[gus_massa]

Most PhD have a few papers before finishing the dissertation. Many times the dissertation is made of a few paper by the author glued together. The papers usually chain, so it's instead of

introduction1 -> main1 -> conclussion1

introduction2 -> main2 -> conclussion2

introduction3 -> main3 -> conclussion3

the thesis is something like

long introduction -> easy example -> main1 -> main2 -> main3 -> main of preprint -> long conclussion

[AlotOfReading]

Thesis by publication is only one way, and not even the most common in many fields. I can't access the actual text of this thesis, but the abstract sounds more like a monograph and I don't see any author publications before the thesis that would lead me to think otherwise.

[maleldil]

What gus_massa was describing doesn't sound like thesis by publication. TBP usually uses the papers verbatim with some added material to make them cohesive to the overall thesis argument. What they described is more like repurposing existing material in a thesis format, which is indeed very common.

[IAmBroom]

Haven written a Master's dissertation, I think your typo of conclussion for conclusion (suggesting a head injury is needed to slog through it) is perfect.