundordnung BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg (GO BTU) (in German)

The doctoral regulations of all faculties allow the following publishing options:

1) Hard copy (copy shop, self-publishing)

• Submission of the number of printed copies required by the doctoral regulations of your faculty
• To avoid mistakes, feel free to contact the Thesis Department for a quick formal check of your file prior to printing

2) Publication by a publishing house

• Submission of the number of publisher's copies required by the doctoral regulations of your faculty
• Publisher's confirmation letter about the minimum edition run of 150 copies (or print-on-demand)

• Indication of the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg as the dissertation location in the publisher's imprint in the following form:

Zugl.: Diss., BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg, [year of oral examination]

or in case the title has been changed by the publisher:

Zugl.: Diss., BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg, [year of oral examination], u. d. T.: [original title]

3) Electronic publication

• Upload of the requested metadata to the Digital Repository (OPUS)
• Receipt of a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) for your e-publication per e-mail
• Submission of your file in PDF/A-1b or -2b format
  Attention: Please make sure your file fulfils all formal and technical requirements: Guidelines for PDF/A finalization
• For file conversion and format validation, the BTU PDF/A converter is freely available to all BTU members
• Submission of printed copies (identical to the PDF version)
• Submission of the completed Declaration of consent singed per hand or with a digital signature
• For a step-by-step overview, see the  Checklist for e-theses

Most faculties of the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg enable the fulfillment of the publication obligation by publishing cumulative (publication-based) theses. Please note that the criteria catalogs of the individual faculties differ from each other and inform yourself accordingly in your faculty.

Generally applicable requirements are anchored in §9 (3) of the Framework Regulations for Doctoral Studies (AMbl. 36/2017, in German). There you will learn, among other prerequisites, that a cumulative dissertation in its entirety is subject to the same requirements in terms of independence, originality and quality as a monograph and that an exclusively additive compilation of the publications does not meet these requirements.

In order to publish a cumulative thesis, legal conditions must be clarified in advance. Therefore, when concluding an author contract with a publisher, attention must be paid to the specific rights of use. The conditions under which an already published or submitted contribution may be re-published (e.g. article version, license, phrase integration in the reference, embargo period) can be found in the respective author contract. A general overview can be found on the website Publishers’ theses policies by the University Library of the TU Berlin or with the Open policy finder. When in doubt, please contact the responsible person at the publishing house. The consent of all co-authors must also be obtained for the secondary publication. If the first publication was published under a free-distribution license (e.g. Creative Commons), clarifying the legal situation will be significantly simplified.

The cumulative thesis should include an overview of all secondary publications with the complete reference including the DOI and the licence information of the first publication. If you have not integrated the publisher's version, it is also advisable to indicate the article version (preprint, postprint) – both in the overview and directly in the chapter opener.

Citation in (cumulative) dissertations 

• The prerequisite for publishing your dissertation is a ready-to-publish note ("Druckfreigabe" from the chair of your examination board. Please forward a copy of the confirmation to the Theses Department via e-mail
• A title page after the oral examination must be added to the copies to be delivered to the University Library. This also applies to publisher's copies. Make sure to use the correct form of the strived academic title and the current faculty name
• Personal data other than the information on the title page such as CV, private email addresses or signature should be removed from the online and print versions for data protection reasons
• To submit it in person, please make an appointment at the Thesis Department. The copies can also be submitted via post to the following address:

BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg
IKMZ – Universitätsbibliothek
Hochschulschriftenstelle
Platz der Deutschen Einheit 2
03044 Cottbus

After the verification of all required data and documents we will send you and the deanery of your faculty a receipt confirmation per e-mail. The deanery will then issue your certificate.

• Doctoral, PhD and postdoctoral regulations 

• Framework regulations: Grundordnung für die BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg (Neufassung) (in German)

Please consult the postdoctoral regulations which apply in your case to learn about the available publication options.

Formal standards for postdoctoral theses:

• Hard copies must be durably bound (hardcover or paperback)
• Online publications: PDF/A Guidelines (an overview of the requirements can be found on p. 2)
• The publication must include a title page with information according to the postdoctoral regulations
• If needed, please contact the Thesis Department

In order to publish a cumulative postdoctoral thesis, legal conditions must be clarified in advance. Therefore, when concluding an author contract with a publisher, attention must be paid to the specific rights of use. The conditions under which an already published or submitted contribution may be re-published (e.g. article version, license, phrase integration in the reference, embargo period) can be found in the respective author contract. A general overview can be found with the Open policy finder. When in doubt, please contact the responsible person at the publishing house. The consent of all co-authors must also be obtained for the secondary publication. If the first publication was published under a free-distribution license (e.g. Creative Commons), clarifying the legal situation will be significantly simplified.

The cumulative thesis should include an overview of all secondary publications with the complete reference including the DOI and the licence information of the first publication. If you have not integrated the publisher's version, it is also advisable to specify the article version (preprint, postprint) – both in the overview and directly in the chapter opener.

Therefore, the rights of use must be taken into account when concluding the respective author contract with a publisher. The conditions (e.g. article version, license, phrase inclusion in the reference, embargo period) under which you may republish your already published or submitted article are agreed in the respective author contract. The Sherpa Romeo list provides a general overview. If you are unclear, please contact the responsible contact person at the publisher directly. For publication, the consent of all co-authors must also be obtained for the secondary publication. If you have published the initial publication under a free license (e.g. Creative Commons), this makes clarifying the legal situation much easier. The work should include an overview of all publications included with the complete reference including the DOI and the license information for the first publication. If you have not integrated the publisher's version, then the version information (preprint, postprint) is also useful in the overview and directly at the integration point of the article.

Not every faculty requires the submission of postdoctoral theses in the University Library. Please consult the postdoctoral regulations which apply in your case.

To submit in person, please arrange an appointment with the Thesis Department. The submission per post or internal post is possible.

After the examination of the submitted documents for formal accuracy and completeness, the Thesis Department will send you and the dean's office of your faculty a receipt confirmation per e-mail.