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✓ Verified 2026
CUHK

Chinese University of Hong Kong

Ph.D. Thesis & M.Phil. Thesis Formatting Guidelines

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

Governing Body: Graduate School Office (Hong Kong, HK)

Degree Scope:🎓 Ph.D. / Doctoralℹī¸ Master's / M.Tech. format requires departmental / DPGC confirmation unless a central handbook is cited
Official Handbook:
CUHK Guidelines on Thesis Preparation and Format Requirements
View Official Handbook ↗
Paper Dimensions
A4 (210 mm × 297 mm)
Binding Margins
38 mm Left / 25 mm Right
Standard Typography
Times New Roman (12pt)
Line Spacing
1.5x

1. Page Setup & Geometry

Page dimensions, binding margins, and print/digital alignments

A4
Top: 25 mm
Binding: 38 mm
[Header]Page 1
[Front matter]
Right: 25 mm
Bottom: 25 mm
Left (Binding Gutter)
38mm
Right Margin
25mm
Top Margin
25mm
Bottom Margin
25mm
Margin Specification: Left (binding edge): at least 1.5 in (38 mm); Right, Top, Bottom: 1.0 in (25 mm).

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
1.5x
Paragraph Indent
0.5 in
Approved Typefaces:Times New RomanArialCalibri
Spacing Exceptions: Single spacing for indented quotations, footnotes, tables, and references.

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
    AcknowledgementsOptional / If Applicable
    Pagination: roman visible
  4. 4
    Table of ContentsMandatory
    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

CUHK policy on Honesty in Academic Work and CLEAR GenAI guidelines require transparent disclosure and proper citation of generative AI tools used in research and thesis drafting.

8. Institutional & Departmental Policies

Bilingual Abstract:

Bilingual abstract in English (max 500 words) and Chinese (max 800 words for PhD, 200-500 words for Master's).

Word Limits:

Science subjects: max 50,000 words in English or 75,000 characters in Chinese. Other subjects: max 100,000 words in English or 150,000 characters in Chinese.

Submission System:

Online submission via CUSIS Thesis Monitoring System and VeriGuide declaration.

Institutional Policy: Postgraduate Student Handbook (VII-K) provides unified formatting guidance for Research Postgraduate (Ph.D. and M.Phil.) and Taught Doctoral students.

Notice a discrepancy in this 2026 handbook?

Help keep Chinese University of Hong Kong formatting standards 100% verified for researchers.

Pre-Submission Baseline Assistant

Save 20+ Hours of Manual Formatting

Don't spend days manually tweaking Microsoft Word margins, Roman numeral page breaks, and table headers. ScholarSpec prepares your raw draft to official Chinese University of Hong Kong guidelines in seconds.

Format with this Template ➔
✓High-Confidence A4 Margin & Gutter Setup
✓Automated Roman & Arabic Pagination Structure
✓Multi-Page Table Spanning & Header Protection
✓24-Hour Secure Storage & Instant Deletion (Strict Academic Privacy)
*ScholarSpec is a pre-submission formatting assistant. Output is calibrated to official university graduate handbooks.
Editorial Tutorials & Standards

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  • Downgraded to partial 2026-10-13: the verification block cites a landing page without a page-level formatting source. Re-verify margins, typography, and pagination against the institution's thesis handbook before marking verified.