VTU PhD thesis format

Which documents apply, and how VTU’s PhD is structured

Four VTU documents matter for your thesis:

• THESIS FORMAT (circular of 15 July 2025). Sets the order of pages, the cover wording, the certificate and both declarations. It is the one enforced with a fine.
• Guidelines for the preparation of Ph.D./M.Sc.(Engg.) Thesis. An older document, uploaded in 2019, with the physical layout: paper, spacing, margins, font sizes, numbering and references. It is written like a project-report guideline and uses words such as “report” and “project”. Nothing has replaced it, so its figures are still the only official layout specification.
• PhD Regulations 2023. Covers coursework, milestones, the synopsis, publications, adjudication and the INFLIBNET deposit.
• Thesis checklist (March 2026). What the Registrar (Evaluation) checks when you submit, including the current publication rule.

The VTU milestones

VTU’s PhD is organised in parts. Part I is coursework: at least 12 credits, including Research and Publication Ethics and Research Methodology, with 55% to pass. Part II is a Comprehensive Viva-Voce. Part III is two Open Seminars together with your publications. Part IV is the Pre-Submission Colloquium, followed by the synopsis and the thesis. The Research Advisory Committee (called the Doctoral Committee in older rules and on many forms) supervises each stage. Plan the thesis around these milestones, because the synopsis cannot be submitted until the colloquium is cleared.

Order of pages (2025 template)

The 2025 template numbers the first four pages I to IV in roman numerals and lists everything else in a fixed sequence. Two things differ from most universities: the acknowledgement comes before the abstract, and the publications list, with the front page of each paper, comes before the references.

The older guideline gives a different order (title page, abstract, acknowledgements, contents) and caps the abstract at 1,000 words. Where they differ, follow the 2025 template, because it is newer and it is the one enforced with a fine. The 1,000-word limit on the abstract is still a sensible target, since the template sets no other.

Page layout and typography

These figures come from VTU’s thesis preparation guideline:

• Paper: A4 bond paper (210 × 297 mm).
• Spacing: 1.5 line spacing.
• Margins: left 1.25 inches, right 1 inch, top and bottom 0.75 inches. These are narrower than at most Indian universities, so check that your template has not kept its own defaults.
• Font sizes: body text 12. “CHAPTER” and its number, left-aligned, 16. The chapter title, centred, 18. Section numbers and headings 16. Sub-section numbers and headings 14.
• Page numbers: roman numerals for the front matter and arabic numerals from Chapter 1. The 2025 template shows the numbers at the bottom centre.
• Printing: the guideline says one side of the paper. The 2025 template does not mention printing sides. Check with your Research Centre whether the hard copy it sends should be one-sided.
• Software: LaTeX or Word are both acceptable.

The guideline does not name a typeface for the thesis body. VTU’s synopsis format uses Times New Roman, and most VTU theses use it, but that is convention, not a written rule.

Making the PDF

The 2026 checklist says: do not convert the Word file with online tools, and use Microsoft’s “Print to PDF” instead. Online converters can change fonts and layout, and they upload an unpublished thesis to someone else’s server.

Headings, tables, figures and equations

• Headings use decimal numbering: Chapter 2, sections 2.1 and 2.2, sub-sections 2.2.1 and 2.5.1.
• Tables and figures are numbered by chapter, for example “Fig 2.1 Block diagram of a serial binary adder” or “Table 3.1 Primitive flow table”. Each should appear on the same page where it is first mentioned or on the next page, preferably at the top or bottom of the page. The guideline does not say whether captions go above or below. The usual engineering convention is table captions above and figure captions below.
• Equations: use SI units throughout. Number important equations by chapter, for example (3.2), and align the numbers to the right.
• The last chapter summarises the work, your contributions and their use, and the scope for further work. The 2025 template also has a separate “Conclusions and Future Works” section.
• Hardware and software work: hardware theses give component layouts and data sheets in an appendix. Software theses should provide a virus-free disc with a readme file.

References and the publications list

VTU uses a numbered reference system. References are “numbered serially in the order of their occurrence in the text”, and the numbers appear in square brackets. This is close to IEEE style, which most engineering scholars already use in their papers, so there is usually little to convert. Our IEEE formatting guide covers the details the VTU guideline does not, such as abbreviating journal names, conference papers and online sources.

Your own papers go in a separate publications list before the references, with the front page of each published paper. You also submit a Certificate of Genuineness of the Publication (the current format is dated January 2026). It states that the paper’s content is part of your thesis, so a paper on an unrelated topic will not satisfy the requirement.

The publication requirement

The requirement has changed several times. Use the checklist for your batch:

• The 2023 regulations require at least two papers in UGC CARE, Scopus, SCI or Web of Science journals before the pre-submission colloquium.
• The 2026 checklist requires one paper in a Q1 to Q3 Scopus-indexed journal for scholars in recent USN batches. Earlier batches can instead meet the rule with two UGC CARE papers or two Scopus, SCI or Web of Science papers.
• Your name and your guide’s name must be on the papers, and the Doctoral Committee must sign them.

