Guidelines for the preparation of doctoral dissertations at the Graduate School of Engineering
Students wishing to request a dissertation review are required to prepare documents
according to the guidelines herein. If there are any deficiencies in the documents, they shallnot be accepted. Ensure your documents are checked by your academic supervisor and theStudent Affairs Section of the Graduate School of Engineering before submission.
I. Dissertation
1. The dissertation shall be written in Japanese or English.
2. The dissertation shall be submitted in digital format and in soft-bound paper.
3. The PDF data shall be prepared according to the guidelines in attachment 1 (PDF).
4. The PDF file of the dissertation shall be prepared according to the guidelines provided
on the Kobe University Library website (PDF).
5. The dissertation front cover and spine shall follow the format in attachment 2 (PDF).
6. The paper size shall be A4.
7. The paper shall be fine white paper.
8. The dissertation shall be written horizontally on portrait-oriented paper.
9. If the thesis is handwritten, it should be written carefully in block letters and foreignwords should be typed.
10. Once a dissertation is submitted, no change or replacement will be allowed.
However, wording changes that do not significantly alter the dissertation content, andtypographical error corrections may be made upon approval of the Dean of the Graduate
School, before the dissertation review is completed.
11. For a co-authored paper where the applicant is not the first author, the applicant'scontribution to the paper should be briefly explained in the designated section of theappendix "Supplementary information on research achievements", following theprovided example.
II. Dissertation abstract
1. The dissertation abstract shall be written horizontally on portrait-oriented A4 paper
and all pages shall be stapled together.
2. The title (including a subtitle) on the abstract shall be exactly the same as the one on
the dissertation to be submitted.
3. The abstract shall contain 1,200 to 2,400 words in English and 2,000 to 4,000
characters in Japanese.
4. In case the dissertation comprises multiple chapters, the abstract shall be written inthe order of chapters.
5. The abstract is also required to follow the instructions 1 to 9 of the above-mentioned
section I.
III. Dissertation review request
Four copies of the dissertation are required to be submitted when there are threedissertation examiners (and one additional copy shall be submitted per additional
examiner). Two copies of the dissertation bibliography shall be submitted regardless ofthe number of examiners.
IV. Dissertation bibliography
1. Title:(1) The title (including a subtitle) shall be stated as stated on the dissertation to besubmitted.
(2) If the title is in English, the Japanese translation shall be provided underneaththe English title in parentheses.
2. Publication method and date:(1) The dissertation shall be formally published in a publication, such as a book or ascholarly journal.
(2) In principle, the entire dissertation shall be published without any changes.
However, you may make minor corrections or exclude a part of the dissertation
unless it directly impacts the research content when published. Also, thedissertation may be considered as having been formally published, even when thecontent of the dissertation was published under a different title.
(3) The dissertation may be divided and published in separate publications based on
structural segments, such as chapters or sections, or based on the research topics.
(4) The published dissertation shall be archived as scholarly material at universities
and other academic institutions, and is to be available for public reading at anytime.
(5) The dissertation shall be considered as having been formally published, even if
it appeared in a private publication or another type of publication with a limited
number of subscribers, as long as the publication has been distributed touniversities and other academic institutions. In that case, a list of the institutions
is required to be submitted.
(6) For dissertations that have been published in their entirety, the year and monthof publication, the name of the journal (volume and number in the case of ajournal) or the name of the book in which the dissertation was published, etc.
shall be indicated. For the dissertations published in volumes, chapters, etc., themethod and time of publication shall be indicated for each category.
(7) If chapters or sections of the dissertation have been published under titles
different from the title of the dissertation itself, and you wish to have thedissertation considered to have been formally published, please provide thepublished titles.
(8) The list of papers should only include those that have already been published orhave been accepted for publication.
(9) Unpublished papers that are "under submission" or "to be submitted" cannot be
included in the list of papers, but should be noted in the Appendix"Supplementary Information on Research Achievements".

