Each of the participating universities includes in its regulations the rules on deposit, evaluation and defense of the thesis. The links with the specific regulations of each university are the following:
In accordance with the established agreement, the thesis will follow the regulations of the university in which it is registered (see clause five). The universities have approved their specific regulations in their governing councils, which comply with current legislation and are adapted to their work mechanisms and whose objectives can be considered equivalent. Therefore, the regulations regarding the procedure for the presentation and reading of doctoral theses for this Doctoral Program are identical for all participating universities (the only differences refer to the name of the universities and the management bodies of the Program). Having made this clarification, we specify as an example the regulations for the case of UVEG.
For the University of Valencia, these regulations are as follows:
PREAMBLE
Royal Decree 99/2011, of January 28, regulating official doctoral studies, establishes a new regulatory framework that develops the provisions relating to the third cycle of university studies contained in Organic Law 6/2001, of December 21, on Universities, as amended by Organic Law 4/2007, of April 12.
This regulatory development must be completed with that carried out by the universities themselves, in the exercise of their autonomy, in order to regulate certain aspects of doctoral studies that state regulations leave in the hands of the universities.
In accordance with the above, the purpose of this regulation is none other than to develop, within the scope of the University of Valencia and in the exercise of its autonomy, the regulation of the process of preparation and reading of the doctoral thesis with which third-cycle studies conclude. In its design, it has been sought to balance, on the one hand, the necessary formal guarantees of a procedure that must ensure the highest quality of doctoral theses, with the simplification of certain aspects related to the procedures for deposit and reading, as advised both by accumulated experience and by comparison with the regulations of other universities.
In this regard, and in compliance with the provisions of Royal Decree 99/2011, of January 28, which regulates official doctoral studies, as well as article 136 of the Statutes of the University of Valencia, and in exercise of the powers to develop the basic regulations on doctoral studies, the following regulations on the deposit, evaluation and defense of the doctoral thesis are approved.
Article 1 Deposit of the Doctoral Thesis
1. Once the doctoral thesis has been completed and after a favourable report from the directors and the thesis tutor (if applicable), the doctoral candidate must request authorisation from the Academic Committee of the doctoral programme to deposit it within a period not exceeding 3 academic years, counting from admission to the doctoral programme, or five years, if the thesis is part-time.
2. If after the corresponding years have elapsed, the doctoral candidate has not submitted the application for deposit of the thesis, the interested person may request the Academic Committee for Doctoral Studies for a one-year extension in the case of full-time dedication, which may be extended by one more year in exceptional cases, or for two years in cases of part-time dedication, which may be exceptionally extended by one more year.
For the purposes of this calculation, absences due to illness, pregnancy or any other cause provided for by current regulations will not be taken into account.
3. Doctoral candidates may request temporary withdrawal from the programme for a maximum period of one year, extendable for one more year. This request must be addressed to the academic committee responsible for the doctoral programme.
4. The doctoral thesis must conform to the following structure:
– General Introduction
– Methodology
– Results and argument development
– Final conclusions
– Bibliography
Likewise, the applicant must comply with the rest of the formal requirements that may be established by the University of Valencia.
5. The cover or first page must contain at least the following information:
– Shield of the University of Valencia
– Name of doctoral studies
– Title of the thesis
Name and surname of the doctoral student
– Name and surname of the thesis directors and the tutor, if any.
6. The deposit request must be accompanied by the following documentation:
a) Original or certified copy of the favorable report from the directors of the doctoral thesis, ratified by the tutor, if applicable.
b) A final copy of the thesis, signed by the doctoral candidate
c) A list of 6 experts, proposed by the thesis director, who may form part of the judging panel, which must specify the research experience of the proposed members in the manner established by the doctoral subcommittees of the different areas. This proposal must meet the requirements established by current legislation on gender equality.
d) A digital copy of the doctoral thesis and the PhD student's CV in PDF or similar format.
e) The complementary documents established by these regulations for theses presented as a compendium of publications, theses written in languages other than the official languages of the University of Valencia, international doctoral mention and joint supervision of doctoral theses.
