Information on the Doctoral Defence
Submission deadline
Doctoral candidates must submit the final version of their doctoral dissertation (following the preliminary defence) within three academic years of passing the comprehensive examination.
Upon application, this deadline may be extended by a maximum of one academic year by decision of the disciplinary doctoral council, provided that the student is unable to fulfil this obligation through no fault of their own owing to an accident, illness or another unforeseen circumstance.
If a student gives birth after commencing doctoral studies, the deadline for submitting the doctoral dissertation may, upon application and by decision of the disciplinary doctoral council, be extended by up to three academic years. Applications for an extension of the dissertation submission deadline must be submitted by the last day of the sixth semester following the semester of the comprehensive examination.
Publication requirements
When submitting the dissertation, doctoral candidates must provide evidence of at least four publications (in addition to the publication required for admission) in reputable, peer-reviewed journals designated by the council of the doctoral school (editorial confirmation or page proofs are acceptable). The publications must relate to the subject of the dissertation.
At least two of the four publications must be substantial studies equivalent in scope to a dissertation chapter. A publication in a prestigious international journal counts as two publications in domestic journals. At least half of the minimum four publications required for the award of the degree must be sole-authored or first-authored. (These provisions apply to students who began their doctoral studies after 1 September 2020.)
Participation in at least one conference is also a requirement for obtaining the degree.
Language requirements
At the Doctoral School of History and Ethnology, a condition for obtaining the degree is that candidates possess at least intermediate-level comprehensive proficiency, sufficient for academic research, in one of the following languages: English, Finnish, French, Dutch, Latin, German, Italian, Russian (or, in justified cases, another language).
Proof of the required language proficiency must be submitted no later than the dissertation submission date.
Documents to be submitted for the defence
- Three copies of the doctoral dissertation.
The doctoral dissertation must be submitted both electronically (see below) and in bound form, with a black or other dark-coloured cover.
Formal requirements for the doctoral dissertation
The dissertation may not exceed 250 pages, with 2,400–2,600 characters per page. For dissertations exceeding this length, the procedural fee increases by 33% for every additional 50 pages.
If the dissertation text is substantially revised or expanded compared with the version discussed at the preliminary defence, a further plagiarism/similarity check must be carried out before the public defence.
- Fifteen copies of the dissertation theses (thesis booklet).
The thesis booklet must be submitted electronically and in print in 15 copies in English. (For the content and formatting requirements of the thesis booklet, see the information concerning the preliminary defence.)
- An English-language abstract of the dissertation, including keywords (2,000–5,000 characters).
- Proof of language proficiency.
Two photocopies of the relevant documents must be submitted.
- Two copies of the university degree certificate.
- Two copies of the academic curriculum vitae.
- Two copies of the list of publications.
- One original or copy of each of at least four papers published in peer-reviewed academic journals or edited volumes (some may have been accepted for publication, assigned a DOI, or be available as page proofs).
- Certification of original academic work.
Candidates must provide evidence of the scholarly work completed before submitting the dissertation. The requirements to be met (a specified number of publications in designated outlets, academic presentations, etc.) are determined by the doctoral programmes. The programme director issues certification on the appropriate form. The secretary of the doctoral school confirms by signature that the applicant has submitted the dissertation, theses, abstracts and keywords electronically. The doctoral school assists candidates in obtaining this certification; arrangements should be made with the school secretary.
- Invitation to the public defence.
The secretary of the doctoral school or the secretary of the disciplinary doctoral council will assist with preparing the invitation.
To be submitted electronically on CD:
- the dissertation;
- its English-language abstracts;
- the title of the dissertation in English;
- the dissertation keywords in English;
- the theses in English;
- the academic curriculum vitae.
The public defence may be held only at institutions belonging to the disciplines covered by the BDT (Disciplinary Doctoral Council).
All the documents listed above in connection with the defence must be submitted to the disciplinary secretariat, to Dr Ákos Szendrei, Secretary of the BDT (phdbtk@arts.unideb.hu).
Further information: https://tndi.unideb.hu/en/degree-conferment-procedure-students