Dean’s measure No. 13/2023
Rules for recording, submitting and publishing theses on the Faculty of Science
Art. 1
Subject Matter
To implement art. 12 of the CU Study and Examination Code, (hereinafter “SZŘ UK”), art. 7 of the CU Rigorosum Examination Code (hereinafter “RŘ UK”), the Rector’s Measure titled Accessing the Electronic Database of Final Papers[1] (hereinafter “OR ZEDZP”), the Rector’s Measure titled Submitting and Checking Final Theses in Lifelong Learning Programmes Focused on Professional Performance,[2] the CU Rules for Organization of Studies at the Faculty of Science and CU Rules for the Organization of Post-Master’s State Examinations at the Faculty of Science, I hereby issue this measure, which supplements and specifies the procedures for listing topics and submitting, recording and accessing theses.
Art. 2
Introductory Provisions
- Theses are considered to be bachelor’s, master’s, post-master’s, doctoral work and final theses of the lifelong learning programmes (hereinafter “LLP”), pursuant to the Universities Act, if requested.
- Listing, registration and approval of theses topics takes place on the dates determined by the dean's schedule of the academic year (hereinafter "schedule").
- The student, participant in post-master’s proceedings and participant in the LLP (hereinafter the “student”) is responsible for submitting the electronic and printed paper versions of the work as well as the completeness of the work entered into the study information system (hereinafter “SIS”) and its consistency with the submitted printed paper form; the faculty is responsible for publication of the work.
- In accordance with OR ZEDZP, the Dean shall appoint a faculty coordinator for recording and publishing theses.
- The activity of the faculty coordinator is generally outlined in OR ZEDZP. In particular, the Faculty coordinator:
- Communicates in matters pertaining to the recording of theses with the person designated by the CU Institute of Computer Technology (hereinafter “ÚVT UK”);
- regularly notifies faculty management of the status of thesis records;
- collects comments and suggestions regarding the recording and publication of theses from faculty departments and faculty management and, following assessment at the faculty, passes these on to ÚVT UK;
- coordinates faculty activity related to recording and publishing theses in cooperation with ÚVT UK, i.e. issues instructions to faculty staff for carrying out particular tasks related to the recording and publishing of theses in electronic form according to paragraphs 4 to 6 of this Dean’s Measure and monitors the performance of these tasks;
- prepares requests for the submission of work in other than the approved format according to OR ZEDZP.
- The Faculty coordinator is not a contact person for students. Students should address any questions to their supervisors or the department that approved the particular thesis topic. The name of the faculty coordinator, including contact information, is listed on the website of the Student Affairs Division.
- An assessment is to be considered original if it is:
- Signed,
- Signed electronically,
- Uploaded to SIS from the supervisor’s/opponent's account.
Art. 3
Listing, registration and topics, assigning of theses topics
- The thesis supervisors/tutors in cooperation with guarantors of study programs/fields (hereinafter the “guarantor”) and directors of institutes (hereinafter “departments”) list the thesis topics in SIS. A thesis may only be listed as part of an accredited study program/field in affiliation with the department. Approval of an external co-worker in the role of thesis supervisor/tutor is within the authority of the guarantor usually after discussion with the head of the department.
- The student registers for a thesis topic listed in SIS at the time specified by the schedule.
- After checking the entered data, the thesis supervisor will confirm the assignment of the thesis topic to the given student in SIS. In doing so, he accepts the role of supervisor/tutor of the given student.
- The assignment of thesis is approved by the guarantor in SIS. After approval by the guarantor, the assignment of work to the student is binding. In the case of a doctoral study program, the thesis assignment is approved by the departmental council (hereinafter "DC") together with the student's individual study plan.
- A change in thesis topic is only possible through a written request. The request is approved by a Vice-Dean designated by the Dean. In the case of a doctoral study program, the request is approved by the DC. Partial modification of the title reflecting development of the project does not constitute a change in topic. The title of the thesis in SIS can be specified and changed within the topic before submitting the work at the latest
- The request must always contain the approval of thesis supervisor and guarantor. The approved change is entered into SIS by the Student Affairs Division by archiving the original thesis of which both the student and guarantor are notified by e-mail. The thesis supervisor will enter a new thesis topic in SIS, register the student for the thesis and confirm the assignment of the topic. This is followed by approval of the assignment of new thesis by the guarantor.
