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Support across five research stages. Choose the work you need help with.
Define your question, plan the study and collect data.
Your research idea, intended setting, available time and any plans for recruitment or data access.
Analyse data, prepare papers and strengthen your publication portfolio.
A dataset description, analyses, manuscripts or publication list, with your contribution and any permissions to check.
Find a suitable university, supervisor and publication route.
A publication summary, research interests and any practical constraints.
Connect your publications and explain their contribution.
Your publications, contribution statements and the university’s synthesis requirements.
Prepare to discuss and defend your research.
Your submitted work, examination arrangements and the questions or topics you want to practise.
Tell us your field, the work you have and where you need support.
EnquireUniversities decide admission and awards; journals decide publication.
Research support for senior researchers, clinicians and professionals.
Review how your publications connect and explore suitable doctoral routes.
Develop a clinical question, analyse existing data or prepare publications.
Develop research from your practice or connect an existing body of work.
Start with the work you have. You can need support at several stages.
Define a research question, select methods and plan sampling, data collection and analysis. Confirm ethics, consent, data access and storage arrangements before starting.
Review your dataset or publications, identify the research theme and gaps, and plan analyses or studies that add a distinct contribution. Prepare manuscripts, select journals and respond to peer review. Record your contribution to each paper.
Review your publications against university eligibility and accepted-output requirements. Identify supervisors with relevant expertise, discuss fit and capacity, and confirm the formal application process and required documents. An informal reply does not guarantee admission.
Explain the questions, methods, findings and contribution across your publications. Show your role in co-authored work and discuss limitations. Follow your university’s required structure and submission rules.
Prepare questions about your contribution, methods and limitations. Practise discussing the submitted work with specific examples, confirm examination arrangements and complete any required corrections.
University eligibility, accepted publications and examination requirements vary. Confirm the rules for your chosen route.
Continue a plan saved before the redesign.
Check how prior publication works before planning your application.
PhD by publication guide →PhDbyPub provides information and guidance on PhD by publication routes.
Selected details for Coventry, Portsmouth and Surrey were checked on 19 October 2026. Other records come from the original directory and need confirmation. Missing details remain marked.
A listing does not establish accreditation or eligibility. Universities decide admission and awards.
Comparison selections are stored in your browser. Enquiries go to our LinkedIn page. Interest registrations use the existing Google Form. This site does not store enquiry messages or form responses. Account holders can choose to save tool answers, learning notes and small files. Read the account privacy notice.
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Understand the requirements, compare university routes and prepare your application.
By PhDbyPub · Sources checked
A PhD by publication uses a connected body of research outputs as the basis for doctoral examination. The submission explains how the work contributes to knowledge and identifies the candidate’s own contribution. Published papers alone do not establish that the doctoral standard has been met.
Universities use terms including PhD by prior publication and PhD by published work. Read the regulations for the specific route: similar names can describe different arrangements. Queen Margaret University’s regulations describe how its published-work submission is examined against the PhD criteria.
First establish when the research must have been completed.
Surrey explains both formats. Its guidance is useful for understanding this distinction; other universities set their own rules.
Check applicant eligibility before contacting potential supervisors. A university may limit a route to its staff or people connected to a collaborating organisation. Relevant subject expertise does not override those restrictions.
A useful initial check is whether you can explain the question connecting your publications, the contribution of the body of work and your role in producing it. If you are still planning your first studies, distinguish that preparation from an application based on research already published.
There is no number that applies across all universities. Surrey specifies no minimum number and considers the expectations of the discipline. A paper count cannot replace an assessment of the work’s coherence, quality and your contribution. Check Surrey’s entry requirements.
Ask your chosen institution about accepted output types, publication dates, co-authored work and research submitted for an earlier degree. Record its answer alongside the relevant regulation.
These UK examples illustrate why route eligibility needs checking individually. They are a starting point for enquiry, rather than an exhaustive list or confirmation that you qualify.
Its route uses research published before registration. Applicants need a qualifying degree held for at least five years; existing doctorate holders are ineligible. The stated submission window is 6–12 months after registration, and the university describes distance learning from October 2026.
Applicants must be Surrey staff or employed by an organisation with an established teaching or research collaboration. An existing publication portfolio does not remove that affiliation requirement.
The route is intended for active researchers with existing publications who have not received a PhD. A critical overview connects the portfolio. Applications go through the relevant Research Centre; check the linked programme guidance for detailed requirements.
Some routes accept external applicants and others restrict affiliation. Queen Margaret University’s retrospective-route regulations, for example, allow internal and external applications and ask external applicants to discuss their plans with a relevant Research Centre. Availability of supervision and formal admission still need confirmation.
