University of Kerala PhD thesis format and submission rules

Does the University of Kerala prescribe a PhD thesis format?

No document from the University gives one. The 2022 regulations of Kerala talk about admission, supervision, coursework and evaluation. About the look of the thesis page they are silent. Even the submission form only says how many copies and which certificates. Layout is not there.

Then how to decide margins and font? Ask your supervisor for two or three recent theses that were passed in your department, and follow the same layout. Shodhganga also has many University of Kerala theses in your subject.

Some departments have no fixed habit. In that case you can go with what most Indian theses use. That is A4 paper, 12 point serif font and 1.5 line spacing. Keep the left margin around 1.5 inches for binding, and one inch on top, bottom and right. Please remember this is only common practice. It is not a University of Kerala rule.

Page order is also not fixed. The form asks only that your declaration and the supervisor’s report come inside the thesis. Most scholars use the order given in our thesis structure guide. In that order you start with the title page and put the declaration after it. Then comes the supervisor’s certificate, then acknowledgement, then contents. After that the lists of tables and figures, abbreviations, the chapters, references and appendices. If you want to see a university which has put these things in writing, look at the University of Madras format.

What do the University of Kerala PhD Regulations 2022 say about the thesis?

These regulations bring the UGC’s 2022 PhD regulations into force at Kerala. The Academic Council approved them on 21.11.2023, and the University issued them on 07.12.2023. From the January 2024 session, whoever gets registered is covered by them (clause 1(2)). Scholars who were registered already come under clause 16. It says you are governed either by these regulations or by the UGC 2016 regulations. So if you joined before 2024, first find out which set applies to you.

Only a few clauses touch the thesis, and they are short:

• Clause 9(3). You need 55% or more in coursework (or the equal grade) before submitting.
• Clause 11(2). You present before the Department Doctoral Committee before submission.
• Clauses 11(3) and 11(4). The plagiarism software, your undertaking, and the certificate from your supervisor.
• Clauses 11(5) to 11(7). How evaluation and the viva-voce happen, and the six-month time limit.
• Clause 17. An electronic copy is sent to INFLIBNET.

Under clause 4 you get three to six years from the date of admission. The Syndicate may give two years extra. Women scholars, and scholars having more than 40% disability, can get another two years on top of that.

What similarity limit does the University of Kerala accept?

There is no limit given in the 2022 regulations. In clause 11(3) the University just says it will do the plagiarism check with “well-developed software applications”. Which software, and what percentage, it does not mention. We also could not find any University of Kerala circular giving a limit.

But clause 11(4) does ask for two papers to go with the thesis:

1. Your own undertaking saying the thesis has no plagiarism.
2. A certificate from your supervisor saying the thesis is original and free of plagiarism, and was not submitted for any degree or diploma in another institution.

A guide who has not seen similarity report can’t honestly sign that certificate. So practically you have to run the check before anything else. Ask your research centre how they do it and who will give you the report. Kerala has not set any number of its own. The national bands are in the UGC’s 2018 plagiarism regulations, and our plagiarism limits guide goes through each band.

Our suggestion is to not chase a percentage at all. Long quotations and your own published papers are mostly what push the figure up. So trim the long quotes, and cite your own papers properly.

How is the pre-submission seminar conducted at the University of Kerala?

Clause 11(2) of the 2022 regulations wants you to give a talk before the Department Doctoral Committee before you submit. Faculty and research scholars can attend it. The actual steps come from two older University orders. U.O. No. 733/2019 dated 07.11.2019 already had the rule on who signs the panel of experts, and the later order mentions this. After that, the order dated 13.01.2021 (Ac.E1/A4/18881/2020) came out to improve the standard of these seminars. That order added who must attend, and how the corrections are recorded. Between the two orders, the steps are like this:

1. 1

   Panel of experts

   Your supervisor, the head of the department and the Dean of the Faculty sign the panel for your pre-submission seminar (U.O. No. 733/2019, dated 07.11.2019).

2. 2

   Open presentation

   You present your work before the Department Doctoral Committee. As per clause 11(2) of the 2022 regulations, any faculty member or research scholar can attend the session.

