diff --git a/theses/factories.py b/theses/factories.py
index 926d1c192b142c5637669be954235eb013fa3fd3..60e67d1ae827327e9c73d9056e46b70130eb915f 100644
--- a/theses/factories.py
+++ b/theses/factories.py
@@ -1,10 +1,17 @@
 import factory
-from . import models
+from .models import ThesisLink
 
 
 class ThesisLinkFactory(factory.django.DjangoModelFactory):
     class Meta:
-        model = models.ThesisLink
+        model = ThesisLink
 
-    vetted = True
-    type = models
+    # requested_by = factory.SubFactory(ContributorFactory)
+    type = ThesisLink.MASTER_THESIS
+    title = factory.Sequence(lambda n: "thesis {0}".format(n))
+    pub_link = factory.Faker('uri')
+    author = factory.Faker('name')
+    supervisor = factory.Faker('name')
+    institution = factory.Faker('company')
+    defense_date = factory.Faker('date_time_this_century')
+    abstract = factory.Faker('text')
diff --git a/theses/models.py b/theses/models.py
index b2bfe6242f5dafc54fc91c40b3336a3c33ba8881..139948b9175deb6bc62fdc098bef6d3fc4a4ef86 100644
--- a/theses/models.py
+++ b/theses/models.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ class ThesisLink(models.Model):
         (PHD_THESIS, 'Ph.D.'),
         (HABILITATION_THESIS, 'Habilitation'),
     )
-    thesis_type_dict = dict(THESIS_TYPES)
+    THESIS_TYPES_DICT = dict(THESIS_TYPES)
 
     """ An URL pointing to a thesis """
     requested_by = models.ForeignKey(
@@ -29,13 +29,13 @@ class ThesisLink(models.Model):
     vetted_by = models.ForeignKey(
         Contributor, blank=True, null=True,
         on_delete=models.CASCADE)
-    type = models.CharField(choices=THESIS_TYPES)
+    type = models.CharField(choices=THESIS_TYPES, max_length=3)
     discipline = models.CharField(
         max_length=20, choices=SCIPOST_DISCIPLINES,
         default='physics')
     domain = models.CharField(
         max_length=3, choices=SCIPOST_JOURNALS_DOMAINS,
-        blank=True)
+        blank=False)
     subject_area = models.CharField(
         max_length=10,
         choices=SCIPOST_SUBJECT_AREAS,
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ class ThesisLink(models.Model):
             header += '<td>(not claimed)</td>'
         header += (
             '</tr>'
-            '<tr><td>Type: </td><td></td><td>' + thesis_type_dict[self.type] +
+            '<tr><td>Type: </td><td></td><td>' + self.THESIS_TYPES_DICT[self.type] +
             '</td></tr>'
             '<tr><td>Discipline: </td><td></td><td>' +
             disciplines_dict[self.discipline] + '</td></tr>'
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ class ThesisLink(models.Model):
             '<li><div class="flex-container">'
             '<div class="flex-whitebox0"><p><a href="/thesis/{{ id }}" '
             'class="pubtitleli">{{ title }}</a></p>'
-            '<p>' + thesis_type_dict[self.type] + ' thesis by {{ author }} '
+            '<p>' + self.THESIS_TYPES_DICT[self.type] + ' thesis by {{ author }} '
             '(supervisor(s): {{ supervisor }}) in ' +
             disciplines_dict[self.discipline] + ', ' +
             journals_domains_dict[self.domain] + ' ' +
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ class ThesisLink(models.Model):
             '<li><div class="flex-container">'
             '<div class="flex-whitebox0"><p><a href="/thesis/{{ id }}" '
             'class="pubtitleli">{{ title }}</a></p>'
-            '<p>' + thesis_type_dict[self.type] +
+            '<p>' + self.THESIS_TYPES_DICT[self.type] +
             ' thesis by {{ author }} </div></div></li>')
         template = Template(header)
         return template.render(context)
diff --git a/theses/test_models.py b/theses/test_models.py
index 2e9cb5f6ba351402af656aec1be5d9ac257bc5c0..4308ab25f1d22c56e33cb5047cb6f571fe080bf7 100644
--- a/theses/test_models.py
+++ b/theses/test_models.py
@@ -1 +1,15 @@
+import re
+
 from django.test import TestCase
+from django.core.exceptions import ValidationError
+
+from .models import ThesisLink
+from .factories import ThesisLinkFactory
+
+
+class ThesisLinkTestCase(TestCase):
+    def test_domain_cannot_be_blank(self):
+        thesis_link = ThesisLinkFactory()
+        thesis_link.domain = ""
+        self.assertRaisesRegexp(ValidationError, re.compile(r'domain'),
+                                thesis_link.full_clean)