Prior to submission

There are a few administrative tasks that need to be completed before you can submit for examination.

These tasks include recommending examiners, updating your research publications and outputs, and applying for confidentiality agreements and/or embargoes. You may also need to request early submission for examination, if you are less than halfway through your candidature.

Your examiners

It is your Senior Supervisor's responsibility to nominate your examination panel. You and your supervisors should consider potential examiners throughout your candidature. You may provide names of individuals you do not wish to examine your submission, this should be emailed to your supervisory panel and a ticket should be lodged with the examinations team prior to your supervisor's examiner nominations. The final selection remains the responsibility of the supervisor, and the identity of examiners will not be revealed to candidates.

Examiners should be nominated and approved at least two months before you submit for examination. This is particularly important if you are an international candidate studying in Australia as this may have an impact on your student visa.

You can check the status of your examination panel via the candidate centre under Other Assignments.

Updating your research publications and outputs

Before submitting for examination you must report all research publications or outputs produced during your candidature at RMIT to the Research Office. Use RMIT Elements to report your work. You can find the RMIT Elements Guides in the Researcher Portal.

Please note this is a separate process to the Research Outputs Declaration which you need to make when submitting for examination.

Visit the publishing during candidature webpage for valuable tips on integrating publications into your thesis, and for additional information, explore the 'Declaring Research Outputs' section within the submitting for examination section of the website.

Editing

You are responsible for the content of your submission for examination. As an HDR student you are allowed to employ a professional editor to provide limited editorial work on your thesis/project.

The national editing body, the Institute of Professional Editors Ltd (IPEd), provides further information and guidelines about editing research theses and has established the Editors Directory. The Editors Directory is a searchable list of freelance editors who are professional members of the Institute of Professional Editors. Clients can search the directory for freelance editors using specific criteria. These will identify editors that have specific interests, skills or experience in certain areas.

If you hire an editor, you must include in the acknowledgements page of your thesis/dissertation their name or the company name, and the service the editor provided.

Preparing your doctoral citation

The doctoral citation is a short description of your research project. It will appear on your academic transcript and Australian Higher Education Graduation Statement (AHEGS). It is also included in the graduation program and, if you attend the graduation ceremony, it will be read aloud to the audience.

The 50 word doctoral citation should be prepared in consultation with your supervisor prior to submitting your thesis or project. The citation must be written in plain English using terms and language comprehensible to a general audience. Please refer to the website Preparing your doctoral citation for information on the required content and format for doctoral citations.

Confidentiality agreements and embargoes

Confidentiality agreements are usually set up early in the candidature for reasons of commercial confidentiality when a candidate’s research is subject to an agreement with an external party. The agreement may require your examiners to agree not to disclose any of the particulars of the research to anyone during and after the examination process.

If your submission contains content that is commercially sensitive, you may apply for a Confidentiality Agreement and/or Embargo (PDF, 209 KB). You must include evidence that supports your application in order for it to be considered.

All theses/dissertations are placed in the publicly accessible RMIT Research Repository after the examination has been completed and the candidate has lodged their final archival version of the research. An embargo means your thesis/dissertation will not be made publicly available for a period of time. Broadly speaking, grounds for embargo include the prevention of disclosure of commercially sensitive information, including potentially patentable material.

For more information, please refer to Section 87 (Research Embargo) of the HDR Submission and Examination Procedure.

Prior to submission