Guide on the submission and defence of doctoral theses at the University of Granada

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Guide on the submission and defence of doctoral theses at the University of Granada

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1. The UGR database system will automatically verify whether:

1. You are enrolled for the current academic year and have paid the corresponding fees.

2. You have not exceeded the timeframe (periodo de permanencia) established for the completion of studies, in accordance with the Regulations on Academic Progress in UGR Doctoral Programmes.

3. Your academic record includes:

a. The doctoral programme on which you are enrolled.
b. Your approved research proposal.
c. The title of your doctoral thesis.
d. The name(s) of your thesis supervisor(s).
e. Your doctoral student activity document (DAD) authorised by your thesis tutor and the coordinator of the corresponding doctoral programme.

You can consult these details on the Academic Monitoring Portal for Doctoral Students, through your “Acceso Identificado” Student Account. Should you spot any mistake, you must immediately notify the International School for Postgraduate Studies (EIP) via the following email address: --LOGIN--dfd2e7572576aa475356de36bf71725dugr[dot]es

Regarding the periods and deadlines related to the submission and defence of your doctoral thesis, non-teaching periods will not be taken into account.

2. You must submit the following documentation:

In order to obtain authorisation to submit and defend your doctoral thesis from your thesis tutor and supervisor(s), as well as the academic committee of the corresponding doctoral programme, you must upload the following documents in PDF format to the “Depósito de Tesis” (thesis submission) platform:

1. A copy of your doctoral thesis (maximum size: 100 MB). All pages must be the same size and orientation.
IMPORTANT: THE DOCTORAL THESIS YOU UPLOAD TO THE PLATFORM WILL BE THE FINAL VERSION PUBLISHED ON DIGIBUG.
2. A statement of your commitment to copyright compliance, included in the copy of your doctoral thesis, using the template you can download on the International School for Postgraduate Studies website.
3. Proposal regarding the members of the board of examiners as well as a report on the suitability (informe de idoneidad) of each of these proposed members. Please check section 4.2 for further information.
4. At least one original publication that includes some of the results of your doctoral thesis. If the manuscript has already been accepted but has not been published yet, you must attach a letter from the journal editor indicating the title and author(s) of the work. You must also include the quality indicators1 of the publication2.
5. Summary of the doctoral thesis to be included in the TESEO Doctoral Thesis Database. Please check section 4.1. if you need further information on how to proceed.
6. Your curriculum vitae.
7. Agreement signed by the co-authors, if applicable, indicating that they consent to the inclusion of co-authored publications in your thesis or, if they are not yet doctoral degree holders, a signed agreement not to submit the same publications as part of other doctoral theses. You must use the template available on the International School for Postgraduate Studies website.


If the thesis is submitted as an article-based thesis (por agrupación de publicaciones), you must also submit the following documentation:

1. The quality indicators of each publication included in the copy of your thesis. With this type of thesis you do not have to submit document 4 (original publication), although you must indicate the impact factors of each publication that forms part of your thesis.

For its inclusion in the thesis, IT MUST NOT BE USED THE PDF GENERATED BY THE MAGAZINE because it would result in violation of copyrights. Instead, it must be used the manuscript sent to the magazine (tables and diagrams can be distributed along the text.


If you wish to apply for an International Doctorate Mention, you must also submit the following documents:

1. Your application for the International Doctorate Mention.
2. An official certificate indicating the international mobility period undertaken.
3. Reports written by two experts, both of whom must be doctoral degree holders from a non-Spanish higher education institution or research centre/institute. To complete this process you must use the template available on the International School for Postgraduate Studies website. These experts must comply with the same requirements as the members of the board of examiners, so reports on their suitability ( informe de idoneidad) must also be submitted.

All of the information regarding the International Doctorate Mention and the required documentation can be found on the International School for Postgraduate Studies website.


If you wish to submit your doctoral thesis within the framework of a cotutelle agreement between two universities:

- Please bear in mind that even if the doctoral thesis is defended at a foreign university you must also be enrolled at the University of Granada and meet all the deadlines and procedures required by the UGR before the defence.
- You can find more information about cotutelle agreements on the International School for Postgraduate Studies website.

