Doctoral thesis

The applicable regulation regarding the preparation, processing and evaluation of the doctoral thesis is the one contemplated in the regulation rules (RD 99/2011) and in the doctoral regulations of UDC, some of whose main articles are reproduced here:

 

Article 24. Maximum and minimum duration of full-time and part-time doctoral studies

1. The duration of full-time and part-time doctoral studies will be, respectively, a maximum of three and five years. In each case, this duration will be counted from the first enrollment of the doctoral candidate for the concept of academic protection of the doctorate until the submission of the application for the deposit of the doctoral thesis.

2. The minimum duration of doctoral studies will be, full-time and part-time, 18 months, counted from the admission of the doctoral candidate until the submission of the application for the deposit of the doctoral thesis.

3. In the case of students from doctoral studies regulated by regulations prior to RD 99/2011 or transfers of records from other universities, or with previous studies in another program regulated by RD 99/2011, will compute for the purposes of minimum duration the period in academic guardianship prior to enrollment in the UDC in the doctoral program verified by RD 99/2011, provided that the change of program or transfer of file is not accompanied by a change of project.

4. When, in the same doctoral program, the doctoral student has used both enrollment modalities, the duration of the doctoral studies in terms of full-time studies, with the consideration that One year of part-time enrollment equals 0.6 years of full-time enrollment.

 

Article 25. Extensions for conducting full-time and part-time doctoral studies

1. If the application for the deposit of the doctoral thesis is not submitted after the established deadline, the CAPD could authorize the extension of the deadline, after the request of the doctoral candidate. The extension would be one year in full-time doctoral studies and two years in part-time doctoral studies. Exceptionally, this period could be extended in both cases in another additional year. The authorization of those cited extensions will be made in a motivated manner and in accordance with the regulations of the UDC.

2. The simultaneity of studies will not be grounds for the granting of extension.

 

Article 10. Supervisors of the doctoral thesis

1. Within a maximum period of three months from its enrollment, the CAPD will assign to each doctoral student a thesis supervisor who will be the maximum responsible for the coherence and suitability of the training activities, the impact and novelty in its field of the topic of the doctoral thesis and of the guide in the planning and its adaptation, where appropriate, to that of other projects and activities where the doctoral candidate is enrolled.

2. Any Spanish or foreign doctor with proven research experience, regardless of the university, center or institution in which he/she provides his/her services, may be supervisor of the thesis. For the purposes of these regulations, proven research experience means compliance with any of the following requirements:

• a) Have at least one "sexenio" of research activity recognized.
• b) To be, in the last six years, a principal investigator of a research project financed through a public call (excluding the university's own call projects).
• c) Prove the authorship or co-authorship, in the last six years, of at least three publications in journals included in the Journal Citation Reports. In those areas where this criterion is not applicable due to its tradition, it will be replaced by a comparable requirement as established by the Commission of National Research Activity Evaluation (CNEAI) in these scientific fields.
• d) Prove the authorship or co-authorship of a patent in operation.
• e) Have supervised a doctoral thesis in the last five years with the qualification of outstanding cum laude or apt cum laude that would result, at least, in a publication in journals indexed in the ISI-JCR or any relevant contribution in its scientific field according to the criteria of the CNEAI.

3. In the event that a professor of the program meets the requirements to be a supervisor and tutor, he will assume both functions.

4. In the event that the supervisor is not permanent staff in the university or collaborating entity of the program or is not a professor of the program, the CAPD will assign a tutor to meet the requirements established in art. 9 of this regulation.

5. The CAPD, upon hearing the doctoral candidate, may modify the appointment of the thesis supervisor at any time during the period of completion of the doctorate, provided that justified reasons concur.

6. The thesis may be co-supervised when academic reasons concur or when the thematic interdisciplinarity or programs developed in national or international collaboration justify it. In any case, the co-supervision must be previously authorized by the CAPD and that authorization may be revoked later if, in the opinion of the CAPD, the co-supervision does not benefit the development of the thesis. The co-supervisors of the thesis must meet the same requirements as those established for the supervisors in these regulations.

7. The thesis management work will be recognized as part of the teaching and research dedication of the teaching staff.

Article 33. The doctoral thesis

1. The doctoral thesis will consist of an original research work related to the scientific, technical or artistic fields of the doctoral program studied by the doctoral student.

2. The doctoral thesis will be written, as a general rule, in the Galician, Spanish, English or Portuguese language or in the language commonly used in the scientific, technical or artistic field in question. However, the doctoral school may authorize its drafting in another language, after the CAPD reports favorably and guarantees that the thesis committee will be in a position to judge it. In case it is written in a language other than Galician or Spanish, the thesis must include an annex in the volume of the thesis itself, which will contain a summary of at least three thousand words in Galician or Spanish.

3. The doctoral thesis must include at least: a summary, an introduction, the objectives, the methodology, the results, the conclusions and the bibliography, as well as the assessment reports of the thesis by the supervisor and tutor. The UDC will assess the possibility of publishing a guide of good practices for the supervision of doctoral thesis and a style guide for the presentation of the doctoral thesis.

Article 40. International mention of the title of doctor

1. The title of doctor may include on his obverse the mention "International Doctorate", provided that the following circumstances concur:

• a) That, during the thesis completion stage, the PhD student will make a minimum stay of three months outside of Spain in a higher education institution or prestigious research center, studying or performing work research. The stay and activities must be endorsed by the supervisor and authorized by the CAPD, and will be incorporated into the activities document.
• b) That part of the thesis, at least the summary and conclusions, be written and presented in one of the usual languages for scientific communication in its field of knowledge, other than any of the official languages in Spain. This rule will not apply when stays, reports and experts come from a Spanish-speaking country.
• c) That the thesis be informed by a minimum of two expert doctors belonging to a higher education institution or non-Spanish research institute.
• d) That at least one expert belonging to a higher education institution or non-Spanish research center, with the title of doctor, and different from the person responsible for the stay mentioned in section a), is part of the thesis evaluation committee and is different from the two experts referred to in section c).

2. The CAPD must send to the doctoral school the documentation proving the stay, its authorization to carry it out and the reports of the two external experts, together with the rest of the documentation, so that it can proceed to the authorization of the defense of the doctoral thesis.

Article 38. Qualification of the doctoral thesis

1. Once the defense of the thesis by the doctoral candidate is finished, the committee will issue a report on it and the overall rating according to the following scale: Not suitable, approved, notable and outstanding. The secretary of the committee will write a certificate of collation of the title of doctor, which will include information related to the development of the act of defense and the qualification. If the doctoral candidate requested to qualify for the international mention of the title of doctor, the secretary of the committee will include in the certificate of collation the certification of compliance with the requirements. The president of the committee will communicate, in public session, the qualification.

2. The committee may propose that the thesis obtain the cum laude mention if the overall rating is outstanding and the positive secret vote is unanimously issued in that regard. The doctoral school will regulate the procedure for the materialization of the final grant of that mention in a different session from that corresponding to the defense of the thesis.

3. The secretary of the court, or professor in whom he delegates, will be responsible for the documentation corresponding to the defense of the doctoral thesis, which must be duly sent to the administrative unit responsible for doctoral studies at the UDC in the maximum period of five business days after the day of exposure and defense of the thesis for archiving and documentation.