Periyar University PhD thesis format

What thesis format does Periyar University prescribe?

Almost everything is in section 20.7 of the regulations, “Guidelines for the Preparation of Thesis”. The table puts it in one place.

The 250-page cap is the rule to plan around. It counts “from the front page to the last page”, so the certificates, contents, references and the first pages of your papers all count. A thesis with 30 preliminary pages and 25 pages of references has about 195 pages left for five chapters. If theses in your field usually run to 300 pages, decide early what goes.

The 2.0 spacing option arrived with the 2025 amendment. The original 2024 text allowed only 1.5. Double spacing adds pages fast, so if you are near the cap, 1.5 is the sensible choice.

Margins are the gap. Clause 20.7.4(b) hands “margins, text formatting, font, title, work cited and other similar parameters” to the latest MLA Handbook or APA manual, or the style your discipline uses. In practice your supervisor picks. Choose one and don’t mix. The font is the exception: clause 20.7.1 already fixes Times New Roman (or LaTeX) at 12 pt, so keep that even if your chosen manual suggests something else.

What is the order of pages in a Periyar PhD thesis?

Clause 20.7.3 gives a fixed sequence of 16 parts:

• Cover page and title page
• Certificate by the supervisor (Annexure 10)
• Declaration by the candidate (Annexure 11)
• Plagiarism certificate (Annexure 14)
• Certificate from the Tamil Virtual Academy
• Acknowledgement
• Table of contents
• List of symbols and abbreviations
• Abstract (maximum two pages)
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Review of Literature
• Chapter 3: Materials and Methods (marked “suggestive”)
• Chapter 4: Results and Discussion
• Chapter 5: Conclusion and Summary
• References, in alphabetical order
• Copy of publications (first page of each published paper only)

Both certificates come before the acknowledgement; check the binder’s proof. The sequence has no list of tables or figures. It doesn’t forbid them either, and most supervisors will want them after the contents.

The five chapter titles are a template. The amended regulations mark Chapter 3 (Materials and Methods) as “suggestive”, and a social science or humanities thesis will name its chapters differently. What the regulations do insist on is references in alphabetical order, so a numbered style such as IEEE or Vancouver sits awkwardly here. If your discipline uses one, get your supervisor’s approval in writing. Our thesis structure guide explains what each chapter usually does.

The cover and title page

Annexure 12 is the specimen for university departments and Annexure 13 for affiliated colleges, which adds the college name and address under the supervisor’s department. Both use Arial at 1.15 line spacing and a 3.65 cm x 4.1 cm emblem. The title is 16 pt bold. Your name (in capitals) and your supervisor’s are 14 pt bold, the connecting lines and the supervisor’s designation 13 pt regular, and the degree line, month and year and university address 14 pt bold.

The specimen PDF still linked from the Downloads page is the July 2024 version, which shows a pink cover (#FFBCDA) for arts theses. The amendment of November 2025 replaced that with blue for everyone. Follow the amended regulations.

What is the plagiarism limit at Periyar University?

The certificate you bind into the thesis says 20%. Clause 21 itself doesn’t give a number: it says every thesis carries a plagiarism certificate in the Annexure 14 format, signed by you and your supervisor, and that similarity “shall not exceed the limit prescribed by the Periyar University”. The Annexure 14 form then prints “Acceptable limit: 20%”.

The form also asks for:

• the similarity of your title with theses already uploaded on Shodhganga, if any;
• the percentage of similarity found in the thesis content;
• which software was used, and when the check was run;
• the signature of the University Librarian, with the similarity report attached.

The regulations don’t name the software, and they don’t say whether the 20% excludes references, quotes or your own published papers. Ask the university library before you run your own checks, because a figure from a different tool or different exclusion settings won’t match theirs.

Our advice: don’t aim for 19%. Examiners see the report, and in our view a lower figure is easier to defend. The UGC’s 2018 plagiarism regulations treat up to 10% as minor, and some neighbours are stricter than Periyar (Manonmaniam Sundaranar accepts 10%). How Periyar compares with other universities is in our plagiarism limits guide; for Bharathiar’s rules, which scholars in the same region often compare, see the Bharathiar thesis format guide.

Do you need a Tamil Virtual Academy certificate for a Periyar thesis?

Yes, even if you write in English. Clause 20.3 asks you to translate your synopsis into Tamil and send it, with the technical terms used in the thesis, to the Tamil Virtual Academy. The certificate the Academy issues and the Tamil translation of the synopsis are both enclosed in the thesis.

Annexure 9 sets out the application. It is one file, sent in both Word and PDF to [email protected], containing:

1. the application form, in Tamil and English (title, subject, register number and year, supervisor, keywords, college, department);
2. the abstract, in Tamil;
3. the synopsis, in Tamil;
4. a glossary of English and Tamil terms, at least 30 words.

