Previously written papers that are less comprehensive than a master’s thesis (e.g. seminar papers or bachelor’s theses) can be further developed and submitted as a master thesis. Please note that you have to quote your own previous work (i.e. your seminar paper or bachelor’s thesis) to avoid self-plagiarism. Longer, more comprehensive papers (e.g. dissertations or PhD theses) cannot be condensed and submitted as master’s theses, as the amount of work required in this case would be minimal.

Two or more students can work on a joint topic for their master’s thesis, as long as each student’s individual contribution can be clearly identified and graded separately. The supervisor has the final say on whether a topic is suitable for a joint project.

In principle, students are free to select both their thesis topic and their supervisor themselves. Any faculty member who holds a venia docendi (habilitation) may supervise master’s theses. The topic must be selected from one of the compulsory or elective subjects specified in the program’s curriculum. Please contact the appropriate program coordinator for information on the faculty members entitled to supervise master’s theses in your degree program. Students are permitted to change supervisors up until the date of submission of the thesis.

An application for approval must be submitted in writing if you want to work with an external supervisor, e.g. a habilitated faculty member from another university in Austria or abroad. This always requires special permission from the Vice-Rector for Academic Programs and Student Affairs. If you are interested in working with an external supervisor, please contact Student Support well ahead of time (allow about 2 months for processing).

The guidelines for the Grading of Master's theses can be found here.

You will be notified by email to your WU account as soon as a thesis supervision agreement has been created and entered for you. Your thesis can only be graded if you have a valid supervision agreement. Please note that additional supervision conditions may apply as specified by your supervisor and co-supervisor. If you fail to comply with the conditions specified by your supervisor and co-supervisor, the supervision agreement may be cancelled.

A list of aids used supplements the correct citation in the context of your master's thesis. Here you will find information on which aids used must be documented in each case, what a list of aids used should look like and how it should be submitted. Please note any other requirements of your supervisor.

Once your master's thesis is complete, create a cover page and place it at the very beginning of your document. Save your thesis, including the cover page, in PDF/A format. Upload your thesis (along with any appendices as separate documents) via myWU, following this step-by-step guide. You must confirm the affidavit directly in myWU. Make sure to include a list of aids used in your thesis. A template can be found here.

If the paper was written jointly by two or more people, only one author uploads the paper and indicates the co-author(s).

Please be sure to double-check the data you’ve entered when you submit your thesis on myWU. Following approval by your supervisor, this data will be transmitted to the LPIS system and used for generating your graduation documents.

After submission, your thesis will undergo a mandatory plagiarism detection check. More information on plagiarism is available here.

From the moment you submit your thesis, both your thesis and the plagiarism detection check results will be available to your examiner. The assessment of your master's thesis must be completed within two months of submission. Your supervisor will give you feedback on your work and provide reasons for the grade assigned to the work in writing.

In exceptional cases, authors of a master's thesis may request a temporary embargo, restricting access to the thesis in the university library. This is only possible if your economic or legal interests are at risk, such as in the case of new developments leading to a patent. The embargo must be approved by the program director. The standard embargo period is one year, with a legally defined maximum duration of five years.

The embargo request must be submitted via myWU along with your thesis and will be forwarded to the responsible program director for approval. You will be notified of the decision via email.

Master’s theses are subject to the applicable stipulations regarding plagiarism and intellectual property rights as laid down in study regulations, academic legislation, and copyright laws.

A work is considered to be plagiarized if it incorporates texts, contents, or ideas produced by someone else and passes them off as the author’s own. This is the case especially when parts of texts, theories, hypotheses, findings, or data are incorporated into a work verbatim or in paraphrased or translated form without identifying these elements as quotations and referencing the original sources and authors.

Students are considered to have committed academic fraud if they pass off texts written by a third party as their own (i.e. ghostwriting) and if they present fabricated or falsified data or findings.

If the supervisor detects plagiarism during the evaluation process, this can result in a negative evaluation of the thesis and/or withdrawal of supervision. If plagiarism is detected after the thesis has been evaluated or after the student has completed his or her studies, the grade for the thesis can be declared invalid and the academic degree may be revoked.

You can find more information here.