Publishing the thesis
Compulsory Publishing
Digital Publication on the University Server
Authors Edition
Dissertation Publishers
Specialist Publisher
Printing on Demand
Open Access Publishing
OpenAIRE Project
Compulsory publishing
Take a look at the doctoral regulations (Promotionsordnung) of your faculty in order to find out which sort of publishing is required. Usually there are several options of publishing such as submitting hard copies, publishing electronically, publishing with a publisher or a scientific journal. Wait for the permission to print from your supervisor before publishing.
ATTENTION: From November 1, 2024, the University Library only accepts one printed copy of the dissertation if it is also submitted electronically and will confirm the submission. If only the printed version is submitted, three copies will be required, as these will still be distributed to the State and National Library.
More information online on the website of the university library
What kind of publication?
For your decision you might take into account several factors:
- the costs of publishing
- the additional time exposure, f.x. for manuscript formatting
- the reputation of the publisher or the range of the database
- the distribution and the availability of your dissertation
- the time it takes to get published
Depending on your financial and temporal resources you should consider if it could be useful for your further career to secure the highest possible distribution or to avail yourself of the reputation of the medium of publication.
Ways of publishing
Digital Publication on the University Server
Otto-von-Guericke University offers, just as many others, the possibility of publishing your dissertation electronically and for free on the server of the university library.
Additional links:
Information by the Magdeburg University Library
DissOnline: information portal on online publications by the German National Library
Authors Edition
You print your dissertation on your own, f.x. in a copy shop, and let it be recorded to the university's bibliography at the university library.
Additional links:
Notification Procedure for publications at the Magdeburg University Library
Dissertation Publishers
Beside bigger and smaller specialist publishers, there are the ones specialised on dissertations. Usually, they demand a lower contribution to the printing costs or do even offer to print for free. In order to choose the best publisher among the choice of services, make sure to reveal hidden costs or disadvantages. It may happen that the publisher excludes you completely from profit-sharing, reduces the quality of layout, drops quality controls or does not have any marketing operations.
A choice of German dissertation publishers of all subjects (all websites in German):
- Dissertationsverlag Dr.Hut München
- Verlag Dr.Kovač Hamburg
- Shaker Verlag
- Sierke Verlag Göttingen
- Südwestdeutscher Verlag für Hochschulschriften (SVH)
- Akademische Verlagsgemeinschaft München (Humanities)
A choice of German dissertation publishers of various subjects:
- Tectum Verlag: cultural, social, economic sciences and law
- Verlag Alma Mater Saarbrücken: humanities, esp. economics and law
- Cuvillier Verlag Göttingen: humanities, engineering, science
- Campus Verlag Frankfurt am Main: humanities. for diss. in English distribution world-wide
- Verlag Barbara Budrich - educational research/pedagogy, gender studies, political science, international relations, social work/public policy, sociology
Specialist Publisher
It is both more expensive and time-consuming to get published at a well-known scientific publisher of your subject. But this effort can be worth it f.x. when you are planning an academic career: Your dissertation tends to be rated higher, if it is listed next to notable authors. In addition, it will have a bigger distribution and most probably get a higher attention.
Printing on Demand
An affordable alternative can be Printing on Demand (PoD). PoD means the file of your dissertation will be saved at a publisher but not printed before it is requested. In that way you do not have to pay for stock holding costs or fulfill a minimum circulation. Your dissertation will be assigned to an ISBN.
A choice of PoD publishers:
Open Access Publishing
The free availability of scientific works is driven not at least by the EU, which has made open science a clear goal of the digital agenda in the Horizon 2020 program. With the help of the OpenAIRE project, a structure was created to make it easier for scientists to gain access to scientific sources and to publish their own research work.