Quartiles are shown on Scopus-derived sources and can change from year to year. Our Scopus indexing guide explains how to check a journal’s current status before you submit to it.

VTU’s plagiarism limit: 25% or 10%

This is the point on which VTU’s own documents disagree most. The anti-plagiarism procedure on VTU’s PhD formats page gives a permitted similarity index of 25% or less. Above that, you resubmit with a fee, and the fee is higher the second time. The PhD Manual 2024 gives 10% or less, with the bibliography, index and references excluded. The 2023 regulations refer to separate VTU academic-integrity regulations, allow three attempts and give no percentage.

Our advice is to aim for 10% or less on the chapters. That meets both figures and the UGC’s Level 0. The anti-plagiarism report is bound into the thesis. According to the 2026 checklist, the plagiarism check starts only after the complete final thesis has been uploaded and the hard copy received. The synopsis also needs a plagiarism report, obtained at your Research Centre. Our plagiarism limits guide explains how the levels and exclusions work.

Synopsis, copies and INFLIBNET

Synopsis

After the Pre-Submission Colloquium (up to three attempts, each within three months), you submit a synopsis in English in VTU’s standard format, at least three months before the thesis. The synopsis format sets Times New Roman: 18 bold for the title, 16 and 14 for headings, and 12 for the body. Its sections are Introduction, Problem Statement, Literature Survey, Objective, Methodology, Outcome, Summary and References. The 2026 checklist also refers to a “long synopsis” covering every chapter. VTU sets no page or word limit for either.

Thesis submission and copies

Submission is now largely online. You upload the thesis to VTU’s evaluation portal, and VTU sends soft copies to the adjudicators. The documents differ on hard copies. The 2023 regulations’ annexures ask for two hard copies and a PDF on CD. The 2026 checklist asks for one hard copy of the synopsis, and the checking starts only after a hard copy of the thesis is received. The PhD Manual says hard copies of the final thesis are no longer accepted. The older guideline’s “plastic cover” binding, with a white inner title page, still describes department and guide copies. Ask the Registrar (Evaluation) how many copies you need and in what binding for your submission. VTU has not specified a cover colour.

Adjudication and the viva

You propose a panel of twelve examiners, six in Group A and six in Group B. The Vice-Chancellor picks one from each group, and their reports are due within 45 days. After the viva, you upload the corrected thesis with a table of corrections and send one hard copy to the Registrar (Evaluation).

Shodhganga

Under the 2023 regulations, the Registrar (Evaluation) deposits the final corrected thesis with INFLIBNET, so you do not upload it to Shodhganga yourself. VTU holds the copyright in the thesis. Your final corrected upload is the file that gets deposited, so check it carefully.

Pre-submission checklist

Go through this before you print. Where VTU’s documents disagree, check with your Research Centre.

• Pages follow the July 2025 VTU THESIS FORMAT exactly: cover, certificate, supervisor declaration, scholar declaration, then acknowledgement, abstract and index. The template warns that a fine will be imposed otherwise.
• The cover shows your USN, the guide and co-guide, and the Research Centre details, and it has a border.
• The certificate is on Research Centre letterhead, with seals and signatures from the co-guide, guide, Head of the Research Centre and Head of the Institution.
• Paper is A4 at 1.5 spacing, with margins of left 1.25″, right 1″, top and bottom 0.75″ (from VTU’s published thesis guideline).
• Font sizes: body 12, chapter number 16, chapter title 18 (centred), section headings 16, sub-section headings 14.
• Equations are numbered by chapter, for example (3.2), and right-aligned. SI units are used throughout.
• References are numbered in order of citation, with the numbers in square brackets in the text.
• The publications list includes the front page of each published paper, and the Genuineness Certificate (January 2026 format) is signed.
• Your paper meets the publication rule on the current checklist for your USN batch.
• The PDF was made with Microsoft Print to PDF, not an online converter.
• The similarity report has been produced and bound in, under the threshold your Research Centre applies (see the plagiarism section).
• The synopsis title and thesis title match, and the synopsis follows VTU’s synopsis format.

Common mistakes

• Using a senior’s pre-2025 thesis as a model. The 2025 template changed the order of pages and added the supervisor’s declaration.
• Putting the abstract before the acknowledgement, or the references before the publications list. VTU’s order is the other way round in both cases.
• Keeping the template’s default margins. VTU’s margins are 1.25″ left, 1″ right and 0.75″ top and bottom.
• Assuming a 25% similarity figure is safe. Aim for 10% so that either threshold is met.
• Using an old publication rule. Current batches need a Q1–Q3 Scopus paper, and the paper’s content must be part of the thesis.
• Converting to PDF with an online tool, which the checklist forbids.

If you would like the layout, numbering and references checked against VTU’s documents before submission, our thesis editing and proofreading service includes a format pass. We work on presentation, and the research stays yours.