PhD thesis writing support in Delhi

What does each Delhi university fix about the thesis you hand in?

The table compares five sets of rules (which institutions admit PhD scholars, and how, is in our guide to PhD admission in Delhi). Each cell comes from the university’s own ordinance, format notice or library guideline. Where a column says “not stated”, we couldn’t find the point in any document the university publishes.

Two things stand out. First, only GGSIPU and IIT Delhi write down page settings. At DU the margins, font and citation style are for you and your supervisor to choose. Our Delhi University thesis format guide goes into that in detail. Second, copy counts vary a lot. A Jamia scholar prints four bound copies and a DU scholar prints one. An IIT Delhi scholar prints nothing until after the viva.

GGSIPU’s own documents don’t agree on copies. The June 2023 “Organization & Formats” notice asks for three soft-bound copies before evaluation and two maroon hard-cover copies afterwards. Then came the amendment approved by the Board of Management on 19 June 2025. Under it, the School forwards one soft-bound copy with a single PDF. You give one hard-bound copy, with the university’s copyright page, before the award is notified. So which count applies in your year? Ask the Controller of Examinations before you pay for printing.

How long after the pre-PhD presentation can a Delhi scholar submit, and what restarts the clock?

Every Delhi university makes you present the finished work to an open audience of faculty and scholars. Our pre-submission seminar guide covers the talk itself. What differs is the time you get afterwards.

• University of Delhi: three months. Clause M.3 of the revised Ordinance VI gives you three months from the pre-Ph.D. presentation. Clause M.6 adds a second limit: you submit within 30 days of the library’s plagiarism check. The earlier version allowed six months, so a senior’s timetable may mislead you. But clause 2 keeps scholars registered before the revision under the UGC regulations adopted at the time. Confirm with your department which window is yours. Our DU admission guide covers the stages before this one.
• Jamia Millia Islamia: six months. Clause 12(b) of Ordinance 9 (IX) lets you submit any time within six months of the pre-Ph.D. presentation. Miss it and you present again. Clause 12(c) makes the RAC confirm that the seminar’s suggestions are in the final text.
• GGSIPU: three months, extendable to six. Clause 9.4 of Ordinance 12 (2023) counts from the RAC’s approval of the pre-submission presentation. The Dean may add three months on the SRC’s recommendation. After six months, you present again. Under the 2025 amendment you give the RAC three hard copies of the pre-submission synopsis and a PDF on a pen drive.
• IIT Delhi: six months preferred, nine at most. Regulation R.12.5 of the PhD Ordinances and Regulations says the synopsis goes in only when your supervisor is confident you’ll submit within two or three months. R.14.6 then asks for the thesis within six months of the synopsis approval if possible, and no later than nine. Miss that and the pre-PhD presentation and synopsis are repeated. The synopsis itself is limited to 4–6 pages.
• JNU. The 2022 Ordinance sets no window after the presentation. It’s in clause 12 of Ordinance 13 (B), part of the Academic Ordinances. It does need the Central Library’s plagiarism certificate before you submit. And you get six months to resubmit if an examiner returns the thesis. The earlier stages are in our JNU admission guide.

So the lesson is the same everywhere. Your chapters should be finished, and read by your supervisor, before you present, not after. At DU above all, three months leaves room for corrections and the library check. It doesn’t leave room to write a missing chapter. Our synopsis format guide helps with the 4–6 pages IIT Delhi allows.

Which Delhi theses need a Hindi abstract, and which can be written in another language?

Language is where Delhi universities differ most from each other.

IIT Delhi lists the front matter in Annexure C of its regulations. The order is: the copyright notice, the names and affiliations of the external examiners and SRC members, your declaration, the supervisor’s certificate and acknowledgements. Then comes “Abstract English”, followed by “Abstract Hindi”, and only then the contents. The submission form also asks for your name and thesis title in Hindi. Regulation R.14.2 allows the thesis itself in English, Hindi or another regional language. A Hindi abstract written in a hurry reads badly to a Hindi-speaking examiner. So draft it once your English abstract is final, and ask a colleague who writes academic Hindi to read it.

Jamia Millia Islamia expects English as the norm. But clause 12(e) lets scholars in the Faculty of Humanities & Languages and the Faculty of Fine Arts write in another language, with the DRC or CRC’s prior approval. Whatever the language, clause 12(j) wants the abstract (also called the synopsis) in English as well. Annexure V fixes its shape. You give a title, five keywords and the abstract. The last page is a profile of no more than 200 words: your date and place of birth, nationality, email and qualifications.

GGSIPU requires English unless the RAC recommends otherwise and the SRC approves within one year of registration (clause 9.6). A request made in the fourth year is too late under that rule.

The University of Delhi and JNU say nothing in their ordinances about the language of the thesis. If you want to write in Hindi at DU, get your department’s and BRS’s agreement in writing first.

What do Delhi thesis declarations make you certify, including about AI and outside help?

Every Delhi thesis carries a signed statement, and the newer ones are specific.

• IIT Delhi’s declaration is printed with the Central Library’s 2026 thesis submission guidelines. It has eight points. You confirm that you followed the Institute’s thesis guidelines and Honor Code. You confirm that no data was collected without permission, and that ethical approval was obtained where required. And you confirm that any use of AI tools, large language models included, has been disclosed, with all analysis, interpretations and conclusions your own. The other option is to declare that no AI tools were used at all.
• DU’s Ordinance VI names “Artificial Intelligence generated content” in clause E.14, next to fabrication, falsification and plagiarism. It’s misconduct that can lead to cancellation. Clause M.13 needs your undertaking and your supervisor’s originality certificate, both countersigned by the Head.
• GGSIPU’s format notice puts three documents before the acknowledgement. They are a Certificate of Originality signed by you and your supervisor, the supervisor’s certificate excluding your self-published work, and the consent form for Shodhganga. A January 2025 notice added more. The thesis and its pen-drive copy must now carry your ORCID iD and a one-page plagiarism report with the detailed analysis. Our researcher profiles guide explains ORCID.
• Jamia and JNU each require a declaration of originality, countersigned by the supervisor (Jamia’s format is Annexure VIII, with the supervisor’s certificate in Annexure IX).

These declarations are why we only review. We comment on your drafts, suggest a new structure where it helps and mark language problems in tracked changes. You decide what to accept and what to rewrite. That keeps every sentence yours to sign for. It’s also how our ethics policy works. Did you use an AI tool for language at any stage? Tell us. We can then help you describe it accurately in the IIT Delhi disclosure, or talk it through with your supervisor under DU’s clause E.14. What is usually safe is set out in using AI tools in your PhD.

Working with us from Delhi

The first conversation is on video. We cover where your thesis stands, which university’s rules apply and what date you’re working back from. If you’re at DU or GGSIPU, that date is your pre-PhD presentation. The three-month window after it is too short for major rewriting. So we plan the chapter reviews to finish before you present. The weeks afterwards are kept for the seminar’s suggestions, the pass that ties the chapters together and the library check.

At Jamia, the last pass takes in the thesis layout before you print four bound copies. That means 1.5 spacing on both sides, the Annexure VI and VII cover pages, and the English synopsis with its five keywords and 200-word profile. At IIT Delhi it takes in the Annexure C front matter in the right order. We leave room for the Hindi abstract, which you or a Hindi-writing colleague prepare. Our review covers the English text. For GGSIPU we check your front matter against the 2023 format notice, margins included.

Printing, binding and handing copies to the Examination Branch, the Controller of Examinations or your School stay your job. So do the RAC and DRC meetings and every signature. We never submit anything on your behalf.