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University of Manchester

Doctoral Thesis & Master's Thesis (M.Phil.) Formatting Guidelines

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

Governing Body: Doctoral Academy & Library Research Services (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 Manchester Presentation of Theses Policy
View Official Handbook ↗
Paper Dimensions
A4 (210 mm × 297 mm)
Binding Margins
40 mm Left / 15 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: 15 mm
Binding: 40 mm
[Header]Page 1
[Front matter]
Right: 15 mm
Bottom: 15 mm
Left (Binding Gutter)
40mm
Right Margin
15mm
Top Margin
15mm
Bottom Margin
15mm
Margin Specification: Left binding edge: no less than 40 mm; other margins: no less than 15 mm (Clause 7.3).

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 block quotes, footnotes, tables, and bibliography.

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
    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

University of Manchester requires formal disclosure of generative AI assistance in the Word Count and Authorship declaration. Regulation 9.1(d) lists the AI declaration under non-compulsory pages (checked 2026-10-13).

8. Institutional & Departmental Policies

Theses Policy:

Conform strictly to the Presentation of Theses Policy (March 2026).

Continuous Arabic Pagination:

Clause 7.4-7.6: Continuous single sequence of Arabic numerals starting from Title Page as page 1. Roman numerals are strictly forbidden.

Declaration Originality:

Mandatory declaration certifying that no portion of work has been submitted for any other degree.

Repository Deposit:

Electronic submission to Pure / eScholar digital repository.

Institutional Policy: Presentation of Theses Policy covers Doctoral and Master's by Research degrees. Note: Roman numerals are prohibited under Section 7.6; page numbering must be continuous Arabic starting from page 1 on the title page (though suppressed on the title page itself).

Notice a discrepancy in this 2026 handbook?

Help keep University of Manchester formatting standards 100% verified for researchers.

Pre-Submission Baseline Assistant

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Don't spend days manually tweaking Microsoft Word margins, Roman numeral page breaks, and table headers. ScholarSpec prepares your raw draft to official University of Manchester 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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* Provisional ScholarSpec layout used where the cited handbook does not specify this value. Confirm with your thesis office before submission.

  • 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.
  • Corrected 2026-10-13 against primary sources: Dead StaffNet URL replaced by documents.manchester.ac.uk DocID=7420 (the policy document itself, version 12, March 2026). The Doctoral Academy brief URL (bmh.manchester.ac.uk submission-guidelines) now redirects to doctoral-academy.bmh.manchester.ac.uk home; not used as a source. Margins are a recommendation ('it is recommended ... no less than'), so rule JSON should not present them as mandatory. Key mismatches: abstract is one page max (no word cap), body pagination continues the single Arabic sequence rather than restarting at 1, and an AI Declaration is optional rather than required.