Master’s students must submit their research topic before the end of the second semester of enrolment in the program. Doctoral students must submit their research topic before the end of the third term of enrolment (Academic Regulation C-7- Theses, Article 7.4)

You can view if your thesis topic is on file by accessing your Candidate Center in uoZone

• From the uoZone Application tab, click Candidate Center.
• In Candidate Center, the My Research Projects section lists all current and past research projects. Each project has Research Topics and Supervisors subsections.

A thesis is a significant original body of work produced by a student during his or her studies at the University.

Thesis type

A thesis must assume one of the following formats:

• a monograph, or
• a thesis in the form of one or more articles prepared for publication in peer-reviewed journals.

The same ethical and quality standards apply to all theses, regardless of the format they assume.

For more information on writing your thesis, see Writing your thesis webpage and Academic Regulation C-7.3 for more details about the different formats.

Additional information on writing a thesis as a series of articles

Writing a thesis as a series of articles (also known as paper-based) is a possible thesis style in all programs.

Epidemiology (EPI) students

Epidemiology students are to refer to the Guidance for Thesis by Manuscript for details about manuscript-based theses in the School of Epidemiology and Public Health.

BCH, CMM, MIC and NSC students

The below information pertains to BCH, CMM, MIC and NSC programs.

Permission to write a thesis by articles, as opposed to a Monograph thesis, is granted by the Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC) using the Thesis by Articles (PDF) form found on the Forms webpage under the research paper and thesis section. Final approval from the Graduate office is required.

Not all students will have produced work suitable for presentation in the thesis by article format. In the Faculty of Medicine, this style is very rare at the Master’s level, and a thesis consisting of a single research article is not accepted.

Master’s and doctoral theses are subject to the below criteria;

• The students applying for the doctoral program should have at least 3 manuscripts that are published, accepted or submitted. At least 2 of the 3 manuscripts must be published or accepted.
• The students applying for the master's program should have one published or submitted manuscript.
• The student must be first or co-first author on a minimum of 2 manuscripts
• The work presented in the papers/manuscripts must be original and must advance the field of research significantly. Review articles cannot count toward the required number of articles.
• The student must have made substantive contributions to each manuscript.
• The student must have contributed significantly to the writing of each manuscript (i.e. the student wrote the manuscript draft including the results, methods and discussion sections related to his/her data contributions).

References:

• Students will need to unformat their papers/manuscripts and renumber the figures sequentially as they will appear in the thesis.
• One continuous bibliography should be used for the entire thesis. 

For students in BCH, CMM, MIC and NSC:

• At the last Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting, students will present their data and formally request "permission to write" from their TAC committee to write their thesis full-time.
• Once granted, students must submit the Permission to Write (PDF) or the Thesis by Article (PDF) forms (depending on the thesis type) attached to a Service Request, under the category TAC.
• The Graduate office will review the student's request for Permission to write. Note: All program requirements aside from the thesis must be completed successfully prior to obtaining permission to write.
• In BCH and MIC, obtaining permission to write satisfies the seminar series requirement (5366/8366), as long as your Student Seminar Report (PDF) are up to date
• Completion of an MSc thesis should take about 2 months and a PhD thesis about 3 months, but students are expected to submit their thesis within 6 months of obtaining permission to write. A Progress Report will be required to enable future enrollment after that point (a hold will result).

Forms can be found on the Forms webpage under the research paper and thesis section.  

Additional notes

• Please note that a maximum of one TAC member can be nominated as a Thesis Examiner, as per the Submission of the Thesis section below.
• The student must enrol in the term in which the thesis is officially submitted for evaluation.

At least one month before submitting their thesis for evaluation, students must submit their proposed list of examiners for approval in uoZone/Service Request using the The List of Examiners for the Evaluation of the Thesis form available on the Forms webpage under the research paper and thesis section.

It is the supervisor's responsibility to contact the examiners and nominate only those who have agreed to participate in the evaluation.

Failure to submit the list of examiners prior to submitting the thesis for evaluation may result in delays of the student’s thesis defence.  

Thesis evaluator guidelines

• MSc students in Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Microbiology and Neuroscience
  • The list must include a minimum of two eligible internal examiners. A maximum of one TAC member can be nominated (optional).
• MSc students in EPI
  • The list must include a minimum of two eligible internal examiners, which cannot be TAC members
• PhD students in Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Microbiology and Neuroscience
  • The list may contain a maximum of one TAC member
  • The list must include:
    1. no less than four, and no more than seven examiners
    2. a maximum of one TAC member
    3. at least one will be external examiner who meets the requirements specified in the Academic Regulation C-7 - Thesis. The external examiner must be free from any possible conflict of interest with the student or supervisor  
• PhD students in EPI  
  • The above list applies, with the exception that a TAC member cannot be nominated as an examiner for the thesis.

