Published 16 September 2026
Checking an applicant’s publications before a defence
Before a defence, it is more reliable to standardise the publication list than to inspect unrelated PDFs without an inventory. This reduces duplicate entries, DOI values linked to another work and journal coverage applied to the wrong year.
Prepare a publication register
For every item, record the full title, author order, journal or proceedings, year, volume, issue, pages, DOI and publisher link. For patents, keep application, publication and grant numbers in separate fields.
Check in levels
Establish existence and bibliographic details first, then journal coverage, then authorship and conformity of the submitted file. Do not use one aggregator as the sole basis for every item.
Keep a reproducible protocol
Save the date, direct links, discrepancies and outcome for each work. A separate report number per document is useful. A closed or unavailable source should remain a distinct status for later repetition.
Example
Two entries in an applicant’s list have slightly different titles but the same DOI. Normalise and deduplicate them as one publication before counting, while retaining the submitted wording for audit. Only then assess authorship, journal, coverage year and conformity of the supplied file.
Verification sources
- Crossref Metadata SearchBibliographic metadata deposited by participating publishers and agencies.
- ORCID RegistryResearcher identifiers and public profiles controlled by their record holders.
- Scopus SourcesElsevier interface for checking source coverage and coverage years.
- Web of Science Master Journal ListClarivate journal list and edition/coverage information.
- WIPO PATENTSCOPEInternational and participating national patent collections.