Dean's Directive no. 26/2023

Rules for registration, submission and publication of final theses

For the implementation of Art. 12 of the Code of study and examination of Charles University (hereinafter referred to as the “CSE”), Art. 16 of the Rules of Study at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics (hereinafter “RS”) and Art. 7 of the Rigorosum Examination Code of Charles University (hereinafter referred to as the “REC”) and pursuant to Article 9 Rector's directive No. 72/2017 (hereinafter referred to as “RD 72/2017”) I issue this directive, which supplements and specifies the procedures of publishing topics, submission, registration and making final theses available.

Art. 1
Introductory provisions

1. The regulations in this document apply to bachelor's, diploma, rigorous and dissertation thesis within the meaning of Section 45 para. 3, Section 46, para. 3 and 5 and Section 47 para. 4 of the Act no. 111/1998 Coll., on Higher Education Institutions, as amended (‘the Higher Education Act’). The final thesis has electronic and paper (printed) form.
2. Student, or the participant in the rigorous procedure (hereinafter referred to as “student”), is responsible for submitting the paper form (if required by this measure) and the electronic form of the final thesis and for the accuracy and completeness of the files of the final thesis inserted into the Study Information System (hereinafter referred to as „SIS“) and their compliance with the submitted paper form of the final thesis. The faculty is responsible for the publication of the final thesis.

Art. 2
Faculty coordinator, responsibilities and powers of faculty staff

1. The dean appoints the faculty coordinator for the area of registration and publication of final theses in accordance with Art. 8, par. 1 RD 72/2017.
2. The activity of the faculty coordinator is described in Art. 8, par. 3 RD 72/2017. The faculty coordinator in particular:
   1. communicates in matters relating to the registration of final theses with the authorized employee according to Art. 8, par. 4 RD 72/2017, Computer Science Centre of Charles University (hereinafter referred to as the “CSC CU”);
   2. regularly informs the faculty management about the status of the thesis records;
   3. collects suggestions and comments about the registration and publication of theses from the faculty departments and from the faculty management and after evaluation at the faculty passes them on to the CSC CU;
   4. coordinates the activities of the faculty in the field of registration and publication of theses in cooperation with the CSC CU, i.e. gives instructions on the execution of relevant tasks related to registration and publication of the electronic form of theses to authorized faculty employees pursuant to Art. 3, 4 and 5 RD 72/2017 and controls the processing of these tasks;
   5. processes applications for the recording of the theses in a different format than the approved one according to Art. 5, par. 4 and 5 RD 72/2017.

   The name of the faculty coordinator, including contact details, is stated on the faculty website.

3. The head of the library is responsible in particular for:
   1. making theses available in paper form in the study rooms of the library, which is governed by Dean's Directive No. 27/2022 Operating Regulations of the Library of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University in the current version. For viewing theses defended after 1. 1. 2006, the university repository is preferred, unless otherwise specified;
   2. informing anyone who views theses in the paper form of the final theses that the information obtained cannot be used for profit-making purposes or published as a study, scientific or other creative activities of a person other than the author,
   3. cataloging theses in paper form.

   The head of the library shall entrust the implementation of these activities to one or more staff of the library.

4. The head of the student affairs department is responsible in particular for:
   1. the accuracy and completeness of the registration of applications for rigorosum examination;
   2. recording the dates of which theses were submitted in paper forms;
   3. the accuracy and completeness of the recording of the thesis defence results in the study duties in SIS and in the student’s file, including the record of the defence;
   4. adding the reviews for the dissertation theses to SIS;
   5. checking the final theses records and their finalization (i.e. confirmation of the completeness of the records of the final thesis) in SIS.

   The head of the student affairs department shall entrust the implementation of these activities to one or more staff of the department.

Art. 3
Listing topics, assignment of the final thesis

1. Topics of the final thesis are entered into the SIS by teachers or staff authorised by the head of the department. The topics are published after approval by the head of the department, which lists the topics.
2. The student can propose the topic of his/her final thesis and offer it to a teacher for guidance. If the student agrees with the teacher to lead the thesis, the topic is listed according to the procedure mentioned in the previous paragraph.
3. The student applies for the topic electronically in SIS. If the thesis supervisor agrees to assign the topic to the student and the assignment is approved by the supervisor of the program in which the student writes the thesis (or another dean-authorized employee), the submission to the topic of the final thesis is binding. The approval of the award of final theses and the registration of the award of final theses is done via the SIS (see Art. 16, par. 1 RS). A change in the topic of the final thesis or the supervisor's thesis is possible on the basis of a written request by the student, which is assessed by the dean of the faculty. The application must be accompanied by a positive opinion of the thesis supervisor and the guarantor of the relevant study programme (see Art. 16, par. 2 RS).
4. Paragraphs 1 and 2 do not apply to dissertation theses.