7. In the event that the academic committee of the corresponding doctoral program observes that the application does not meet the requirements or that documentation is missing, it will require the doctoral candidate to correct the application and provide the relevant documents within a period of ten days, indicating that failure to do so will be deemed to have resulted in the candidate's request being withdrawn, in accordance with the resolution issued for this purpose.
8. The Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme will collect the document evaluating the doctoral candidate's personalised activities, the reports from the proposed experts and will resolve the application within a maximum period of one month, starting from the day following its submission to the general registry of the University of Valencia. The committee's agreement must be notified to the doctoral candidate and to the secretary of the body responsible for the Doctoral Programme.
9. In the event of a favourable resolution, the secretary of the body responsible for the doctoral programme must send all documentation to the doctoral subcommittee for the area corresponding to the thesis.
10. Within a maximum period of 5 days from the communication of the authorization to deposit the doctoral thesis, the doctoral student must notify the secretary of the corresponding center of the deposit of the thesis for publication on the center's notice board and on the University's website.
11. The certified copy of the thesis must be deposited with the secretary responsible for managing the doctoral candidate's file for a period of 10 days from the day after the deposit is published on the website. During the deposit period, any doctor may examine the thesis and submit in writing any considerations he or she considers appropriate regarding its content to the doctoral subcommittee for the area corresponding to the thesis.
Article 2. Authorization to defend the doctoral thesis
1. The doctoral subcommittee for the area corresponding to the thesis, within a maximum period of 15 days from the date on which the deposit period ends, and having seen the documentation received, must decide whether or not to authorise the defence of the thesis. When it considers it appropriate, the subcommittee may request a report from specialists outside the University of Valencia that it considers appropriate. In this case, the maximum period for making a decision will be one month.
2. In the event that the defence of the thesis has not been authorised, the doctoral subcommittee of the corresponding area must notify the doctoral candidate, the directors and the thesis tutor, if any, and the Academic Committee of the doctoral programme of the non-approval. The communication must indicate the reasons for the decision. In this case, if the doctoral candidate wishes to re-deposit the doctoral thesis at the University of Valencia, he or she must first request authorisation from the academic committee of the doctoral programme, in accordance with the provisions of these regulations.
3. If the doctoral subcommittee for the corresponding area authorises the defence of the doctoral thesis, it must propose, at the same time, the committee: president, secretary and member, as well as their substitutes and their order of substitution. The doctoral subcommittee must notify this proposal to the doctoral candidate, the thesis directors, the thesis tutor, if any, the body responsible for the doctoral programme and the president of the academic committee of the doctoral programme.
4. The doctoral subcommittee of the corresponding area, when it deems it appropriate, may propose as members of the tribunal experts not included in the proposal of the coordination committee of the doctoral program.
The president of the doctoral subcommittee must notify all members of the committee, both full and alternate, of his or her appointment. The secretary of the body responsible for the doctoral programme must send the full members a copy of the doctoral thesis to be evaluated, a CV of the doctoral candidate and a copy of the document on the activities of the person concerned.
The members of the tribunal will communicate their acceptance to the Rector. If no resignation occurs within three days, the appointment will be deemed to have been accepted by the members of the tribunal. In the event of resignation, they must communicate this circumstance to the president of the doctoral subcommittee so that the latter may propose a substitute.
Article 3. Composition of the Court
1. The tribunal must be made up of three members (president, secretary and member) and three substitutes, all of whom must have a doctorate degree and proven research experience. If they are permanent staff assigned to Spanish universities, they must have a minimum of six-year term of service.
2. The tribunal must be made up of a majority of members from outside the University of Valencia. The tribunal must be composed of members from different institutions.
3. Under no circumstances may the directors of the thesis or the tutor of the thesis form part of the committee, unless the thesis is presented within the framework of bilateral joint supervision agreements with foreign universities and the agreement so provides.
4. In the event that the doctoral thesis is written in a language other than the official languages of the University of Valencia, it must be taken into account that the members of the tribunal know the language or languages in which the thesis is written or in which its defence is planned.
