Does the noun 'hand in' exist?

I know that there is a verb "to hand in" (see Merriam Webster). Is there a noun which means the action of "handing something in"? Is this also called the "hand in"? Does a sentence like "When is the hand in of your thesis?" make sense?

Or what other noun would you propose?

Solution 1:

You may use submission for the noun. For example,

When is the deadline for submission of the report?

Solution 2:

'Hand-in' as an object (the thing handed in) or an event (as you use in your example) makes sense and is not at all unnatural but only very colloquially (you can pretty much form a verb put of any noun in English).

The specific sentence sounds like a (very natural) disfluency of planning the sentence ahead with certain parts of speech filled in the rest expected to be filled in. You're thinking 'thesis' and 'hand in' and time, and you imagine 'the X of the thesis' rather than 'X the thesis'. A rearrangement that is does not use 'hand in' as a noun might be:

When do you hand in your thesis?

When is your thesis going to be handed in?

You would probably only ever use 'hand in' in speech as a quick replacement for the more latinate 'submission', or a more accepted term like the noun for the more specific object being handed in. Using it in more formal written language would sound too colloquial (your newspaper or journal editor would throw you out for it.

Solution 3:

You would not say the "hand in". You could say the delivery.

Solution 4:

Handin frequently is used as a noun referring to electronically-submitted assignments. Among the first 50 links from google for "handin" are 25 references to electronic handin systems or actions; 16 proper names; 6 truncations of handing; and 3 uses as a foreign word or other.

At universities where handin systems are used, questions like "Where's your handin?" and "Did you handin?" may be heard. Example: Under the title "Please correct my work. (Handin in 2.5 Hours!!)" H. Vindenes wrote a proof-reading request which was answered seven hours later.

In short, there are communities where handin as a noun or verb is frequently heard and understood. But as others have noted, submit is more widely understood and more appropriate in formal text.