University of Southampton
Ph.D. Thesis Formatting Guidelines
Official layout specifications, binding margins, and document formatting requirements.
Governing Body: Doctoral College & EPrints Service (Hampshire, UK)
1. Page Setup & Geometry
Page dimensions, binding margins, and print/digital alignments
2. Typography & Spacing Hierarchy
Font selections, heading styles, line spacing, and paragraph indentation
3. Technical & Archival Compliance
ETD ProQuest repository requirements, table spanning, and vector DPI rules
Table captions: above.
Figure captions: below. Colour photography minimum 300 DPI.
Right-aligned equation numbers (chapter.seq). Preserves native MathML and Word equation blocks.
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
- 1Title PageMandatoryPagination:
suppressed countedRequirement: Must state thesis title, candidate's full name, degree, and University of Southampton. - 2Declaration of AuthorshipMandatoryPagination:
roman visibleRequirement: Mandatory statement confirming own work, detailing joint contributions, and declaring compliance with generative AI regulations. - 3AbstractMandatoryPagination:
roman visible - 4AcknowledgementsOptional / If ApplicablePagination:
roman visible - 5Table of ContentsMandatoryPagination:
roman visible - 6List of FiguresOptional / If ApplicablePagination:
roman visible - 7List of TablesOptional / If ApplicablePagination:
roman visible
6. Academic Integrity, Similarity & AI Policy
Plagiarism threshold, similarity checking software, and Generative AI disclosure rules
University of Southampton requires completed Declaration of Authorship in preliminary pages with explicit generative AI compliance.
Chapter Opening & Print Setup
Chapter start placement, top margin drops, single vs double-sided print, and paper weight
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- Binding edge margin not less than 40 mm (1.5 in); other margins not less than 15-20 mm.
- Each section or chapter should start on a new page (Feb 2026 guidance states no recto/odd-page requirement).
- Final e-thesis submitted via PGR Manager in unencrypted, searchable PDF/A-3 format.
- Corrected 2026-10-13 against primary sources: Brief's dead URL (producing-and-submitting-your-thesis.page) is replaced by the Quality Handbook PDF. The current guidance (Feb 2026) supersedes the older 'Producing your thesis' wording (40 mm binding edge, odd-page chapter starts, double-sided printing) that likely seeded the rule file; the old document is not cited because it was not confirmed as current. Left alignment only ('left justification only of text'), paragraph spacing rather than indents to mark new paragraphs (claimed 0.5 in indent unsupported). Faculty/school-specific rules may add requirements. Rule file should be updated to 25 mm L/R, 15 mm T/B portrait.