5. In the event that the doctoral candidate requests the international mention of the doctoral title, at least one of the members of the committee must belong to a non-Spanish higher education institution or research center, and must be different from the person responsible for the interested person's stay.
Article 4. Announcement of the doctoral thesis defense
1. The thesis defence must be convened by the president. The secretary of the tribunal must communicate the call at least 15 calendar days before the event, both to the members of the tribunal and to the centre where the ORP is attached, so that, at least 7 calendar days in advance, the thesis defence is announced through the official electronic notice board of the University of Valencia.
2. The doctoral thesis defence must be carried out within a maximum period of three months from the day following notification to the president of the tribunal of his or her appointment, except in exceptional circumstances duly assessed by the doctoral subcommittee.
Article 5. Defense and Evaluation of the doctoral thesis
1. The defence of the doctoral thesis, which must be carried out in a public event, must begin with the presentation and defence before the members of the committee, by the doctoral candidate, of the research work produced. This will be followed by a debate with the members, who may ask questions and request any clarifications they consider appropriate.
2. Doctors present at the public hearing may ask questions at the time and in the manner indicated by the president of the court.
3. Once the defense and discussion of the thesis is completed, the tribunal must issue a report and its grade will be “Pass” or “Fail”.
The tribunal may propose that the thesis be awarded the mention of “cum laude” if a secret vote is cast unanimously in this regard.
To this end, the members of the panel must deposit their vote in a sealed envelope, which must be sent, together with all the documentation for the reading, to the Third Cycle Management Unit. In the event of unanimity, the president of the doctoral subcommittee will ratify the “cum laude” mention proposed by the panel.
4. The secretary must complete the qualification report, which must be signed by all members of the committee, and send it to the secretary of the corresponding center, together with the TESEO form, or the form that replaces it according to regulations, duly signed, the justification of the deposit of the thesis in the institutional repository of the UV, the secret votes of the proposal for the mention "cum laude" and the confidential reports motivated by the extraordinary award. The secretary of the corresponding center must process all documentation to the Third Cycle Management Unit.
5. Once approved, the University of Valencia must archive the doctoral thesis in electronic format in the open digital content repository. In exceptional circumstances determined by the academic committee of the program, and with the approval of the doctoral subcommittee, the obligation to publish the thesis in the digital content repository may be waived. In this case, it must be marked that the doctoral thesis does not have public access.
Article 6. Incidents
1. In order for the court to act validly, the presence of its three members is necessary.
If the duly convened thesis defence cannot be held due to a justified cause in the opinion of the president of the tribunal, the latter may make a new call for the defence, which must be made within the following 15 days. In this case, the call must be communicated to the same persons as the first one, with a minimum of 48 hours' notice.
2. In all cases, the limitations and conditions relating to the composition of courts established by these regulations must be respected.
If the act cannot be carried out within the established period for reasons not attributable to the doctoral candidate, the doctoral subcommittee for the corresponding area must appoint a new evaluation committee for the doctoral thesis, in accordance with the procedure established by these regulations.
Article 7. Doctoral thesis presented in a language other than the official languages of the University of Valencia
1. The doctoral subcommittee may authorize the reading of a doctoral thesis that is written in any language of scientific, technical or artistic use other than the official languages of the University of Valencia.
2. In any case, in addition to the documentation indicated in these regulations, the doctoral candidate must include in the doctoral thesis a comprehensive summary written in one of the official languages of the University of Valencia, which must in all cases include the objectives, methodology and conclusions of the thesis, with a maximum length of 8,000 words.
