Regulations for the presentation and reading of theses

Regarding the regulations regarding the presentation and reading of doctoral theses, in accordance with the observation made, we explicitly reiterate that the regulations are the same for all universities and that, in application of the provisions of RD 534/2013, the section under the evaluation heading is worded as follows:

1. The jury will have the doctoral candidate's activity document, which will be a qualitative assessment tool that will complement the evaluation of the doctoral thesis. This document will include the publications or results that the research has led to or the forecast of these.
2. The tribunal will issue a report and the overall grade awarded to the thesis according to the following scale: Failed, Passed, Remarkable and Outstanding.
3. The jury may award the cum laude distinction if the overall grade is outstanding and a positive secret vote is cast unanimously. The University will enable the necessary mechanisms for the final award of said distinction, guaranteeing that the counting of votes for said award is carried out in a session different from that corresponding to the defence of the doctoral thesis.

Presentation regulations

The regulations for reading doctoral theses have been adapted to Royal Decrees 99/2011 and 534/2013

Format and authorization for the defense of the doctoral thesis

Authorization and Deposit of the doctoral thesis.

1. Once the doctoral thesis has been completed, the doctoral candidate will submit a copy of it, accompanied by the authorization of the director(s), to the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program (Thesis Presentation Authorization Form).
2. The Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program will, within a maximum period of 15 days, give or not the approval for its processing. To do so, the Academic Committee will establish objective criteria that will include, at least, the obligation that the doctoral candidate has produced, as first author or main author, a scientific contribution (publications in journals, books or book chapters, patents or artistic works) of proven quality and that contributes to the support of the Doctoral Program, derived from the Doctoral Thesis, before its deposit. To accredit the status of main author, this must be recognized by the rest of the authors of the scientific contribution, at the same time that none of the other authors may present the same scientific contribution as main author to obtain approval for the processing of their own doctoral thesis.
3. The doctoral candidate who has obtained approval for the deposit of the doctoral thesis will deliver to the administrative services of the University nine bound copies of the thesis and a copy in digital format, accompanied by a folio with a summary of the thesis on one side and double-spaced, also in digital format, and the authorization of the director(s) and the unit responsible for the Doctoral Program.
4. The deadline for submission will be 15 working days, during which time the thesis may be examined by other doctors who may send any observations on its content that they deem appropriate to the unit responsible for the Doctoral Programme and to the Vice-Rectorate with responsibilities for Doctoral studies.
5. The University's administrative services will make public the information related to doctoral theses, from their submission to their defense, on the University's institutional website.

Content of the doctoral thesis

The doctoral thesis will consist of an original research work prepared by the doctoral candidate on a topic related to the scientific, technical or artistic field, specific to the Doctoral Program in which he or she is enrolled.

The work will contain, at least, an introduction or state of the art, the objectives set, the methodology developed, the results and the discussion of the same, as well as the most relevant conclusions and the bibliography used. It will not be necessary for such contents to appear in specific sections in the final document submitted.

Thesis report format

Copies of the doctoral thesis must include the following information:

1. On the cover of all copies, the logo of the 4 participating universities, according to the corporate image manual, the name of the participating Universities, the name of the Doctoral Program, title, author, date and place.
2. One copy, which for all purposes will be considered the original, will contain two additional initial pages. A blank first page where the administrative services of the University will record, in due time, the committee, the overall grade awarded, the date and signatures. The second page will contain the certification of the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program with the authorization for its submission for deposit.
3. In all copies, the following page will contain the following information: the logo or shield and name of the 4 universities, the name of the Doctoral Program taken, the name of the unit responsible for the Doctoral Program where the doctoral thesis was completed, the title of the thesis, name and signatures of the author and director/s, and the place and date of completion.
4. Once the copies have been registered, the University's administrative services will return the copies to the student so that they can be sent to the members of the examining board through the unit responsible for the Doctoral Programme, when the University's administrative services communicate their designation. One copy will be kept on deposit at the unit responsible for the Doctoral Programme. Another copy, the original, and the thesis report in digital format will be kept on deposit.

Thesis by compendium of publications

1. To submit a thesis by compendium of publications, it will be necessary:

a. A minimum of three publications, with a thematic unit, indexed in the Journal Citations Reports, Arts and Humanities Citation Index or equivalent, of which the PhD candidate is the first or main author. At least one of them must have been published in a journal whose impact factor places it within the first half in descending order of impact factor among the journals in the area.

b. In order to prove the status of principal author, this must be acknowledged by the other authors of the publications presented as the core of the doctoral thesis, at the same time that they must renounce using these publications as the main core of other doctoral theses, without prejudice to the fact that said publications may be presented as complementary merits in the doctoral theses that the other authors of said publications may present.

2. Doctoral theses presented as a compendium of publications must conform to the format established in the previous section and contain the following sections:

a. An introduction presenting the objectives of the thesis, the published works and the justification of the thematic unit of the thesis.

b. A copy of the published works.

c. Final conclusions.

d. In the event that the provisions in sections a and c have been drafted in a language other than Spanish, a summary in Spanish must be included.

