Universiti Malaya moved its thesis guideline and cut its copy requirement in half. If you are working from a PDF a senior sent you, you are almost certainly printing copies nobody wants.
This page sets out the UM thesis format requirements in force at Universiti Malaya as of September 2026, read from the university’s own guideline rather than from a template passed down between students. Margins are drawn to scale, and the Word settings are given so you can set them up before you write another paragraph.
Your UM page, drawn to scale
Most formatting errors are margin errors, and most margin errors come from setting all four sides the same. Here is what a Universiti Malaya thesis page actually looks like:
Your UM page, drawn to scale. The 4 cm left margin is the binding edge — wider than the other three so the text is not swallowed when the thesis is bound. Setting all four margins the same is the commonest formatting error we see.
Set your UM thesis up in Word first
Retrofitting margins and spacing into a finished 200-page document is miserable. Setting them correctly at the start costs ten minutes. Copy these values straight across:
| Top | 2 cm |
| Bottom | 2 cm |
| Left | 4 cm |
| Right | 2 cm |
| Paper size | A4, 80 gsm |
| Typeface | Times New Roman, 12 pt |
| Body text | Double |
Do this before you write another paragraph. If you are already deep into the thesis, fix it now anyway — the longer you leave it, the more your tables, figures and page breaks will shift when the margins finally change.
UM thesis length limits
Research report: 30,000 words
Abstract requirements
Length: 500 words maximum.
Languages: English first, then Bahasa Malaysia, for an English-language thesis.
Every Malaysian university on this list requires both a Bahasa Malaysia and an English abstract, regardless of which language the thesis itself is written in. Where they differ is the order and the word count, and both are checked.
Referencing style
APA, or another style approved by your faculty.
Turnitin and similarity
Binding and cover colour
For examination: At least 2 softbound or comb bound.
Final submission: At least 1 hardbound.
Check the cover specification before you pay the binder. Binders print exactly what you hand them, and a wrong-coloured cover is an expensive reprint rather than a quick fix.
What trips people up at UM
1. The guideline has moved house
The old ips.um.edu.my address no longer serves it. The current document sits under the Institute for Advanced Studies at ias.um.edu.my. Old bookmarks and forum links go nowhere, which is why so many UM candidates are still formatting from a 2015 PDF.
2. Copies were cut, and people are over-printing
The older guideline asked for at least five softbound copies at examination and two hardbound at final submission. The current one asks for two softbound and one hardbound. The similarity band also widened, from 10–25% to 10–30%.
3. The Original Literary Work Declaration
Signed by you and a witness, and bound into every copy. It is separate from your similarity report, and it is checked.
4. Numbering stops at four levels
2.1.1.1 is as deep as it goes. Below that, switch to lettered sub-points — (a), (b), (c).
5. Your faculty can be stricter
UM says the similarity index “should be between 10% to 30%” and then tells you to refer to your own faculty. The Faculty of Education, for instance, sets 15% and mandates APA 7th — neither of which applies university-wide.
The rule that overrides everything on this page. Your faculty can be stricter than your university, and frequently is. Confirm three things in writing with your own faculty before you submit: the word limit, the similarity cap, and the referencing style. Those three are where faculty-level overrides almost always live. Margins, paper and binding colour are set centrally and rarely vary.
UM gives you the widest similarity band of the five universities and the lightest printing burden. The catch is that almost everything meaningful is delegated to your faculty, so the guideline alone will not tell you what you need to know.
UM thesis format compared with the other Malaysian universities
If you are moving between universities — a Master’s at one and a PhD at another, which is extremely common in Malaysia — the assumptions you carry across are usually wrong. Our
side-by-side comparison of all five universities puts every number in one table.
- UiTM thesis format requirements
- IIUM thesis format requirements
- UTAR thesis format requirements
- MMU thesis format requirements
- UNIMAS thesis format requirements
- UPM thesis format — Universiti Putra Malaysia
- UKM thesis format — Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
- USM thesis format — Universiti Sains Malaysia
- UTM thesis format — Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Want your UM thesis to pass format checking the first time?
We work with postgraduate researchers at Universiti Malaya on structure, formatting compliance and getting a manuscript through format checking without a return — on your own work, to your own faculty’s specification.
Source: Universiti Malaya, Guidelines for the Preparation of Research Report, Dissertation and Thesis (October 2023), Institute for Advanced Studies —
ias.um.edu.my/guideline.
Read as published in September 2026. Guidelines are revised without notice and faculties may impose stricter requirements — always confirm against your own faculty before submission. If you spot something that has changed, tell us and we will update this page.