Reports

Independent and Joint Reports

An agreed Joint Report, signed by both examiners, is completed after the oral examination, and should be submitted to the School within five working days of the oral examination.  The Joint Report reflects the examiners’ assessment of both the written submission and the student’s performance at the oral examination, and includes a decision in accordance with regulation 6.8.6.  It need not repeat comments already made in the Independent Reports.  The Joint and Independent Reports taken together should be of sufficient length and provide sufficient evidence to justify the examiners’ decision. If insufficient corrections or justification of the outcome is provided by the examiners, the reports may be refused until made sufficient.

If the examination decision requires submission corrections or revision and resubmission, the examiners list the required amendments within the Joint Report.  If, in accordance with regulation 6.8.6 iv, the examiners have recommended that the submission be revised and resubmitted for the Doctoral degree, and have also proposed a possible alternative option for the award of a Master’s degree subject to corrections, the examiners should list the amendments required for each scenario so that the student can decide on the preferred option.  (The student must confirm the preferred option with Student Administration and Systems within ten working days of the date of the examination outcome notification, which is sent by Student Administration and Systems.)

Independent Convenor Report

The independent convenor submits a report covering the procedural conduct of the examination, to the School, within five working days of the oral examination.

Role of the Chair of the SPRC/Head of School (or Nominee)

The Chair of the School Postgraduate Research Committee (SPRC), or Head of School nominee, considers the Independent Reports, the Report of the Independent Convenor, and the Joint Report, and may refer the case back to the examiners if the Joint Report does not justify the decision made.  Otherwise, the Chair of the SPRC, or Head of School nominee, signs the Joint Report to confirm that the result has been justified. The Head of School nominee must not have played any other role in the viva, for example as Independent Convenor or Internal Examiner.

Role of Student Administration and Systems

The Independent Reports, Joint Report, and Report of the Independent Convenor must be sent to Student Administration and Systems within eight working days of the oral examination.

Upon receiving the examiner report forms, the Head of Registry Services or nominee signs the Joint Examiner report and viva outcome letter.  Student Administration and Systems then notifies the student of the outcome of the examination and sends the student a copy of the examination reports (containing the list of required amendments, if appropriate), within two weeks of receipt of the examiner reports from the School.  Amendments must only be made as directed by the examiners, and not to other areas of the submission. Schools and members of the examination panel must not, under any circumstances, send the student copies of the reports, corrections or annotated research degree submission copies directly. These must only be issued to the student by Student Administration and Systems after approval from the Head of Registry Services or nominee.

Requirement to Revise and Resubmit

Where a student is required to revise and resubmit, Student Administration and Systems will change their academic load to Resubmission and the student will be liable for a resubmission charge. The student has not passed their examination at this stage. The outcome of revise and resubmit reflects that substantial revisions are required to make the submission acceptable, and students should re-engage with their supervisory team to address the issues identified by the examiners within the 12-month period.   Normal supervision should resume and at a minimum, six formal meetings should be held during this period. A new oral examination, with the same examiners, is required for the resubmission.  The same examination processes as the original examination, including Notice of Intention to Submit; Nomination of Examiners; and Examiner Report Forms, will apply.

Corrections Approved

Following internal examiner approval of the corrections received within the deadline set by the examiners, an examiner (normally the internal examiner) signs off the Repository form certifying that all corrections have been completed within the deadline. For examinations with two external examiners and no internal examiner, either external examiner can sign-off corrections.   The examiner may not introduce any new requests for additional corrections beyond those required in the joint report. Student Administration and Systems confirms that an electronic submission has been made via Pure (see information on Open Access and Research Degree Submission below).  Student Administration and Systems then notifies the student that the award has been approved.

Failure to Submit a Corrected or Revised Thesis 

Students who fail to submit a corrected or revised submission by the date set by the examiners will be regarded as having failed the examination and the decisions of the examiners will lapse.  If, in exceptional circumstances, the student is granted a period of temporary withdrawal following the original submission, the deadline for submitting a corrected or revised submission will be adjusted accordingly.  This will be managed in the normal manner by the School, unless the student has/will exceed the cumulative maximum of two years’ temporary withdrawal from the programme.  In this instance, the student/School should submit a RDP Exception - Temporary Withdrawal Form by email to qar@qub.ac.uk for consideration by the Education Committee (Quality and Standards).  The School should update the examiners, and notify Student Administration and Systems as appropriate, if a temporary withdrawal period has been granted.

Open Access and Research Degree Submission Embargo

Increasingly, Open Access is becoming an essential component of how research is disseminated and communicated at universities. All students undertaking Research Degree Programmes at Queen's University must make their submission open access through uploading to Pure, which is the University’s Current Research Information System. This is a compulsory requirement to successfully graduate.  It is the responsibility of the Research Degree Programme student to upload to Pure before their account in Pure expires.

All Research Degree Programme students, moreover, are responsible for undertaking clearance of third-party copyright in their submissions.  Where possible, and in line with current copyright legislation and publisher licence restrictions, the final corrected version of the submission will be made available open access on the Research Portal.  In all instances, it is the responsibility of the author to ensure that they meet the open access requirements outlined above.

Research Degree Programme students can embargo their submission while they seek to get their research published. Embargoed options are outlined in the repository form. Embargo options are available 1-5 years from the date of the award. There may be specific circumstances also where redaction of submission content is necessary; this may be temporary to accommodate an embargo or may be permanent.  In all cases, redaction must be discussed with the Open Research Librarian for e-submissions.

There are Research Degree Programme students who are in receipt of funding in which there is an open access requirement. For example, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funded students are obliged to share their submission within 12 months of the award. Where a student has such an open access mandate from a funder and is seeking to get their submission published, it may not be appropriate to upload to Pure and make available within the funder’s stipulated timeframe. Thus, it may be possible for UKRI funded students, or similar, to embargo their submission for a period between 2 and 5 years.   

To be eligible, students must have concerns that making their submission open within 12 months would impact them or their career detrimentally. Students must select an embargo that is no longer than necessary. Students must, where possible, be willing to embrace the spirit of openness also. For example, Northern Bridge funded students may embargo their creative writing PhDs for the maximum 5-year embargo period. The full text of the submission should be made open access at the end of this period. Supplementary materials such as journal entries and work/writing samples etc. can be uploaded, especially if the full text of the submission is embargoed for the full 5 years. This is to honour the spirit of openness as insisted upon by the funder. 

Only in the rarest circumstances would the University consider waiving the requirement to make the submission open access and offer an embargo in perpetuity. This could only occur in circumstances where sharing the submission would not be possible, for example where making the submission open access would compromise the safety or health of the student, or have significant negative ramifications to sharing e.g. legal disputes, confidentiality, sensitivity of content, employment etc. In such cases, a formal request must be sought by the student via the Open Access team. Approval can only be granted directly from the Dean of the Graduate School.  

Where a Research Degree Programme student has received approval for embargo in perpetuity, the student is nonetheless obliged to share the submission with the University’s Open Research Librarian for e-submissions. The electronic submission will be placed in a safe and secure online storage, whereupon it will be subject to a future review decision (80+ years). 

Hard-bound submission is no longer a mandatory requirement for Research Degree Programme students, with the exception of PhD by Published Works.

Note that advice can be sought from the Open Research Librarian for e-submissions on the following areas: Embargoes, redactions and versioning of the submission, copyright issues, publication planning, visibility of research outputs and associated data connected with the submission.

External Examiner Fees and Expenses

Details of the payment scheme are available from the Examinations Office.