Separate the years spent doing the research from the period registered for examination. A short submission window is not the time needed to produce the underlying research. Confirm the registration period, attendance arrangements and examination process directly with the university.
Use this checklist to organise your enquiry. It is a preparation aid; the university’s application instructions take precedence.
The accompanying text may be called a synthesis, commentary, critical overview or critical appraisal. Its purpose is to explain the relationship between outputs and the contribution of the work as a whole. Follow the institution’s required structure and length.
For example, Portsmouth specifies a 5,000–10,000-word commentary and an oral defence. That is a requirement for its route, not a universal word limit. Use the official regulations for your own submission.
For preparation, practise explaining why the work matters, how the studies relate, your methodological decisions and the limits of the conclusions. Keep your individual contribution clear when discussing collaborative research.
Checked on 31 October 2026. These pages support the examples above; they do not confirm an individual applicant’s admission or the recognition of an award in another country.
Browse the public university summaries. An account provides full directory records, comparison and worksheets.
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Terms for using a PhDbyPub account and saved-work features.
Operator: PhDbyPub, Portugal. Contact phdbypub@gmail.com. Version: 28 October 2026.
Creating an account requests a service for saving and retrieving your tool answers, learning notes, progress, university shortlists and small files. Home, Start here and the Guidance landing page are public. Log in to read other website content. Agreeing to these terms is separate from subscribing to email updates.
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Saving is manual: choose Save to account or Save file. The current allowance is one saved record per supported tool or tutorial, up to 48 KB per record, and ten files of up to 256 KB each. Supported file types are listed in My account. A newer copy saved on another device must be loaded before you replace it.
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The privacy notice explains the data used, service providers, international processing and retention. These terms do not limit rights you have under applicable law.
How account information and saved work are handled.
Operator: PhDbyPub, Portugal. For account and privacy enquiries, email phdbypub@gmail.com.
Accounts use your email address and a unique account identifier. Firebase Authentication manages your login credentials; passwords are not stored in the PhDbyPub saved-work database. Firebase also processes technical information, including IP addresses and browser details, to operate authentication and prevent abuse. If Google sign-in is enabled and you choose it, Google also supplies basic account information.
When you choose Save to account or Save file, the selected answers, notes, progress or file are sent to Firebase. Account saving is manual. Home, Start here and the Guidance landing page are public. Log in to read other website content.
We use this information to provide the account and saving features you request. Account data is restricted to your login through access rules. Authorised service administrators and service providers can access data for operation, security and support; this is not end-to-end encrypted storage.
The legal basis for processing necessary account and saved-work data is performance of the account-service agreement you request under the account terms (Article 6(1)(b) GDPR). Agreeing to the terms and acknowledging this notice does not authorise unrelated processing or marketing.
Accounts do not subscribe you to newsletters. Interest registration remains a separate Google Form.
Firebase, a Google service, processes authentication and saved account data. Login information is kept for the browser session unless you select Keep me logged in. Saved work is not stored in an offline database on this device. Existing browser-saving options in tools are separate and remain under your control.
Saved work and files use the Firestore database configured in the European multi-region eur3. Firebase Authentication processes login data in the United States. Google describes its processing arrangements and international-transfer safeguards in its Firebase privacy information.
We retain saved work while your account is in use or until you delete it. We review accounts after 24 months of inactivity. Before deleting an inactive account and its saved work, we send at least 30 days’ notice to its registered email address. You can sign in again or contact us to keep the account, or export your data. These reviews are carried out by the service operator.
Use My account to export saved data, remove individual files or saved work, or delete your account. Account deletion removes the stored work and files before removing the login. A minimal deletion marker, containing an account identifier and request time, is retained temporarily to block delayed writes during deletion. Service security logs may have separate retention periods.
Google states that, after an authentication user is deleted, associated authentication information is removed from its live and backup systems within 180 days. Firebase Authentication keeps logged IP addresses for a few weeks. These provider periods are separate from removing your saved work and files from the active application database.
Deleting your account does not delete copies you downloaded, entries saved separately in your browser, or information submitted to Google Forms or LinkedIn. Use the relevant tool or service to manage those copies.
Save your own learning materials and research summaries. Do not upload identifiable participant data, clinical records, sensitive personal data or confidential records.
You can request access, correction, deletion, restriction or portability of your personal data, or object to processing where the applicable conditions are met. Contact phdbypub@gmail.com. You can also complain to Portugal’s Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados (CNPD) or another competent data protection authority.
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