Art. 4
Formalities, formal modification and submission of the final thesis

1. The final thesis must comply with the criteria set by the CSE, the faculty and the department that published the topic of the final thesis, meet the requirements of the professional text and have the appropriate scope. The final thesis must contain a summary of the conclusions of the thesis, a list of used literature or other cited sources. The thesis must not contain more extensive passages verbatim taken from external sources (including other works of the student). Passages for which artificial intelligence tools have been used must be properly labelled. The thesis must also include an abstract in the English language and in the Czech or Slovak language (it does not apply to students of English-language programs). Abstracts are part of the text of the thesis and it is necessary to insert them into the SIS even in separate files. If the thesis contains attachments, they must also be inserted into the SIS.
2. The typographic layout of the final thesis must correspond to a template that defines the required layout of the final thesis. This template is available to students on the faculty website.
3. If a student wants to publish his/her published article in his/her final thesis, he or she is either obliged to publish a version of the article that is not identical to the licensed version of the publisher of the article, or he or she must insert the article in the attachments of the thesis and apply for a postponement of the publication of the attachment of the thesis. This provision does not apply to articles that are publicly available.
4. The number of copies in paper form is determined as follows:
   1. Bachelor's and diploma theses in the fields of education Mathematics, Physics and Teaching: 1 copy;
   2. Bachelor's and diploma theses in the field of education Informatics: the thesis is not submitted in paper form, the chairman of the defence board ensures the availability of the thesis in electronic or paper form for the defence;
   3. dissertation thesis – 1 copy in hard binding;
   4. if the student asks for a postponement of the publication of the final thesis, it is necessary to hand in an extra copy, even if otherwise he would not have to hand in the paper form.
5. The final thesis in electronic form will be submitted by the student in a deadline determined by the academic year schedule according to the corresponding planned defence deadline. In addition:
   1. One copy of bachelor/diploma thesis in paper form (if required in accordance with Art. 4, par. 4) the student submits the final thesis to the chair before the defence. If the student does not submit the paper form of the thesis, the defence will not proceed.
   2. The dissertation thesis is submitted by the student to the student affairs department when registering for the defence.
   3. One copy of the dissertation thesis will be submitted to the library after the defence by the student affairs department.
   4. The electronic form of the final thesis, if not excluded by its character (see Art. 3 RD 72/2017), is inserted by the student via the SIS web interface in the module „Thesis (Selection of subject)“, exclusively in the format Portable Document Format for the Long-term Archiving 1 Level „A“ or 2 Level „U“ (PDF/A-1a or PDF/A-2u, suffix: “.pdf").
6. If the final thesis has an attachment or attachments (e.g. multimedia formats or software works), the student will also insert this attachment into the SIS; in case of multiple attachments, he will insert one compressed file (in ZIP format) containing all the attachments of the final thesis. The size of the files stored in the SIS is limited to 850 MB. In case the attachment or compressed file is larger than 850 MB, the student will submit them on a data carrier to the faculty coordinator who will ensure the insertion of the attachment into the SIS. The file formats that are stored in the SIS for the final thesis as an attachment are described in detail in Art. 5 Rector's directive No. 72/2017 and published on the website of the instructions for submission of theses.
7. In case the character of the attachment does not allow it to be stored in the formats according to Art. 5 par. 2 letters a-e Rector's directive No. 72/2017 (e.g. scientific data, application, etc.), the student inserts the attachment of the final thesis in a different format and simultaneously applies for approval of the format of the attachments by filling in the form in the SIS containing the following information:
   1. the reason for the application – obligatory;
   2. the required file formats of the attachment (including version or more detailed specification) or the programming language (including version) – obligatory;
   3. the name and version of the application if it is a proprietary data format of a particular application;
   4. the operating system (including version) under which the annex can be opened or launched;
   5. other relevant information (e.g. an enumeration and description of modules and libraries).

   Only one application is submitted for one final thesis at a time. Without approval by the faculty coordinator, the final thesis will not be considered to have been duly submitted.

8. The deadlines for submitting the final thesis in electronic form are given by the academic year schedule.
9. The student is responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the submitted electronic form of the final thesis and its attachments and for its compliance with the paper form (if required by this measure). The content discrepancy of the electronic and paper form of the final thesis may justify the initiation of disciplinary proceedings.
10. In case the student, after submitting the electronic form of the final thesis in the SIS, finds that he/she needs to make additional changes to it, he/she asks the faculty coordinator to unlock the work record in the SIS for modifications. Unlocking the final thesis is possible only up to the deadline set by the schedule for submitting the final thesis for defence. If modifications need to be made in the SIS even after the date set for submitting the final thesis, the faculty representative makes such changes on the basis of the Dean's consent.
11. The check of the similarity of the text of the final thesis to the plagiarism control system is carried out automatically after submitting the electronic form of the final thesis, within one working day of submitting the final thesis. The result of the check is accessible by the final thesis record in the SIS to the student, the final thesis supervisor and opponents. If plagiarism is found, disciplinary proceedings may be initiated with the student.

