Publishing the thesis
Compulsory Publishing
Digital Publication on the University Server
Authors Edition
Dissertation Publishers
Specialist Publisher
Printing on Demand
Open Access Publishing
OpenD
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. Using meta databases like DartEurope your work can be found Europe-wide.
Additional links:
Information by the Magdeburg University Library
General information on online publications by the German National Library
DissOnline: information portal on online publications by the German National Library (only available in German)
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 (only in German)
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)
Optimus Verlag Göttingen
Mensch & Buch Verlag Berlin
A choice of German dissertation publishers of various subjects (all websites in German):
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
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:
readbox
Books on Demand
epubli -Verlagsgruppe Holtzbrinck
Open Access Publishing
More information on OA at OVGU
OpenD
The PhD student portal OpenD is a joint project of the DUZ publishing and media house and SciFlow, a young Magdeburg-based company that has developed a text editor for scientific writing.
