There is no national thesis template in India, and the two ordinances read for this guide disagree with each other on almost every measurable detail. That is the point. Anna University specifies your left margin to the millimetre and gives you the Bonafide Certificate wording to type. Delhi University says almost nothing about typography and a great deal about who signs, who countersigns and how many days you have. Both are correct, for their own scholars.
Our companion guide to formatting a thesis as per UGC guidelines establishes the national floor: the UGC Ph.D. Regulations prescribe no typeface, no margin and no page count. This guide does the thing that guide deliberately refuses to do — it opens two named ordinances and reports what they actually specify, so that you can see the shape of the decision your own department has made and ask for it in the right words.
Read this first: a template is a decision your department already made
Every front-matter question has exactly one authoritative answer for you, and it is in your institution’s document. What the two specimens below give you is a checklist of the questions worth asking, and a sense of how far apart the answers can sit. If your handbook is silent on something both of these ordinances fix, that silence is itself information: ask your guide in writing rather than copying a senior’s file.
Anna University: the running order, to the item
The Ph.D. Regulations 2025 published by Anna University’s Centre for Research set out the sequence in which the thesis material “should be arranged and bound” as fourteen numbered items:
- Cover Page and Title page
- Certificate
- Abstract
- Acknowledgement (one page only)
- Table of Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- List of Symbols and Abbreviations
- Chapters
- Appendices
- References (alphabetical order)
- List of Publications/Patents
- Full research papers (limited to 5) published in the journals
- Thesis Plagiarism Report (first page only)
Items 12 to 14 are the ones scholars from other universities find surprising. Anna binds the publication list, up to five full reprinted papers, and the first page of the plagiarism report into the thesis itself. If your own ordinance is quiet about whether the similarity report travels inside the volume, that is a question to settle before the print shop opens the file.
Two further details from the same regulations that quietly shape the document. The Table of Contents “should list all captions following it as well as any caption which precedes it”, but the title page, Certificate and Acknowledgement do not appear in it. And the chapters are printed on both sides, while the front matter is not.
Anna University: paper, margins and type
These are stated as measurements, not preferences.
| Element | Specification (Anna University Ph.D. Regulations 2025) |
|---|---|
| Paper | Standard A4, 297 mm × 210 mm, not lower than 80 GSM |
| Final bound size | 290 mm × 205 mm, three copies |
| Top margin | 30 to 35 mm |
| Bottom margin | 25 to 30 mm |
| Left (binding) margin | 35 to 40 mm |
| Right margin | 20 to 25 mm |
| Body text | Times New Roman, font size 13, one-and-a-half line spacing |
| Single spacing used for | Long tables, long quotations, footnotes, multiline captions, references |
| Quotations over one line | Indented 15 mm from either side of the margin |
| Page numbers | Upper right corner, 20 mm from top, last digit in line with the right margin, no punctuation |
| Numbering scheme | Items 1–8 in lower-case Roman; Chapter 1 onward in Arabic. Title page is (i) but the numeral is not typed |
| Binding | Side pinning or stitching, wrapper on 300 GSM white art card, outer side gloss laminated, adhesive binding, cover printed in black |
The binding-side margin is the one that costs re-prints. At 35 to 40 mm it is roughly one and a half times the right margin, because the gutter disappears into the spine. Set it in the template before you write Chapter 2; retro-fitting it re-flows every table.
Anna University: chapter and caption mechanics
The regulations go down to the level of where a heading sits on the page. The word CHAPTER, without punctuation, is centred 50 mm down from the top; the chapter title is typed two spaces below it, centrally, in capital letters; the text commences four spaces below the title, with the first letter set 20 mm inside the left margin. The same 50 mm rule governs the headings of items 2 to 12 in the running order, all in capitals without punctuation.
Numbering is decimal throughout: sub-division 4 under division 3 in chapter 2 is 2.3.4. The fourth figure in Chapter 3 is Figure 3.4, and tables follow the identical rule. A figure inside an appendix carries the appendix into its number: Figure 3 in Appendix 2 is Figure A 2.3. The eighth equation in Chapter 4 is numbered (4.8), and is referred to in the text as Equation (4.8). A table continuing to the next page repeats its title with “(continued)” placed centrally.
Sources under figures have their own rule, and it is the one most often ignored: the attribution goes beneath the figure, in brackets, in Times New Roman normal at 11 points, in the form “(Source: Jones, et al. 2001)”, with the full URL in the reference section where the source is a web page.
The Bonafide Certificate, typed as the regulations specify
Anna University’s rule for the certificate is separate from the specimen. It “shall be typed in double line spacing using Font Style Times New Roman and Font Size 13”, must carry the supervisor’s signature followed by the supervisor’s name, academic designation, department and full address of the institution where the research was guided — and the academic designation only, “not any other responsibilities of administrative nature”. The word SUPERVISOR must be typed in capital letters between the supervisor’s name and the designation.
The specimen certificate in the regulations reads as follows. Your department will issue its own version, which supersedes this; use it to check that theirs carries every element.
ANNA UNIVERSITY
CHENNAI 600 025BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
The research work embodied in the present Thesis entitled “[TITLE OF THESIS]” has been carried out in the [Name of the Supervisor’s Department], [Name of the College], [Place]. The work reported herein is original and does not form part of any other thesis or dissertation on the basis of which a degree or award was conferred on an earlier occasion or to any other scholar. I understand the University’s policy on plagiarism and declare that the thesis and publications are my own work, except where specifically acknowledged and has not been copied from other sources or been previously submitted for award or assessment.
[Signature of the Scholar]
[Name] — Counter signed by[Signature of the Joint Supervisor]
[Name]
JOINT SUPERVISOR (if applicable)
[Designation & Address][Signature of the Supervisor]
[Name]
SUPERVISOR
[Designation & Address]
Read the substance of it rather than the layout. This single page carries four distinct assertions: that the work is original; that it does not form part of another thesis on which a degree was conferred; that the scholar understands the plagiarism policy; and that the work has not been copied or previously submitted for award or assessment. A certificate that covers only the first is not complete.
There is also a migration clause worth knowing: where the supervisor has moved to a non-recognised institute, the affiliation on the certificate stays the previous recognised institute with “Former” prefixed to the designation, and the place of conduct of research becomes the department of the joint supervisor or research coordinator.
The title page, as specified
The cover page and title page carry identical text, set in Times New Roman at graduated sizes: the thesis title at size 18 with 1.5 spacing, “A THESIS” at 14, “Submitted by” at 14 in italics, the scholar’s name at 16, “in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of” at 14 in italics, the degree at 16, then the faculty, university and city block at 16, and the month and year at 14. The printed cover carries the same text in black letters.
[TITLE OF THE THESIS]
A THESIS
Submitted by
[NAME OF THE SCHOLAR]
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
[FACULTY]
[UNIVERSITY]
[CITY AND PIN][MONTH YEAR]
The abstract and acknowledgement have limits attached. The abstract is “an essay type of narration not exceeding four pages” in 1.5 spacing at Times New Roman 13. The acknowledgement “should not exceed one page”, and the scholar signs it at the bottom right above their name typed in capitals.
Delhi University: who signs, who countersigns, and the clock
Delhi University’s Ordinance VI, Procedure for Award of Doctor of Philosophy, was replaced by the amendment passed by the Executive Council on 9 June 2023 and notified thereafter, and the ordinance states that it conforms with the UGC Ph.D. Regulations 2022 with effect from the academic session 2023-24. A further amended Ordinance VI was notified on 21 August 2026; that notification is published as a scanned image, so anything below is taken from the text of the notified 2023 replacement and should be checked against the current scan before you rely on it.
What the ordinance fixes is not typography. It is the chain of signatures and a set of deadlines:
- Two documents, not one. The thesis “shall have an undertaking from the research scholar and a certificate from the Research Supervisor attesting to the originality of the work, vouching that there is no plagiarism and that the work has not been submitted for the award of any other degree/diploma of the same Institution where the work was carried out, or to any other Institution.”
- A third signature. “The Head of the Department shall countersign these certificates for submission of the Ph.D. thesis.” The same procedure applies on resubmission.
- A UGC form. The scholar “shall also attach a Student Approval Form in the format provided by the UGC” for hosting and distributing the thesis in digital format in Shodhganga.
- A thirty-day clock. Each thesis goes through a plagiarism check verified by the University Library before submission, the library’s certificate of verification is submitted with the thesis, and “the thesis has to be submitted within 30 days from the date of plagiarism check.”
- One soft-bound copy. The scholar submits “one double-sided typed and printed softbound copy” to the Examination Branch, and uploads the soft copy in the specified PDF format on the Ph.D. Thesis Evaluation System Portal.
- Two papers first. At least two research papers in Scopus or UGC-CARE listed journals before submission, with evidence, certified by the supervisor and the Head of the Department, relaxable by the department in disciplines where such journals are few.
- Six months after the presentation. The thesis is submitted within six months of the pre-Ph.D. presentation.
The thirty-day clause is the one that ruins submissions. A similarity report generated early, while you are still editing, expires: the version you submit must be within thirty days of the check that was verified. If your report came back above the permitted band, the recovery route is in our guide to reducing similarity before submission, and the thresholds themselves are in the UGC plagiarism limit for a PhD thesis.
The national floor underneath both
The UGC (Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2018, notified in the Gazette of India Extraordinary, Part III Section 4, No. 287 of 31 July 2018, are what both ordinances are building on. Clause 6 of those regulations requires that every student submitting a thesis or dissertation submit an undertaking that the document is their original work and free of plagiarism, that the undertaking “shall include the fact that the document has been duly checked through a Plagiarism detection tool approved by the HEI”, and that “each supervisor shall submit a certificate indicating that the work done by the researcher under him / her is plagiarism free”.
That is the reason the undertaking and the certificate appear in every Indian ordinance you will read: they are not local customs, they are a national requirement expressed locally. Clause 6 also requires the institution to send soft copies of all Masters and research dissertations and theses to INFLIBNET within a month after the award, which is how they reach Shodhganga.
The eleven questions to take to your own ordinance
- Which items go in the running order, and in what sequence?
- Do the publication list, reprinted papers or plagiarism report bind into the thesis?
- What are the four margins, and how much wider is the binding side?
- Typeface and point size for body text, and for the certificate specifically?
- Line spacing for body text, and the exceptions for quotations, captions, footnotes and references?
- Where do page numbers sit, and at which item does Arabic numbering start?
- Is the thesis printed single-sided or double-sided, and does that differ between front matter and chapters?
- What exact wording does the certificate require, and whose signatures does it carry?
- Does the Head of the Department countersign?
- How many days may elapse between the similarity check and submission?
- How many hard copies, in what binding, and what file format for the soft copy?
Take those to your department in writing. An email answer is worth more than a senior’s file, because practice changes between cohorts and the file does not.
Five mistakes that send front matter back
- A certificate that attests to originality but not to non-submission elsewhere. Both ordinances require both assertions. Check the wording, not the letterhead.
- A typed list of tables. The list must be generated from your captions. A typed one is wrong within a day of the next edit, and both ordinances require the list to reproduce the captions exactly.
- A similarity report older than the ordinance allows. Thirty days at Delhi University. Generate the report on the final file.
- A supervisor’s administrative title on the certificate. Anna University’s rule says academic designation, “not any other responsibilities of administrative nature”.
- Front matter numbered in Arabic. Roman numerals run through the preliminaries; Chapter 1 restarts at 1. This needs a section break, not a page break.
Keeping the document consistent from Chapter 1
Front matter fails at the end because it is assembled at the end. Build the template on day one, keep the eleven answers beside your draft, and let the structure carry the formatting rather than fixing it by hand in the last week. Tesify holds chapter structure, headings and references consistent while you draft, so the final week is a check rather than a rebuild. The references that sit in that structure, including legal materials, are covered in our guide to citing Indian Acts and judgments in a thesis.
Set up your thesis structure in Tesify
Frequently asked questions
Is there a standard thesis format for all Indian universities?
No. The UGC Ph.D. Regulations prescribe no typeface, margin or page count. Anna University specifies margins in millimetres and Times New Roman 13; Delhi University’s Ordinance VI specifies signatures and deadlines instead. Your own ordinance governs.
What margins does an Indian thesis use?
Whatever your ordinance states. Anna University’s Ph.D. Regulations 2025 specify top 30 to 35 mm, bottom 25 to 30 mm, left 35 to 40 mm and right 20 to 25 mm on A4 paper of at least 80 GSM. Other universities differ; the binding side is always the wider one.
What is a Bonafide Certificate in a thesis?
It is the certificate page attesting that the research was carried out under the named supervisor and is original. Anna University requires it in double line spacing at Times New Roman 13, with the word SUPERVISOR in capitals between the supervisor’s name and academic designation.
What is the difference between the declaration and the supervisor’s certificate?
The declaration or undertaking is signed by the scholar and asserts that the work is their own and free of plagiarism. The certificate is signed by the research supervisor and attests to the same facts in the supervisor’s voice. The UGC 2018 regulations require both.
Does the Head of the Department have to sign?
At Delhi University, yes: Ordinance VI states that the Head of the Department shall countersign the undertaking and the supervisor’s certificate. Elsewhere it varies, so confirm it before printing.
Do the title page and certificate appear in the table of contents?
Under Anna University’s regulations they do not. The table of contents lists captions following it and preceding it, but the title page, Certificate and Acknowledgement are excluded, even though their pages are numbered in Roman numerals.
How long can the abstract and acknowledgement be?
Anna University limits the abstract to four pages of essay-type narration and the acknowledgement to one page. Both are typed in 1.5 spacing at Times New Roman 13, and the scholar signs the acknowledgement at the bottom right.
How soon after the plagiarism check must I submit?
At Delhi University, within thirty days of the check verified by the University Library, and the library’s certificate of verification goes in with the thesis. Generate the report on the final file rather than an earlier draft.
Do I have to bind my published papers into the thesis?
At Anna University the running order includes the list of publications or patents, up to five full research papers published in journals, and the first page of the thesis plagiarism report. Most universities do not require this, so check yours before printing.
Can I use another university’s thesis template?
Only as a starting shape. Margins, running order, numbering and certificate wording differ between Indian universities, and a template built for a different ordinance is a set of decisions you did not make and cannot defend.
Where do I find my university’s format rules?
In the current thesis-submission ordinance or research handbook, obtained from your department as a file, in writing. Anna University publishes its Ph.D. Regulations through its Centre for Research; Delhi University publishes Ordinance VI among its acts, statutes and ordinances. Seniors’ theses are the most-used and least-reliable source.
When does the thesis have to be submitted after the pre-submission presentation?
At Delhi University, within six months of the pre-Ph.D. presentation. What happens at that presentation is covered in our guide to the PhD pre-submission presentation in India.