Art. 5
Application to defend a Bachelor's or diploma thesis

1. The deadline for filing the application for the defence is given by the academic year schedule.
2. The application for defence must be submitted via the SIS.
3. Confirmation of the student's application to defend the final thesis is subject to the submission of the final thesis in electronic form. The electronic submission date is recorded automatically by the SIS when the student presses the Submit button in the SIS. The authorized employee of the student affairs department shall carry out a check of the elements of the submitted final thesis referred to in Art. 4.

Art. 6
Defence

1. The electronic form of the final thesis submitted will be available for public inspection at least five working days before the defence takes place in the SIS module „Thesis (Selection of Subject)“.
2. The supervisor and opponents of the final thesis can get acquainted with the electronic form of this thesis in the SIS. The department will ensure that the paper form of the final thesis will also be available to opponents upon request.
3. After the submission of the final thesis, at least five working days before the defence of the thesis takes place, the electronic forms of the supervisor's report and the review of the opponents will be inserted to the record of the final thesis in the SIS so that the student can become acquainted with these reviews. The supervisor and opponents shall submit to the Chairman of the relevant State Final Examination Committee or to an employee authorized by him/her also signed opinions in paper form for inclusion in the student's file documentation. In justified cases and in agreement with the head of the department, the authorised staff member may enter in the SIS the opinion of the head of the department or an opponent on his/her behalf.
4. After the defence, the authorised department employee shall enter a record of the conduct of the defence on the SIS work record.

Art. 7
Checking and publication of the final thesis

1. After the defence of the final thesis, the author has the possibility to insert a file with possible errata of the final thesis (containing corrections of typographical and similar minor errors) into the record of the final thesis in the SIS no later than 15 days after the defence.
2. After the defence of the final thesis, the authorised staff member shall carry out a check of the completeness of the work record including the attached files in the SIS in accordance with Art. 2, par. 2 letter d) from the point of view of the requirements for publishing the electronic form of the final thesis and checking the conformity of the Czech and English title of the final thesis with the title stated in the text of this thesis. After the checking, the authorized employee carries out the so-called finalization for publication of the final thesis, within 20 days from the defense.
3. After finalization of the record of the thesis and expiration of the deadline according to Art. 7, par. 1 RD 72/2017 (unless otherwise specified) the electronic form of the final thesis will be automatically sent to the university repository for publication and the record of the final thesis will be cataloged in the library system. If the final thesis is not published in the university repository, the situation will be solved by the faculty coordinator.
4. In the case of a specific final thesis, the supervisor may request an extension of the deadline for publication of the thesis, up to a period of 3 years from the deadline for defending the thesis according to the provisions of § 47b, para. 4 of the Higher Education Act. This request shall be made via the SIS. Applications are assessed by the faculty coordinator and the result of the assessment is recorded in the SIS.
5. In case of extension of the deadline for publication of the final thesis according to Art. 4 of this article will be further proceeded as follows: after the expiry of the deadline for publication of the final thesis pursuant to Art. 7, par. 1 RD 72/2017 will be exported to the university repository and library system only other data about the final thesis, not the actual text of the final thesis and its attachments. The information about the postponement of publication will be published in the university repository together with the justification. One copy of the final thesis, which is subject to postponement of publication, shall be sent by the authorized employee to the Rector's Office of Charles University without undue delay after the deadline for the defence of the student affairs department. The text of the final thesis and attachments will be published after the extended period according to paragraph 4 of this article.

Art. 8
Approval of theses or dissertations as rigorous

1. Where a diploma or dissertation thesis is approved as a rigorous thesis, it shall not be subject to the requirement that it not be used for another or the same degree. An authorized employee of the student affairs department sets up a record of the rigorous thesis and a record of the study obligation in the SIS, indicating the outcome of the defence (the date of the defence in this case is the date of the decision on the approval of the rigorous thesis). Furthermore, the record of this work shall be accompanied by the relevant files relating to the rigorous thesis, with the exception of the reviews, which are optional in this case.

Art. 9
Publishing the final thesis

1. Publication of the final thesis in paper form is governed by the Act No. 121/2000 Coll., on Copyright, on rights related to copyright and on the amendment of certain laws (Copyright Act), as amended.
2. The final theses are a school work according to the Copyright Act.

Art. 10
Final provisions

1. This measure becomes effective on the day of its approval by the dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics and takes effect on the day of its publication in the public section of the faculty website, but no earlier than 1. 1. 2024.
2. On the effective date of this measure, the Dean's Directive No. 4/2019 and the Dean's Directive No. 4/2020 are repealed.

Applicants:
doc. RNDr. Vladislav Kuboň, Ph.D., Vice-Dean for Education
doc. Mgr. Michal Kulich, Ph.D., Vice-Dean for Student Affairs

The measure was discussed by the management of the faculty on 6. 12. 2023 and Academic Senate of the faculty on 20. 12. 2023.

Approved on 21. 12. 2023: