Using Published Articles in Your Thesis

The Faculty of Graduate Studies allows a type of thesis in which journal articles published by a student become chapters in your thesis. Before you decide to follow this format, it is important to check the publisher's policy regarding the reuse of articles prior to submitting the article for consideration. Whether an article can be included in a thesis depends on the publisher and the license agreements that authors sign before publicaiton (often called a copyright transfer agreement).

Publishers often list their policy on the reuse of articles in theses/dissertations on their website. As an example, Nature's policy states: 

Authors have the right to reuse their article’s Version of Record, in whole or in part, in their own thesis. Additionally, they may reproduce and make available their thesis, including Springer Nature content, as required by their awarding academic institution.

Authors must properly cite the published article in their thesis according to current citation standards.

Material from: 'AUTHOR, TITLE, JOURNAL TITLE, published [YEAR], [publisher - as it appears on our copyright page]'

If you are any doubt about whether your intended re-use is covered, please contact journalpermissions@springernature.com for confirmation.

A list of publisher's policies on this topic is available from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries at https://libraries.mit.edu/scholarly/publishing/theses-copyright/theses-and-article-publishing/.