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Graduiertenschule für die Geisteswissenschaften

Doctoral Regulations - 2024 Updates

22 May 2024 Updates to the new Doctoral Regulations

The new Doctoral Regulations apply to doctoral candidates who are currently admitted. The most important changes compared to the previous doctoral regulations:

§ 22 - Dissertation

  • New: Cumulative doctorate possible. The form of the doctorate (monographic or cumulative) is specified in the Supervision Agreement at the beginning of the doctorate.
  • The dissertation may consist of several papers that have already been published or are currently in print as lead authors in recognised international scientific journals or in proceedings of a recognised international scientific conference with a peer review process.
  • The individual papers must be thematically related to each other and conceived as a unit; this must be expressed in a substantial independent part of the dissertation. In this part, the candidate's own research achievements must also be presented.
  • At least three of the publications used for the dissertation must be written by the doctoral candidate as the lead author, i.e. central parts must be written by him or her. In the case of co-authorship(s), the doctoral candidate's own contribution to the respective publication must be stated.
  • At least one reviewer must not be a co-author of the publications used for the dissertation.
  • Confirmation of the above-mentioned requirements by the parties involved must be attached to the application for admission to the examination in accordance with the Senate resolution of 23 May 2017.

§ 24 - Examination

  • New: Disputation also possible (aside of colloquium) by agreement between the candidate and the Doctoral Committee.
    Disputation = 30-minute presentation on the dissertation followed by an academic debate.

§ 26 - Publication

  • Various reductions in the number of deposit copies to be submitted to the University Library and the GSH; no more CDs/DVDs/microfiches.
  • New: Delayed publication by the University Library after delivery of the deposit copies:
  • In justified cases and at the joint request of the candidate and the primary supervisor, if the University Library's publication of a dissertation prevents the candidate's own publication as a digital monograph in a scholarly journal or by a scientific publishing house.
  • Publication takes place automatically one year after submission of the deposit copies. In exceptional cases, the GSH Joint Doctoral Committee may grant a further postponement of one year upon justified request. A deferral granted in this way must be notified to the University Library by the candidate before the end of the one-year submission period, otherwise publication will take place. The thesis must be published in the University Library Repository within three years at the latest.
  • New: Conditional delivery of the Doctoral Certificate on presentation of the imprimatur and a publishing contract (or confirmation of receipt from the University Library regarding publication in the WUP University Repository); the specified publication deadline must still be adhered to.

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