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University of Birmingham

Ph.D. Thesis Formatting Guidelines

Official layout specifications, binding margins, and document formatting requirements.

Governing Body: University Graduate School & UBIRA Team (England, UK)

Degree Scope:🎓 Ph.D. / Doctoralℹī¸ Master's / M.Tech. format requires departmental / DPGC confirmation unless a central handbook is cited
Official Handbook:
University of Birmingham Regulation 7: Assessment of Research Degree Programmes & UBIRA Thesis Presentation Guidelines
View Official Handbook ↗
Paper Dimensions
A4 (210 mm × 297 mm)
Binding Margins
30 mm Left / 20 mm Right
Standard Typography
Times New Roman (12pt)*
Line Spacing
Double Spaced (2.0x)

1. Page Setup & Geometry

Page dimensions, binding margins, and print/digital alignments

A4
Top: 30 mm
Binding: 30 mm
[Header]Page 1
[Front matter]
Right: 20 mm
Bottom: 30 mm
Left (Binding Gutter)
30mm
Right Margin
20mm
Top Margin
30mm
Bottom Margin
30mm
Margin Specification: Binding edge at least 30 mm (mandatory); 20 mm outer and 30 mm top/bottom are stated as desirable.

2. Typography & Spacing Hierarchy

Font selections, heading styles, line spacing, and paragraph indentation

Times New Roman*
Body Font
Times New Roman*
Font Size
12pt
Line Spacing
Double Spaced (2.0x)
Paragraph Indent
1.27 cm
Approved Typefaces:Times New RomanArialCalibri
Spacing Exceptions: Single-space block quotes, footnotes, tables, and bibliography items.

3. Technical & Archival Compliance

ETD ProQuest repository requirements, table spanning, and vector DPI rules

Institute ETD / library deposit
Tables Layout

Table captions: above.

Figures & Graphics

Figure captions: below. Colour photography minimum 300 DPI.

Math & Formulae

Right-aligned equation numbers (chapter.seq). Preserves native MathML and Word equation blocks.

Archival Preservation

Library ETD guideline: PDF/A-1b (Note: ScholarSpec formats submission-ready Word .docx documents; export to PDF/A upon final committee approval).

4. Preliminary Pages Checklist & Order

Strict graduate school ordering, title page numbering suppression, and Roman pagination

Mandatory Sequence
  1. 1
    Title PageMandatory
    Pagination: suppressed counted
  2. 2
    AbstractMandatory
    Pagination: roman visible
  3. 3
    DedicationOptional / If Applicable
    Pagination: roman visible
  4. 4
    AcknowledgementsMandatory
    Pagination: roman visible
    Requirement: Must include explicit Generative AI declaration if any GenAI tools were utilized.
  5. 5
    Declaration of AuthorshipMandatory
    Pagination: roman visible
  6. 6
    Table of ContentsMandatory
    Pagination: roman visible
  7. 7
    List of FiguresOptional / If Applicable
    Pagination: roman visible
  8. 8
    List of TablesOptional / If Applicable
    Pagination: roman visible

6. Academic Integrity, Similarity & AI Policy

Plagiarism threshold, similarity checking software, and Generative AI disclosure rules

Policy & Disclosure
Generative AI Policy
Disclosure Statement Required

University Code of Practice on Academic Integrity requires explicit disclosure in the acknowledgements or preliminary declaration, stating the tool name, purpose, and confirming originality.

Chapter Opening & Print Setup

Chapter start placement, top margin drops, single vs double-sided print, and paper weight

Layout
Printing Format
Single or Double-Sided

Notice a discrepancy in this 2025 handbook?

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*ScholarSpec is a pre-submission formatting assistant. Output is calibrated to official university graduate handbooks.
Editorial Tutorials & Standards

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* Provisional ScholarSpec layout used where the cited handbook does not specify this value. Confirm with your thesis office before submission.

  • Body line spacing strictly double (2.0x); single spacing allowed for block quotes, footnotes, captions, and tables.
  • Left binding margin 40 mm (approx 1.5 in), other margins 25 mm (1.0 in).
  • Digital deposit to UBIRA repository since January 2024.
  • Corrected 2026-10-13 against primary sources: Dead URLs replaced: Regulation-7.pdf (old as/registry path) -> 2025-26 cohort-legislation Section 7 PDF; UBIRA page is the deposit repository, not a format source. Claimed permittedUses says 'with supervisor approval' - supervisor approval is not stated in the cited pages. Claimed 40/25/25/25 mm appears to be an extrapolation; official figures are 30 mm binding minimum with 30 top/bottom and 20 outer 'desirable'. All official pages are on intranet.birmingham.ac.uk and load publicly (HTTP 200).