Article 8. Doctoral thesis presented as a compendium of publications
1. A doctoral thesis may be submitted to the University of Valencia as a compilation of publications, provided that the following requirements are met:
a) The PhD candidate must submit a minimum of 3 articles and must be the first author of all the papers presented. Otherwise, he or she must justify his or her place of authorship.
b) The thesis must include a broad general introduction, presenting the compiled works, justifying the theme and explaining the author's original contribution.
c) The thesis must include a global summary of the results obtained, the discussion of these results and the final conclusions.
d) Between the introduction and the aforementioned summaries, or as an annex, a complete copy of the works published or accepted for publication must be included, clearly stating:
the name and relationship of all co-authors of the works and the complete reference of the journal in which the works have been published or accepted for publication. In this
In the latter case, it will be necessary to attach proof of acceptance and the complete reference of the journal to which they have been submitted for publication.
e) In the event that any of the works presented have been published in a language other than the official languages of the University of Valencia, the provisions of the following must be taken into account:
provided for in article 7.2
f) The additional requirements that may be established for this purpose by the doctoral subcommittee of each of the areas
2. To submit the deposit application, in addition to the documents specified in the previous section, the following documents must also be submitted:
a) Writing by the thesis director on the impact factor, or journal categorization, of the publications included in the doctoral thesis.
b) In the event that one or more works are presented in co-authorship, a report from the thesis directors must be provided, exhaustively specifying the
Participation of the PhD student in each article, if any of the co-authors of any of the works presented in the thesis have used, implicitly or explicitly, these works
for the completion of another doctoral thesis, and, if applicable, the circumstances justifying why the doctoral candidate is not the first author of any of the works.
Article 9. International mention of the doctoral title.
1.- The mention “international doctor” may be included on the front of the doctoral degree, provided that the following circumstances apply:
a) That, during the training period required to obtain the doctorate, the doctoral candidate has spent a minimum of three months outside Spain at a prestigious higher education institution or research centre, studying or carrying out research work. The stay and activities must be endorsed by the director and authorised by the Academic Committee, and will be included in the doctoral candidate's activity document.
b) That part of the doctoral thesis, at least the summary and conclusions, has been written and defended in one of the languages commonly used for scientific communication in the field of knowledge, other than any of the official languages in Spain. This rule will not apply when the stays, reports and experts come from a Spanish-speaking country.
c) That the thesis has been reported by a minimum of two expert doctors belonging to a non-Spanish higher education institution or research institute.
d) That the thesis evaluation committee included an expert who belongs to a non-Spanish higher education institution or research center, with a doctorate and accredited research experience, provided that he or she is not the person responsible for the stay mentioned in section a)
2.- The thesis defense must be carried out at the University to which the doctoral candidate is assigned.
Doctoral candidates who wish to apply for the title of “international doctor” must state this fact when requesting authorization to deposit their doctoral thesis.
Article 10. Procedure for authorization, reading and publication of a doctoral thesis of the University of Valencia that is subject to processes of protection and transfer of technology and/or knowledge.
1. Once the doctoral thesis has been completed, the doctoral candidate who wishes to have his or her doctoral thesis authorized, defended and published in the institutional repository in accordance with the specifications established in this article must make a request to the doctoral subcommittee for the area corresponding to the thesis.
2. The application to be submitted by the doctoral candidate in accordance with the standard forms that will be provided by the Third Cycle Management Unit must be submitted to the General Registry of the University of Valencia and must be accompanied by the following documents.
a. Original or certified copy of the favorable report of the application from the directors of the doctoral thesis, ratified by the thesis tutor, if applicable.
b. A copy of the thesis signed by the doctoral candidate and the thesis supervisors.
c. A copy of the encrypted thesis signed by the doctoral candidate and the thesis supervisors. The encrypted copy of the thesis should provide an idea of the research work carried out; therefore, only those elements that are essential to ensure the protection and/or transfer of the results should be encrypted.
d. The original or a certified copy of the documents that prove that the doctoral thesis is subject to processes of protection or transfer of knowledge and technology.
3. The doctoral subcommittee for the area corresponding to the thesis must decide on this request within a maximum period of 15 days, counting from the day after the date of submission of the aforementioned request to the General Registry of the University of Valencia. The request will only be accepted when it is proven that confidentiality is absolutely essential for the success of the protection and/or transfer process. The secretary of the Doctoral Committee must notify the doctoral student of the agreement, and if it is favourable, the thesis directors and the thesis tutor must also be notified, if there is already a doctoral programme coordination committee responsible for the thesis.
