Quality assurance issues for a PhD by published work: a case study

Describes a number of quality assurance issues relating to the award of the degree of PhD on the basis of published work by the University of Hertfordshire which arose over a nine‐year period between 1992 and 2001. Emphasises the importance of ensuring that the academic standards associated with the award of a PhD on the basis of published work are identical with those established for the traditional route to a PhD based on an approved programme of supervised research, and that the quality assurance procedures for the two routes are as similar as possible. Concludes with the view that there are quality assurance arguments for the two routes to a PhD to be merged into a single set of regulations which allow doctoral theses to be an integral mix of published and unpublished research outcomes.