- The guarantor approves the request for a change of supervisor/tutor, after discussing the proposal with the original and newly proposed supervisor (in the case of a doctoral study programme after approval by the DC). The Student Affairs Division records the change of supervisor/tutor in SIS based on an approved request.
- In the event that the result of the defense is "failed" or the student withdraws from the defense, the thesis is archived by the Student Affairs Division. The supervisor/tutor writes the thesis topic in SIS again.
Art. 4
Requirements, formal layout, and submission of the thesis
- The thesis can be assigned, solved and submitted in Czech or English. A change in the language of the thesis is only possible with the approval of the thesis supervisor/tutor and the guarantor. In SIS, a change in language is entered by the guarantor or thesis supervisor/tutor.
- The thesis must contain:
- An abstract in Czech and English;
- Solemn declaration that the student has written the thesis independently all sources and literature used have been cited properly and the work or its substantial part has not been used as a thesis to obtain a different or similar type of university qualification;
- If the work includes publications that have multiple authors or if the thesis uses any results attained by the work of the student on a scientific team, the thesis must specify the student’s share of the work.
- If artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-supported technologies were used in the writing of the thesis, the following rules must be followed:
- These technologies can only be used to improve readability and language, not to replace key tasks of researchers, such as interpreting data or drawing scientific conclusions;
- the use of AI and technologies supported by AI must be stated in the student's declaration according to paragraph 2.
Details on the use of AI can be found at https://ai.cuni.cz/.
- The binding sample of the title page of the thesis is published on the website of the Student Affairs Division in the form section. The recommended font is Times New Roman, line spacing 1-1.5. Additional requirements for the formal adjustment of the thesis may be set by the guarantor and must be published on the website of the guarantor's workplace.
- The thesis is submitted in electronic form in SIS by the deadline according to the schedule. The date of submission of the thesis is recorded automatically.
- The student submits the thesis exclusively in the formats specified by OR ZEDZP and Rector's measure Submitting and Checking Final Theses in Lifelong Learning Programmes Focused on Professional Performance.
- The student submits:
- Thesis solution;
- Abstracts according to paragraph 2;
- Thesis attachment, if applicable;
- In doctoral study programs, also a professional biography (without the student's personal data) and a list of publications; other requirements for the work can be set in the framework requirements of the DC, listed in the individual study plan.
- If after submitting the thesis the student discovers that he needs to make additional changes to the thesis, he will request the Student Affairs Division to unlock the thesis record in SIS for modifications. The thesis record can only be unlocked until the deadline for submitting the thesis for defense.
- The text of the thesis submitted for defense cannot be changed after the deadline set for submission, with the exception of corrections in the form of errata. The file with possible errata of the thesis containing corrections of typographical and minor errors can be added by the student to the thesis record in SIS, no later than ten working days after the defense.
Art. 5
Responsibilities and authority of faculty staff – Bachelor’s, master’s and final theses of LLP
- Head of the department in cooperation with the guarantor is responsible for:
- Listing of theses topics in SIS;
- Assignment of theses topics to students;
- Checking the details of submitted theses;
- Entering theses reviews into SIS.
- Head of the department may entrust one or more employees of the department (hereinafter "authorized person") to carry out these activities.
- Guarantor is responsible for ensuring that the offer of topics and theses supervisors corresponds to the focus and requirements of the relevant study programme. Guarantor in particular:
- Approves the assignment;
- Approves the thesis opponent, taking into account the proposal of the thesis supervisor;
- May establish requirements for the content and formal requirements of assessments, which are usually published on the website of the guarantor's workplace.
- Supervisor and opponent of thesis:
- By accepting their roles express their commitment to cooperate with the guarantor and the head of the department;
- Are responsible for entering the thesis assessment into SIS at least three working days before the work defense; an authorized person can enter the assessment into SIS on behalf of the external opponent.
- The chairperson of the committee (or a person authorized by them) is responsible for:
- Checking the input of the assessment from the supervisor and the opponent in SIS;
- Filling in the record of the part of the state final exam "Bachelor’s/master’s/final thesis defense" (hereinafter "Record of the progress of the defense") in SIS;
- Inserting the Record of the progress of the defense into SIS;
- Delivery of the Record of the progress of the defense with originals of assessments to the Student Affairs Division by the date specified in the schedule.