All Tamil text goes in the Marutham font. The annexure asks you to send this preferably two months before you submit the thesis, and a circular of 18 November 2024 tells scholars to use the new format from the Downloads page. Technical Tamil is slow work, so start the glossary while you are still writing chapters.

What are the synopsis and thesis submission steps at Periyar University?

Before the synopsis

Clause 19.2, as amended and repeated in a Directorate of Research circular of 24 September 2025, needs at least two papers with you as first author and your supervisor as sole corresponding author, in Scopus, Web of Science (SCI, SCIE, ESCI, SSCI or AHCI), or peer-reviewed journals with a 10-year archive that meet the UGC’s suggested parameters. Papers without your supervisor’s name don’t count. You also need certificates for two conference or seminar presentations on the thesis theme. Every paper must carry the affiliation line “Affiliated to Periyar University, Salem – 636 011, Tamil Nadu, India” if you work in a research centre or affiliated college (Annexure 6 shows how).

The research section checks the papers before the second doctoral committee meeting (see our pre-submission seminar guide).

The synopsis

No more than 20 pages including the list of publications, with a title of four lines or fewer, numbered headings, and at most 25 references in alphabetical order (clause 19.3). It is printed single-sided on A4, 80 GSM paper in 12 pt Times New Roman or LaTeX with 1.5 spacing, soft-bound with a 250 GSM white cover. You may submit it up to three months before your minimum period ends. Our synopsis format guide covers the writing.

The thesis

The thesis goes up on the Research Section Management portal through your supervisor, pay the fee, and hand in the hard copies. The deadline is three months from the synopsis, with a one-time three-month extension on payment. After six months the synopsis lapses and you submit it again (clause 20.5).

The copy count is where the regulations disagree with themselves. Clause 19.1 says two hard copies of the synopsis and thesis go to the research section after online submission. Clause 20.1 and clause 20.7.1 say five copies of the thesis, and 19.3.2 says five of the synopsis. Prepare five of each and ask the research section before binding. Whatever you hand in, clause 20.1 says the hard and soft copies “must exactly be the same”, so don’t fix a typo in the printout without re-uploading.

After you submit

A board of three examiners, one from outside India, evaluates the thesis (clause 23.1). Corrections suggested by the examiners are made before the public viva, with a certificate from your supervisor (clause 23.5), and a revised thesis can’t come in more than three months later (clause 20.6). Once the degree is announced, the university sends a soft copy to the UGC within 30 days for hosting on INFLIBNET (clause 28). The regulations don’t describe the Shodhganga upload itself; our Shodhganga guide explains how it usually works. Publishing the thesis as a book needs Syndicate permission, requested within two years with a fee of ₹5,000, ₹3,000 of which is a refundable deposit (clause 27).

What the Periyar regulations don’t say

Don’t waste time looking for these in the regulations. They are not there:

• Margins, beyond the pointer to MLA or APA.
• Page numbering (Roman for preliminary pages is the usual practice, but it isn’t stated).
• Whether the thesis is printed on one side or both. Only the synopsis is specified as single-sided.
• Heading sizes, table and figure captions, or a list of tables and figures.
• The plagiarism software and its exclusion settings.
• The file format of the soft copy.

For each of these, your supervisor’s instruction is what counts. Get it once, early.

Periyar PhD thesis checklist before submission

Every item comes from the amended Ph.D. Regulations 2024.

• A4, 80 GSM bond paper, Times New Roman (or LaTeX) at 12 pt, line spacing of 1.5 or 2.0, and 250 pages or fewer counting every page from the cover to the last.
• The 16 parts are in the order of clause 20.7.3, and the abstract fits on two pages.
• The cover is soft wrapper binding on 300 GSM paper in blue #D6EBFF with black text, laid out like Annexure 12 (university department) or 13 (affiliated college).
• The supervisor’s certificate and your declaration follow the wording of Annexures 10 and 11.
• The plagiarism certificate (Annexure 14) carries your signature, your supervisor’s and the University Librarian’s, with the similarity report attached.
• The Tamil Virtual Academy certificate and the Tamil translation of your synopsis are bound into the thesis.
• Your two journal papers name your supervisor as sole corresponding author, and their first pages are at the back. If you work in a recognised research centre or affiliated college, they also carry the Periyar University affiliation line (clause 19.2, note iii).
• Five hard copies, exactly the same as the file you upload on the Research Section Management portal.
• You are within three months of your synopsis submission (or within the one-time three-month extension, fee paid).

If you want numbering, captions and references made consistent before the second doctoral committee meeting, our thesis formatting service does that. It changes presentation only; the content stays yours.