Doctoral thesis

The thesis must be written in one of the official languages of Catalonia or in English. Exceptionally, the Academic Doctoral Commission may authorise it being written in another language if there are academic reasons to justify this.

In general, the doctoral thesis will be divided into the following sections:

• I. Introduction: The doctoral candidate must describe the importance of the research topic and the environment in which it is framed. If the thesis is a compendium of publications, they must state the consistency between the different articles and their complementarity.
• II. Hypothesis and objectives: The hypothesis and objectives of the research project should be explained.
• III. Methodology: Description of the methodology used in the research project.
• IV. Research results In the case of a thesis by compendium, the articles that constitute the body of the doctoral thesis will be presented here. The articles that were finally accepted by the journals prior to layout in Word format will be used.
• V. Discussion: To undertake a global discussion and indicate the overall results of the project.
• VI. Conclusions: List of conclusions obtained from the thesis.
• VII. References
• VIII. Annexes

The thesis should be reviewed by two experts on the topic who are external to the UIC, before being accepted for the oral thesis defence.

The Doctoral Thesis can be presented in traditional format or in a compendium of publications.

To complete a compendium of publications thesis, the following requirements must be met:

a) General:

1. The doctoral candidate must be the first author of the publications presented and must indicate their affiliations with UIC Barcelona in the articles.
2. These works must have been published or accepted for publication later than the date the thesis project was registered.
3. The publications that make up the doctoral thesis must not have been used in any previous doctoral thesis.
4. The articles that make up the thesis may not be included as part of another. Any co-authors not holding a doctorate must sign a waiver to use them in other theses. These documents must be attached at the time of depositing the thesis.
5. The papers presented, in addition to having scientific value by themselves, must together form a scientific unit. The candidate must be able to establish a common thread to present a unitary scientific thesis with a value greater than the sum of the different papers presented independently of each other.

b) Specific to each doctoral programme:

The Academic Doctorate Committee shall establish the scales (number of publications and ranking of journals), which it considers appropriate for the admission of doctoral theses in compendium form.

The Thesis Deposit

The Thesis Deposit is the period that begins with the application for deposit submitted by the doctoral candidate and ends with the decision of the Academic Doctoral Committee (CAD) on the approval of the defence of the thesis and the appointment of the Tribunal.

a) Monitoring of the originality of the doctoral thesis

Prior to the beginning of the deposit phase, the originality of the thesis will be monitored according to the control mechanisms approved for this purpose by the School Management Committee. If the thesis does not pass the originality test it cannot be accepted for deposit.

Once all the documentation has been received (application of the doctoral candidate and the proposal of the director's reviewers) the thesis will enter the deposit phase

b) Assessment of the Thesis by External Reviewers

The Academic Doctorate Committee shall appoint the two external reviewers who, anonymously, will report on the work presented indicating whether the thesis is accepted for defence or not accepted for defence.   In the latter case, it shall indicate the recommendations to be incorporated or modifications to be made to the thesis.

The Academic Doctorate Committee, in the light of the reviewers' reports, will decide and communicate to the doctoral candidate and supervisor:

1. That the Thesis can be defended, and the jury for the thesis defence will be officially appointed.
2. That the thesis should be reviewed and modified according to the recommendations made in the reviewers' reports. In the latter case, the doctoral candidate, after incorporating the above recommendations, must re-submit their thesis to be re-evaluated.

Reading and defence of your thesis

The doctoral thesis must be evaluated in the act of presentation and defence where the doctoral candidate must present and defend their research project before the members of the jury and other attendees.

a) Format of the event

This event will be conducted in public and face-to-face. Exceptionally, for justified reasons, the doctoral candidate and the thesis supervisor may request that the Academic Doctorate Committee authorises the defence of the thesis in virtual or semi-virtual format (by video conference).

b) Designation of the jury

The Academic Doctoral Committee shall designate the members of the jury to judge each doctoral thesis, in accordance with the criteria established by the Management Committee, on the proposal of the supervisor of the corresponding thesis. The jury is appointed by choosing specialists from the subject area to which the thesis belongs.

c) Period of publication

In this evaluation process and before the defence, the university must guarantee the dissemination of the completed doctoral thesis so that other doctors can submit observations on the content. In this sense, the thesis will remain in public deposit for consultation for 15 working days before the date of the defence and reading of the thesis.

d) Qualification of the thesis

After the defence and discussion of the thesis, the jury must issue a written assessment report and the overall qualification granted to the thesis of either Fail, Pass, Good or Excellent.

If the thesis has obtained the overall rating of Excellent, the jury may propose that the thesis obtain a Cum Laude distinction if a secret vote in favour is issued unanimously. The vote must take place individually in a closed envelope. The count will be carried out by the Director of the Doctoral School who will issue the final mark and from the Doctoral School this will be communicated to the doctoral candidate, the thesis supervisor, and the members of the jury.

e) Management of the event and corresponding documentation

The Doctoral School is responsible for managing the procedures and the thesis defence and reading, in accordance with the protocol established by the School Management Committee and also for providing the necessary documents to process the application for the title of doctor.