Additional document(s) to submit for PhD students

• An abstract of the thesis.
• The student's CV
• The external examiner’s CV.
  If possible, the external examiner’s CV should include their birthday (day/month/year) to facilitate obtaining access to our evaluation portal.

Prior to the submission of the thesis for evaluation, the thesis supervisor must contact the thesis evaluators to ensure their availability for a tentative thesis defence date and time. 

Note: As of January 1st, 2025, the student, supervisor, and internal examiners must attend the scheduled defence in-person. External examiners will continue to attend virtually or in-person.

When setting a date and time for the defence, the supervisor must adhere to the following guidelines:

• The date of the defence should normally be no earlier than 8 weeks after the thesis is submitted for evaluation. (8 weeks are necessary to accommodate the initial processing of the thesis [examiner approvals, thesis distribution, etc.], the thesis evaluation period, and the university recommended two weeks for students to review comments prior to the defence).

• The recommended times slots are:

  • 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. OR 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

• All thesis evaluators and supervisor(s) must attend the defence

The tentative defence date and time must be indicated on the Thesis Submission form (available on the Forms webpage under 'research paper and thesis') included with the submitted thesis by service request.

The Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Office reserves the right to request a new defence date if it does not conform to the guidelines or if a significant delay occurs during the evaluation process.

A student must be enrolled to the thesis activity to submit his/her thesis.

At the Faculty of Medicine, a thesis will be considered officially submitted for evaluation once all of the following are submitted:

1. The List of Examiners for the Evaluation of the Thesis form (PDF) 
   Information regarding the list of examiners is available above.
2. One electronic copy of the thesis  
   Students must submit a request for the "Submission of the thesis for Written Evaluation" through uoZone/Service Request (you might be required to click on View all to see all the options offered in the Research Category). This Service Request must include the .pdf copy of the thesis in attachment and must be approved by their primary supervisor.
3. The Thesis Submission form (PDF) 
   Students must submit the form in the same service request as the .pdf copy their thesis.

Forms can be found on the Forms webpage under the research paper and thesis section.  

More information

• Submission and Evaluation
• Deadlines for thesis submission
  Refer to the term of interest under the tab Reports, major research papers and theses (graduate studies)

Once the thesis has been submitted for evaluation, the student and the thesis supervisor(s) may not communicate with the examiners about the thesis evaluation until the thesis has been defended.

Typically, a thesis defence at the Faculty of Medicine will take place within 3 months of submitting.

The minimum evaluation period for a thesis (MSc or PhD) is 6 weeks. The Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Office (GPSO) attempts to provide feedback from the examiners to the student at least 2 weeks before the oral defence, however some evaluations encounter delays.

Once all examiners have submitted their comments, feedback will be circulated to all participants. If all examiners have indicated the thesis could proceed to defense, the defense will be considered confirmed and will proceed as scheduled.

Please consult the Academic Regulation C-7 - Thesis, section 7.11 - Thesis Defence. 

As of January 1, 2025, the student, supervisor and members of the thesis committee with the exception of the external examiner, must be present in person for the thesis defense. External examiners will participate online.

Time allotted for the oral presentation

MSc defences

Defences feature a 10-15 minute oral presentation by the student, followed by questioning.

PhD defences

• Epidemiology
  Defences feature a 10-15 minute oral presentation by the student, followed by questioning.
• BCH, CMM, MIC & NSC
  PhD defences feature a 45-minute oral presentation by the student, followed by questioning.
  This differs from the general University of Ottawa Graduate and Postdoctoral Procedures for an Oral Defence, where “Ten minutes is usually sufficient”.

After the oral presentation

After the oral presentation, a short break (5-10 minutes) will allow the student to prepare for questioning and for members of the general public who do not wish to stay for the oral defence to leave the room without disruption.

Thesis defences are open to the public, except in the case of a confidential thesis or by special request. 

Following the defence, the Jury Report is accessible by the student in uoZone/Candidate Centre under Research Topic/Thesis Evaluations.

Procedure following a verdict 1 & verdict 2

Students must make the required revisions and corrections to their thesis and submit the final version of the thesis within 120 calendar days of the date of the thesis defence.

If the revised thesis is submitted and approved within (30) calendar days or less, the student will not be required to re-enrol. If the revised thesis is not submitted and approved by the 31st calendar day after the defence date, the student will be enrolled for one term and will be required to pay tuition and other associated fees.

Once revisions are acceptable to their research supervisor, the student must submit a service request for the Attestation of final version of your thesis in uoZone/Service Request with their final .pdf thesis in attachment.

The Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Office will review the thesis and the approved Service Request, and an automatic e-mail will be sent to the student advising that the thesis is eligible for final submission to the uO Research Library. 