4. The doctoral subcommittee for the corresponding area of the thesis must resolve this request within a maximum period of 15 days from the date of submission of said request to the General Registry of the University of Valencia. Said request will only be accepted when it is proven that confidentiality is absolutely essential for the success of the protection and/or transfer process. The secretary of the Doctoral Subcommittee will notify the doctoral student of the agreement, and if it is favourable, it will also be communicated to the thesis directors and the tutor, if there is already an Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme responsible for the thesis.
5. The members of the doctoral subcommittee of the different areas have the duty to maintain absolute confidentiality regarding the content of the doctoral theses and must sign the corresponding confidentiality agreements, for the period of time necessary for such protection to be effective. The signed confidentiality agreements will be kept by the secretary of the Doctoral Committee and a copy may be made to the doctoral candidate, if requested.
6. If the application is resolved favourably by the doctoral subcommittee of the corresponding area, the doctoral thesis that is submitted to the doctoral programme coordination committee for authorisation of the deposit, as the thesis that will be the object of deposit, is the encrypted copy of the thesis that has been authorised by the doctoral subcommittee of the corresponding area. In the event that the doctoral programme coordination committee so requests, the doctoral subcommittee of the corresponding area may authorise access to the complete copy of the doctoral thesis to two persons designated by the doctoral programme coordination committee, from among its members, so that they may examine it and prepare a report for the aforementioned committee. The persons designated must have previously signed the corresponding confidentiality agreement.
7. The members of the tribunal who are to judge the doctoral thesis, who must be expressly warned that the thesis is subject to protection and/or transfer processes, must have access to the full version of the doctoral thesis and are obliged to maintain absolute secrecy and confidentiality regarding its content. Prior to sending the doctoral thesis, the members of the tribunal must deliver to the secretary of the Doctoral Committee the confidentiality commitment corresponding to the period of time necessary for said protection to be effective, duly signed. In these cases, the submission of the documentation to the members of the tribunal must be carried out by the Doctoral Committee.
8. Publication of doctoral theses in the institutional repository will take place, if applicable, when the process of protection and/or transfer of knowledge has been completed, a circumstance that the doctoral candidate must duly notify to the University of Valencia.
Article 11.- Deposit of the thesis under a joint supervision regime.
1. The thesis submitted under a joint supervision regime must be written in one of the languages accepted by one of the universities to which it is linked, and must be accompanied by a summary in the language of another university. In any case, Article 7.2 must be complied with.
2. If the thesis is defended at a university other than the University of Valencia, the doctoral candidate must make the deposit under the same conditions as if it were defended at the University of Valencia.
Article 12. Defense of the thesis under a joint supervision regime.
1. The thesis committee must be formed in accordance with the regulations of the university where the defense takes place.
2. The defense of the thesis under a joint supervision regime will be carried out in one of the languages accepted by the university where the public defense is carried out and must be accompanied by a summary of the oral presentation in one of the languages accepted at the other university.
Article 13. Use and protection of the results of the thesis under a joint supervision regime.
The publication, exploitation and protection of the results of the thesis under a joint supervision regime, derived from research of a common nature in the departments where the thesis was carried out, must be guaranteed in accordance with the specific provisions of each country.
Transitional provision.
The procedures for deposit, evaluation and defense of the doctoral thesis initiated before the entry into force of this regulation will be processed and resolved in accordance with the regulations in force at the time of submission of the application for provisional deposit.
Final provision.
This rule comes into force on February 11, 2012.
PROCEDURE FOR CHANGING TUTOR AND/OR DIRECTOR
The student will submit a reasoned request for a change of tutor and/or director if applicable.
The commission will have a period of 15 days to study the file and make a decision, which it will notify to both parties if applicable. A period of 10 days will be opened to present objections, the lack of which will mean that the commission's report will respond to the request submitted and the file will be closed. In the case of objections, the parties involved will be notified and a new period of 10 days will be opened for counter-reply, after which the commission will issue its report.
After the indicated period has elapsed, both parties may appeal to the Rector of the University where the thesis is registered.