- Head of the Student Affairs Division is responsible for:
- Finalization of the thesis record in SIS;
- Checking and storing the assessments and the record of the progress of the defense in the student's hybrid file documentation.
- Heads of libraries are mainly responsible for the cataloguing of bachelor's and master’s theses, or supplementing automatically created cataloguing records with library data.
Art. 6
Responsibilities and authority of faculty staff – Post-master’s theses
- Head of the department in cooperation with the guarantor is responsible for listing of thesis topic in SIS by the supervisor.
- DC/guarantor is responsible for approving the supervisor, the topic and the thesis assignment, which is part of the student's individual study plan.
- Head of the Student Affairs Division is responsible for:
- Checking the details of submitted thesis;
- Entering the thesis assessment into SIS at least three working days before the work defense;
- Finalization of the thesis record in SIS;
- Checking and storing the assessments and the record of the progress of the defense in the student's hybrid file documentation.
- The chairperson of the committee (or a person authorized by them) is responsible for:
- Inserting the Record of the progress of the defense into SIS;
- Delivery of a Record of the progress of the defense with originals of assessments to the Student Affairs Division by the date specified in the schedule.
- The provisions of Article 5 (7) apply to heads of libraries.
Art. 7
Responsibilities and authority of faculty staff – Doctoral theses
- Head of the Student Affairs Division is responsible for:
- Correctness and completeness of the application for the state rigorous examination and its handing over to the guarantor;
- Establishing a thesis record in SIS;
- Checking the details of submitted thesis and entering it into SIS;
- Finalization of the thesis record in SIS;
- Checking and storing the assessments and the record of the progress of the defense in the hybrid file documentation of the applicant for the state rigorous examination
- In the case of recognition of the thesis, the date of the Record of state rigorous examination is entered into SIS as the date of the defense.
- The guarantor approves the topic of doctoral thesis.
- The chairperson of the committee (or a person authorized by them) is responsible for:
- Entering the thesis assessment into SIS and delivery of the assessment to the student at least three working days before the thesis defense;
- Filling in the Record of the progress of the defense;
- Inserting the Record of the progress of the defense into SIS;
- Delivery of the Record of the progress of the defense with originally signed assessment to the Student Affairs Division within five working days from the defense.
- The provisions of Article 5 (7) apply to heads of libraries.
Art. 8
Publishing of theses
- The theses submitted for defence (excluding the thesis in LLP programmes) are published and made available to the public through SIS.
- In the event that the thesis contains data that cannot be published on the Internet due to copyright protections, patent protections or other protection of intellectual property, the student may extract this data (for example published articles, texts accepted for publication or manuscripts prepared for sending, tables, sequences, formulas, details of procedures) and place it in an appendix to the thesis regarding to which a request of delay in publication may be asked.
- If it is not possible extract the data without compromising the intelligibility of the thesis a delay in the publication of the entire thesis can be requested.
- The request for the delay of the publication of the entire thesis or appendices is submitted by the supervisor/instructor or an authorized person. The request can be submitted in SIS from the date of assignment of the thesis to the date of submission of the thesis at the latest, for a period of up to three years from the date of the defense. In the case of doctoral theses, the Student Affairs Division records the request in SIS.
Art. 9
Final provisions
- This measure does not apply to students enrolled at the faculty who, as part of their dual subject or inter-faculty studies are working on a thesis at another faculty. These students are subject to the applicable dean’s measures of the particular faculty.
- This measure repeals and replaces Dean’s Measure No. 22/2017
- The persons responsible for implementing this measure and monitoring compliance to it are the faculty coordinator for publishing theses, heads of departments/directors of institutes, guarantors of study programs/fields, thesis supervisors, chairpersons of committees, the head of the Student Affairs Division and heads of departmental libraries.
- This measures goes into effect on 1 October 2023.
In Prague on 28 June 2023
prof. RNDr. Jiří Zima, CSc. Dean of the Faculty |
[1] - As of the issue date of this Dean’s Measure, this means Rector’s Measure No. 16/2019
[2] - As of the issue date of this Dean’s Measure, this means Rector’s Measure No. 39/2022