Applicants for master's degree must publish or be accepted to publish more than one academic paper in a journal recognized by academic degree evaluation committee University before defending their dissertations. Part-time graduate students do not need this requirement to apply for a professional degree.

Academic papers published or accepted by degree applicants must be an important part of their degree papers, and they are the scientific research achievements independently completed by the degree applicants under the guidance of their tutors. The degree applicants are the first authors, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology is the first signatory.