1 You can check the required quality indicators at the Doctoral Programme website.



2 The publication must be included as a separate document, NOT as part of the copy of your doctoral thesis.

3. Deadlines and procedures for the thesis submission:

Once you have submitted all the required documents, the procedure will continue as follows:

1. The International School for Postgraduate Studies will check all the information about your thesis and whether the documents submitted match your academic records or not. Should any content be missing or require correction, you will be given 10 days to amend these issues.
2. Once you meet the requirements to submit your doctoral thesis, it will be made available for 15 days on the UGR library website. UGR doctoral degree holders will be able to log into the UGR library website and make any observations they deem necessary regarding the content of your thesis to the International School for Postgraduate Studies. If no observations are received, you will be allowed to proceed to defend your doctoral thesis.
3. Authorisation by the academic committee of the corresponding doctoral programme:
a. Should the academic committee identify any issue, the documentation will be returned to the International School for Postgraduate Studies and you will be asked to amend it.
b. If the documentation is authorised by the corresponding academic committee, it will be submitted to the management committee of the corresponding doctoral school.
You can check the schedule of meetings of each doctoral programme’s academic committee on the corresponding doctoral programme webpage.
4. Management committee of the doctoral school:
a. Should the management committee of your doctoral school identify any issue, the documentation will be returned to the International School for Postgraduate Studies and you will be asked to amend it.
b. If the documentation is authorised by the management committee of your doctoral school, you will be notified of their approval.
You can check the schedule of meetings of the management committee of each doctoral programme on the International School for Postgraduate Studies website.
5. Notifications regarding administrative decisions. The administrative decision of the management committee of the corresponding doctoral school will include information concerning the authorisation of the thesis submission and the definitive members of the examination committee. Both you, your thesis supervisors, the coordinator of your doctoral programme, and the secretary/chairperson of the board of examiners will all be notified regarding this decision within 48 hours after the management committee meet.
6. The secretary of the board of examiners,: once appointed, must communicate the date of the doctoral thesis defence to the International School for Postgraduate Studies at least 15 calendar days in advance. The defence must always take place during a teaching period. The aforementioned 15 days may overlap with the period the doctoral thesis is available on the UGR Library website. However, if the International School for Postgraduate Studies receives appeals or objections, the defence will not be allowed to take place on the scheduled date.
7. The secretary of the board of examiners must communicate the date of the doctoral thesis defence to the university community via the following email address: --LOGIN--dcae98ec5a5cc8634334f0e6bca7914blistas[dot]ugr[dot]es . The defence must take place within three months of having been authorised, otherwise the entire thesis submission procedure must be repeated.

4. Other relevant information

4.1 TESEO Doctoral Thesis Database

Once the doctoral thesis submission and defence is authorised, you must fill in the relevant information on the TESEO Doctoral Thesis Database.

A summary in PDF format of your doctoral thesis is one of the key elements required by the TESEO Doctoral Thesis Database. It is essential to prepare this summary properly, as the managers of the TESEO database will revise it and reject it if it has not been completed correctly, thereby delaying the issuing of your doctoral degree certificate.

The summary in the TESEO database is a short presentation of the doctoral thesis, which is expected to be developed effectively. Accordingly, the summary must be long enough to ensure that the argument of your doctoral thesis is clearly explained. One criterion that may be useful as a guideline is that the summary should include an introduction or justification, theoretical background, a conclusion and a bibliography. It will thereby meet the requirements for an effective, well-structured and comprehensive thesis database. In this way, TESEO users will help to build an effective and efficient information system for consulting theses developed at Spanish universities.

In short, this summary enables other TESEO users to understand the research you have conducted and the results you have obtained. It is advisable, although not mandatory, to submit the summary in both Spanish and English. The summary must have been approved by your doctoral thesis supervisor(s) (their approval must feature explicitly in the document).

4.2. Proposal of members for the board of examiners

The proposal of members for the board of examiners will be assessed by the doctoral programme academic committee. The proposal must comprise six or eight doctoral degree holders who are experts in the subject matter of the doctoral thesis. A report on the suitability of each of them will be attached (“Informe de Idoneidad” form) indicating, in the case of university teaching staff with civil service status (personal docente funcionario), the number of CNEAI six-year research periods (sexenios) they hold. Comparable merits will only be attached in the event that a member is not eligible to apply for the award of CNEAI periods (see guidelines in https://escuelaposgrado.ugr.es/doctorado/escuelas/caed/_doc/acuerdodirectordetesis2012509).