3. 3

   Officials present

   The three officials who signed the panel have to be at the seminar, and the observer also.

4. 4

   Corrections recorded

   The experts suggest corrections. These are written as a list and submitted along with the seminar minutes, and the same officials sign it.

5. 5

   Revise, then apply

   Finish the corrections first. Only after that, print the four copies you will submit.

Many scholars are taking the signed list of corrections lightly. Actually it is the written proof of what the experts asked you to change. So do every correction on it, or keep a clear reason ready for the ones you did not do. How soon after the seminar you must submit, the order does not say. To prepare for the talk itself, our pre-submission seminar guide will help.

How do you submit a PhD thesis at the University of Kerala?

You submit using the Application for Submission of Thesis for Research Degree. You can download it from the application forms page of the University. The instructions printed on it say what the set should contain.

What goes in

• Four copies of the thesis (instructions 2(a) and 5).
• Ten copies of a one-page synopsis. As per instruction 4(vii), your name and the name of your supervisor should not be on it.
• The fee. For the PhD the form shows ₹3,500, which is non-refundable. Attach the original pay-in slip or DD. The form is a few years old, so check this amount with the office once.
• Originals (instruction 4). You need your master’s degree certificate, the registration order and the change-of-title order if there is one. If your master’s degree is from another university, add its recognition also. Then a non-liability certificate from your institution, clearance from Kerala University Library, and a fee statement countersigned by your guide.
• A passport-size photograph pasted on the form and attested by your supervisor.

Rules that catch people

Instruction 2(b) allows you to send the application, fee and synopses up to three months before the thesis. But if the thesis does not reach within those three months, the fee is lost. As per instruction 6, any change of title needs University approval before you apply, and you write the order number on the form. Instruction 9 is about publishing. Even if the thesis is not approved, you still need University sanction to publish it.

This form is older than the 2022 regulations. So you will not see the plagiarism undertaking or the originality certificate in it. Still attach both of them, because clause 11(4) requires them.

How is the thesis evaluated, and does it go to Shodhganga?

As per clause 11(5), the thesis is evaluated by your supervisor and minimum two external examiners. The externals should not be University staff, and if possible one of them should be from outside India. When both externals recommend acceptance, you go for the viva-voce. The board has your supervisor and one or both externals. It can be conducted online, and faculty and scholars are allowed to attend.

Suppose one external rejects the thesis. Clause 11(6) then brings an alternate examiner from the approved panel. There is no viva till this examiner also says accept. The University has six months from submission to complete everything, viva result also included (clause 11(7)). Even the form says no interim enquiries will be entertained, so don’t call for status.

Clause 17 wants the University to send an electronic copy to INFLIBNET for hosting, once evaluation is over successfully and degree is not yet declared. Shodhganga is not named in the regulations, and who prepares the file is also not said. Ask the Academic section about this. How the deposit usually happens is given in our Shodhganga guide.

University of Kerala PhD thesis submission checklist

Each point below comes from either the 2022 regulations or the submission form. For anything not covered in those two, you sit with your supervisor and decide.

• Your admission is from the January 2024 session or later, so the 2022 regulations cover you. Joined before that? Check with the Academic section which rules apply to your submission (clause 16).
• Your pre-submission seminar is over, and the list of corrections is signed and kept with the minutes.
• If your thesis title was changed, you have the University order approving it, in original.
• Your declaration and your supervisor’s report are bound inside the thesis. Your plagiarism undertaking and the originality certificate from your supervisor are also ready (clause 11(4)).
• You have four copies of the thesis printed, and ten copies of the one-page synopsis with no names on it.
• The originals in instruction 4 of the application form are kept ready, along with the fee receipt and the attested photograph.
• You and your supervisor have fixed the margins, font, spacing, binding and reference style, since no University document gives them.

Since Kerala does not fix the layout, the common problem is a thesis where chapters don’t follow the same style. Our thesis formatting service brings the whole thesis into the one style you and your guide have chosen. We touch only the format, the content remains your own.