［Examples］
a. For papers that have been accepted by an academic society or similarorganization for publication, but have not yet been printed or published at thetime of submission of the dissertation:
Title: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Academic Journal, Volume X, No. X(Scheduled for publication on [month/day/year])b. For papers currently under submission:
Title: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Under submission to XXXXX Academic Journal(Submitted on [month/day/year])c. For papers soon to be submitted:
Title: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
To be submitted to XXXXXXX Academic Journal
Planned submission date([month/day/year])(To be published on [month/day/year])In the case of a. and b. above, if there is a certificate of scheduled publication oracceptance, please attach a copy. Please note that the publication of the dissertations isregulated by Article 19 of the Kobe University degree regulations.

3. Number of Volumes(1) Write the number of volumes that the dissertation comprises.
(2) When attaching figures and other supporting materials as separate volumes,
the number of these volumes shall be included. However, when figures and othersupporting materials are not bound into a volume, but are just attachments, write as“X volumes (with attached figures).”* Do not write the number of copies of the dissertation you submit, but the number ofvolumes that make up the dissertation itself. For example, if you have two volumes (onefor the dissertation and the other for figures), write “two volumes.”
V Curriculum vitae
1. NameWrite your name as it appears on your passport. Do not use nicknames or pseudonyms.
(This also applies to the other documents.)
2. Current address(1) Write your current official home address as stated on your certificate of residence(jūminhyō).
(2) To ensure smooth communication, also write the name of your apartment ordormitory and your room number.
3. Education(1) List your education chronologically after graduation from high school.
(2) List all changes of status while you were a student, including enrollment, leave ofabsence, re-enrollment, withdrawal, graduation and completion of course.
(3) Write any changes in names of academic institutions and their subordinate units youwere affiliated to while you were a student.
(4) Describe your education at the Graduate School of Engineering as below:
April 1, XXXX:
Enrolled in the doctoral degree program, XXX Department,
Graduate School of Engineering, Kobe University
March 25, XXXX:
Scheduled to complete the doctoral degree program, XXX Department,
Graduate School of Engineering, Kobe University
4. Work experience(1) List your full-time work experience chronologically, including addresses and types

of work. Also include part-time work, especially if it is related to education andresearch.
(2) Write your current employment with “To date” below the starting date to clearly
indicate that the employment is ongoing.
5. Academic and social activities(1) List academic activities and research history relevant to the degree review inchronological order, or by the type of activity.
(2) Activities to be listed in your history of scholarly research are as follows:a. Activities related to your research topics (including joint research)b. Activities related to trainingc. Activities related to academic investigations
d. Activities related to research grants(3) Do not list any information that applies to education or work experience.
6. Awards
Write any awards that deserve a special note.
VI Reference thesis
A dissertation that is complementary in content to the dissertation to be submitted andthat is an integral part of the dissertation to be examined may be submitted as a reference
dissertation. In such a case, an excerpt of the thesis must be submitted in addition to thenumber of thesis examiners plus one copy.

VII Name notation(1) The name should be written in the same style for all documents submitted.
Example: International students whose names are not written in the same style (e.g., SMITH
JOHN / Smith John / John Smith) are not acceptable.
(2) For international students, names should be written in the same order as in the passport.
Example: If the name is not consistent (SMITH JOHN / Smith John / John Smith) dependingon the document, it will not be accepted.
(3) Chinese students do not need to use the same Chinese kanji as in their passport (Japanesekanji may be used). However, if the name is written in Chinese kanji, the name should bewritten using English characters as in the passport as well.
Ⅷ Dissertation title(1) If the title of the dissertation is in English, ensure that capitalization is consistent acrossall submitted documents.
Example: Documents with inconsistent capitalization in the title are not acceptable.
Research on traditional Japanese culture （日本の伝統文化に関する研究）
Research on Traditional Japanese Culture（日本の伝統文化に関する研究）(2) If the title of the dissertation is in English, a Japanese translation should be added inparentheses after the title. The Japanese translation of the title of the dissertation should also
be included in all related documents.
Example: Research on traditional Japanese culture（日本の伝統文化に関する研究）
IX Date(1) Ensure the same date is written on the dissertation review request, dissertation
bibliography, curriculum vitae etc.
(2) For the curriculum vitae, the date should be written in the Month/Day/Year format.