	

The board of examiners assessing the doctoral thesis must consist of three or five members, plus three substitutes. The majority of the members of the board of examiners must be external (they cannot be University of Granada staff or teaching staff on your doctoral programme). The Secretary of the board of examiners must be a permanent teaching staff member of the University of Granada.

THREE-member board of examiners:

If you are applying for an International Doctorate Mention:
Three regular members:
* Secretary: this member must be a doctoral degree holder and a permanent teaching staff member at the UGR.
* An external member to the UGR who is not a lecturer assigned to the student's doctoral programme.
*An expert from a non-Spanish higher education institution or research centre.
The Chairperson may be any member who is not appointed as Secretary.
3 substitutes: same composition as for regular members.
If you are NOT applying for an International Doctorate Mention:
Three regular members:
* Secretary: this member must be a doctoral degree holder and a permanent teaching staff member at the UGR.
* Two external members to the UGR who cannot be lecturers assigned to the student's doctoral programme.
The Chairperson may be any member who is not appointed as Secretary.
3 substitutes: same composition as for regular members.

FIVE-member board of examiners:

If you are applying for an International Doctorate Mention
5 regular members:
* Secretary: this member must be a doctoral degree holder and a permanent teaching staff member at the UGR.
* A member of the UGR.
* Two external members to the UGR who cannot be lecturers assigned to the student's doctoral programme.
*An expert from a non-Spanish higher education institution or research centre.
The Chairperson may be any member who is not appointed as Secretary.
3 substitutes:
* A permanent teaching staff member at the UGR who must hold a doctoral degree.
* An external member to the UGR who cannot be lecturers assigned to the student's doctoral degree.
* An expert from a non-Spanish higher education institution or research centre.
If you are NOT applying for an International Doctorate Mention
5 regular members:
* Secretary: this member must be a doctoral degree holder and a permanent teaching staff member at the UGR.
* A member of the UGR.
* Three external members to the UGR who cannot be lecturers assigned to the student's doctoral programme.
The Chairperson may be any member who is not appointed as Secretary.
3 substitutes:
* A permanent teaching staff member at the UGR who must hold a doctoral degree.
* Two external members to the UGR who cannot be lecturers assigned to the student's doctoral programme, or a member of the UGR and an external member who is not assigned to the student's doctoral programme.

In any case, the University of Granada Director’s Office will provide funding for the subsistence allowances of up to three members of the board of examiners, within the established limits.

For the constitution of the board of examiners, the principle of balanced presence of women and men must be observed, except for justified and objective reasons, in accordance with Art. 53 of Spanish Organic Law 3/2007, of 22 March, for Effective Equality between Women and Men.

If your thesis was conducted within the framework of an international COTUTELLE agreement, the composition of the board of examiners will be determined by the specific agreement in question. For more information on cotutelle theses, please consult the following link: https://escuelaposgrado.ugr.es/doctorado/estudiantes/tesis/cotutela

If you are applying for an INTERNATIONAL DOCTORATE MENTION, at least one expert from a non-Spanish higher education institution or research centre/institute must be part of the board of examiners. This member must be a doctoral degree holder, but cannot have been in charge of your research mobility period, nor can they be one of the signatories of the reports on the suitability of the external experts.

4.3 Applicable regulations

The regulations applicable to the procedure for submitting your doctoral thesis at the University of Granada include the following:

- Modification of the UGR Regulations on Official Doctoral Studies and Doctoral Degree Certificates. UGR Official Gazette (BOUGR no. 75, of 31 October 2013).
- Royal Decree 99/2011, of 28 January, which regulates official doctoral studies. Official State Gazette (BOE no. 35, of 10 February 2011).
- Law 39/2015, of 1 October, on Public Administration and General Administrative Procedures. Official State Gazette (BOE no. 236, of 2 October 2015).
- Law 40/2015, of 1 October, on the Legal Framework Governing Public Administrations. Official State Gazette (BOE no. 236, of 2 October 2015).
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