Should You Upload Your PhD Thesis to bioRxiv?

Uploading a full PhD thesis to bioRxiv is not an option: bioRxiv does not accept theses or dissertations as submissions. It is a preprint server for life-sciences research manuscripts, whereas a thesis is a long degree document with a different structure and purpose. If you want the thesis itself to be publicly accessible, your university’s thesis repository is generally the appropriate place. If a chapter contains a publishable study, consider preparing it as a separate manuscript for bioRxiv.

The best decision depends on what you want to make public, who owns or contributed to the work, and the rules of your university and any target journal. A public thesis or preprint is not a substitute for checking those conditions.

What bioRxiv is for

bioRxiv hosts preprints: research manuscripts made publicly available before, or while, they undergo journal peer review. A preprint is not a peer-reviewed publication. Posting can help researchers share results and receive feedback, but it also makes the work publicly accessible and creates a persistent record.

A thesis usually includes material that is not presented as one journal-style research paper: multiple projects, extensive background chapters, appendices, and degree-specific formatting. bioRxiv does not accept a thesis or dissertation as a submission, even if it contains biological research. A research manuscript derived from thesis work may be suitable if it meets the server’s current scope and formatting requirements.

When a thesis chapter may be suitable

A chapter is a better candidate if it can be turned into a coherent, self-contained research article. It should explain a specific question, methods, results, and conclusions, and meet bioRxiv’s current scope and formatting requirements. You may need to revise it substantially rather than upload the chapter unchanged.

Before submitting, work through these checks:

1. Get agreement from contributors. If the work has coauthors, collaborators, or substantial contributions from others, agree on the manuscript, authorship, and timing before making it public. A thesis author should not assume that being the student means they can independently release every result in it.
2. Check copyright and repository terms. Find out what rights you retained when submitting the thesis and whether your university repository has conditions about versions or reuse. A thesis being publicly downloadable does not by itself answer whether a particular manuscript version may be posted elsewhere.
3. Check journal policies. If you plan to submit the paper to a journal, read that journal’s current preprint and prior-publication policy. Policies vary. Disclose any public thesis or repository version as requested; do not assume every journal treats thesis availability the same way.
4. Consider patents and confidentiality. Publicly disclosing an invention before filing patent applications can affect patent rights, with consequences depending on jurisdiction. Also check for confidential material, participant privacy, permissions for figures, and any funder or institutional restrictions.
5. Check for already published material. A paper that has already appeared in a journal is not eligible to be submitted again as a new bioRxiv preprint. If a chapter reproduces such a paper, check the publisher’s reuse terms before using its text or figures in any distinct manuscript, and review bioRxiv’s current rules.

A practical example

Suppose your thesis contains three studies: a published paper, an unpublished experiment with two collaborators, and a review chapter. Uploading the complete thesis would combine material with different publication statuses and rights, and the review chapter may not fit bioRxiv’s scope. Instead, you could consider making a focused manuscript from the unpublished experiment.

Before posting that manuscript, ask the collaborators to approve the version and author list, check whether the university’s thesis repository already hosts the chapter, and review the target journal’s policy. If the thesis is already public, cite or disclose it according to the server and journal instructions. Do not include the published paper’s formatted text or figures unless you have the necessary rights. If your main goal is to preserve or share the degree document, deposit the thesis through the university’s designated repository instead.

What happens after posting

A bioRxiv preprint is publicly available and is not peer-reviewed by the server. Posting is therefore a deliberate disclosure, not a private backup. A DOI and a public record make it discoverable; withdrawing a preprint later does not make the history equivalent to never having posted. If you post a manuscript and later revise it, use the available versioning process and explain meaningful changes where appropriate.

Common mistakes

• Treating a thesis and a preprint as interchangeable. They serve different purposes and may have different requirements.
• Assuming online availability means unrestricted reuse. Repository access does not necessarily grant permission to reuse every chapter, figure, or article.
• Posting before discussing authorship. Public release can create avoidable conflicts if collaborators expected to review the manuscript first.
• Assuming all journals have the same policy. Check the particular journal’s current rules, including how it treats a thesis already available online.
• Overlooking disclosure risks. Patent plans, confidential information, and participant data should be reviewed before any public posting.

In short, use your university’s repository for the full thesis and consider bioRxiv for a suitable, carefully prepared research manuscript derived from it. Check the current server requirements and all relevant permissions before submitting.