Procedure following a verdict 3

The thesis must be amended and the evaluation process and defence before the same jury must be repeated. Verdict 3 is equivalent to a failure and will appear on the student’s transcript as a grade of NS (unsatisfactory).

In the case of Verdict 3, the student must submit an amended thesis within three consecutive terms (1 year) of the original thesis defence. The student must be enrolled during these terms and must make satisfactory progress during each term.

If the student fails to submit the amended thesis by the deadline, or the student fails to enrol, a second failing grade for the thesis (NS) will appear on the student’s transcript and the student’s file will be closed.

Once the major revisions are completed to the satisfaction of the research supervisor, the student must submit a request for the Submission of the thesis for Written Evaluation in uoZone/Service Request, with a PDF copy of the thesis in attachment, as per the Submission of the Thesis section above.

For more information, see  Academic Regulation C-7 - Thesis under 7.11 Thesis Defence.

Archived theses can be viewed at the digital repository of the University of Ottawa (uO Research).The University of Ottawa promotes the public and free distribution of research, including successfully defended theses.

Some theses are not currently available, as the data is protected under an embargo. A student may request an embargo on public access to a thesis in certain circumstances, such as where publication of the thesis carries a significant risk of harm to individuals, when a patent is pending or when a delay is required for publication of the thesis.

To request an embargo (if required)

Before depositing your thesis in uO Research, you must submit the completed and signed Embargo request form with the Service Request Attestation of final version of your thesis. 

Embargo periods at the Faculty of Medicine of six months and one year are most common; two years can be requested with additional justification. Five-year embargo periods require an additional approval from the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Medicine.

An embargo on thesis publication cannot be requested after the thesis has been submitted and approved online.

Forms can be found on the Forms webpage under the research paper and thesis section.  

For more information, please visit the FAQ page.

Step 1: Submit Required Documents

See instructions in the Final Submission of the Thesis section above.  

Step 2: Prepare your Thesis

Check that the formatting of your final version meets the criteria outlined on the uO Research webpage and create a single PDF file for your thesis.

Step 3: Submit your Thesis

To complete your program requirements your final thesis must be submitted to, and approved by, the uOttawa library using the uO Research portal.

Your final thesis submission may be rejected by the library if the thesis is submitted to uO Research prior to the approval by the GPSO of the Faculty of Medicine.

Students must apply for graduation through uoZone/Candidate Centre (when applicable) to be eligible to graduate and receive a copy of their diploma.

All graduating students must register in order to receive their degree. Online registration will open once per term. To view the eligible registration periods, consult the Students about to graduate webpage.

If you are expected to graduate, you will receive an email to your @uOttawa.ca address when online registration opens. 

Before submitting a thesis, you must have completed all other program requirements. Verify your uoZone/My Academic Regulations for accurate completion.

For more information, read the above section on the Submission of the thesis.

The thesis supervisor nominates examiners who are willing and able to evaluate the thesis. The Graduate Program Director approves the examiners.

For PhD theses, the supervisor also nominates an external examiner. The proposed external will be reviewed and approved by the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Medicine.

For more information about the thesis examiners read the above section “Confirming the thesis examiners”.

Once the thesis has been submitted for evaluation, the student and the thesis supervisor(s) may not communicate with the examiners about the thesis evaluation until the thesis has been defended.

The Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Office attempts to provide feedback from the examiners to the student at least 2 weeks before the oral defence, however some evaluations encounter delays.

Once all examiners have submitted their comments, feedback will be circulated to all participants. If all examiners have recommended the thesis proceed to oral defence, the defence will be considered confirmed. 

For more information read the above section "Evaluation of the Thesis".

If one or several examiners consider that the thesis is not suitable to proceed to the defence, and that revisions to the thesis are necessary, a meeting will be held with the dean (or delegate) to determine if the defence should be rescheduled.  

If the dean determines that the defence must be postponed, the student will be required to re-enrol.  

Please refer to Academic Regulation C-7 - Theses under 7.10 Written evaluation of the thesis.

No. Co-authorship of a thesis is not allowed.

Typically, your defence will take place within 3 months of submitting. 

Please consult the section “Finding a Tentative Defence Date” for more details.

Please refer to the Important academic dates and deadlines (under Reports, major research papers, and thesis) to find out if you are eligible for the 50% or 100% financial credit. These credits do not apply for revised theses.

If the final thesis is submitted and approved within (30) calendar days or less, the student will not be required to re-enrol. If the revised thesis is not submitted and approved by the 31st calendar day after the defence date, the student will be enrolled for one term and will be required to pay tuition and other associated fees.  

Please consult the section “Thesis Revisions and Corrections (Post Defence)” for more details.