Authorization for thesis defense

1. Once the deposit period has elapsed without any incident having occurred, the Vice-Rectorate with jurisdiction over doctoral studies will authorize, within a maximum period of 15 days, the defense of the doctoral thesis.
2. Otherwise, the Vice-Rectorate with powers over doctoral studies, after consulting the Doctoral Committee, will decide whether or not to authorize the defense of the doctoral thesis, after hearing from the doctoral student, of which it will inform the doctoral student, the director(s) and the unit responsible for the Doctoral Program.
3. After the defense authorization, there is a period of 7 days for the doctoral student to formalize the corresponding registration and for the unit

Doctoral thesis defense

Doctoral thesis tribunal

Once the doctoral thesis has been registered, the Vice-Rectorate responsible for doctoral studies, at the proposal of the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme, will appoint and notify the members of the committee within a maximum period of 7 days from receipt of the proposal.

The following must be taken into account when composing the court:

1. All members must be doctors with accredited research experience according to current regulations.
2. The court's proposal will state for each member the administrative category, the length of service in the same, the organization to which they belong and the address for the purposes of notifications and sending of the copy of the doctoral thesis.
3. The tribunal will be made up of a majority of members external to the participating universities and collaborating institutions in the Doctoral Program and, under no circumstances, may the director(s) of the doctoral thesis be part of it.
4. From among those proposed, the president and secretary will be appointed by the Academic Committee of the doctoral program. The secretary, who will belong whenever possible to one of the participating universities, will carry out the administrative and financial management tasks of the tribunal.
5. In order for the defense to take place, the tribunal must be made up of five members, for which the President, with the collaboration of the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Program or person/s delegated by this committee, will carry out the actions regarding the decision on the reading date and the replacement of the regular members by substitutes when necessary.

Doctoral thesis defense ceremony

1. Once the appointment for the jury has been received from the Vice-Chancellor with competence in doctoral studies, the president will proceed to convene the doctoral thesis defence within a maximum period of 15 days. The secretary of the jury will communicate this convocation to the titular and substitute members of the jury, to the unit responsible for the Doctoral Programme and to the administrative services of the University, who will make public the place and date of the defence and will prepare the file for the reading.
2. The doctoral thesis defence will take place in a public session within the period between 15 days and 2 months from the date of the communication sent by the secretary. The unit responsible for the Doctoral Programme will send a copy of the doctoral thesis to each member of the committee, with sufficient advance notice for its analysis before the reading date. The thesis defence will take place in a public session during the academic calendar's term period. For these purposes, the non-teaching period will be considered to be the period between 1 and 31 August, both inclusive, all Saturdays, Sundays and the days expressly set as holidays by the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands, as well as those provided for in the academic calendar approved by the Governing Council of the University. Exceptionally, with prior authorisation from the Vice-Chancellor responsible for doctoral matters, the doctoral thesis defence may be held within the periods indicated above.
3. With regard to the constitution and operation of the tribunal, including the possibility of the doctoral candidate or a member of the tribunal participating in the defence by videoconference, the president of the tribunal, after hearing the rest of the members, will make the decisions he considers appropriate and that ensure the quality of the academic act in all its sections. In any case, the confidentiality of the deliberations of the tribunal must be guaranteed.
4. During the reading, the doctoral candidate must present and defend the research work prepared before the jury in a period of no more than one hour. The members of the jury will express their opinion and ask the doctoral candidate any questions or comments they consider appropriate, in a period of no more than two hours. The doctors present at the public event may ask questions at the time and in the manner indicated by the president. The president may also authorize the director(s) of the doctoral thesis to participate in the corresponding debate.
5. Alternatively, at the suggestion of the thesis supervisor, the defence ceremony may be organised in such a way that the doctoral candidate's presentation is preceded by a critical and debate-promoting presentation of the doctoral candidate's research merits by a speaker appointed from among the members of the committee, for 30 minutes. In this format, the doctoral candidate will focus his or her work on the comments and questions of the committee and the doctors present in the room. The speaker must have research experience equivalent to three six-year research periods or equivalent.

Assessment

1. The jury will have the doctoral candidate's activity document, which will be a qualitative assessment tool that will complement the evaluation of the doctoral thesis. This document will include the publications or results that the research has led to or the forecast of these.
2. The tribunal will issue a report and the overall grade awarded to the thesis according to the following scale: Failed, Passed, Remarkable and Outstanding.
3. The jury may award the cum laude distinction if the overall grade is outstanding and a positive secret vote is cast unanimously. The University will enable the necessary mechanisms for the final award of said distinction, guaranteeing that the counting of votes for said award is carried out in a session different from that corresponding to the defence of the doctoral thesis.

Archive and Documentation

1. Once the doctoral thesis has been approved, the secretary of the tribunal will return, within a maximum period of 5 working days, to the administrative services of the University, the documentation of the defence act and the original copy of the same for archiving and documentation purposes.
2. The University's administrative services will send, in electronic format, a copy of the same, as well as all the necessary complementary information, to the Ministry of Education for the appropriate purposes.
3. Participating universities, with the consent issued by the doctoral student, will assign an ISBN number and establish the delivery standards to the University Library in digital format to guarantee dissemination in an institutional repository and the preservation of intellectual property.
4. In exceptional circumstances determined by the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme, such as, among others, the participation of companies in the Programme, the existence of confidentiality agreements or the possibility of generating patents derived from the content of the thesis, both in its defence and in its filing, the non-publicity of the aspects: methodology, results and conclusions, which could be affected will be ensured and a reference and copy of the document to which the privacy of these is subject will be included. Said documentation, including the report of the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme, will be sent at the time of the proposal of the tribunal to the Vice-Rectorate with competence in doctoral studies, in order to authorize the defence of this.

International mention in the title of Doctor

1. The reference "International Doctor" may be included on the front of the Doctor's degree when the following circumstances apply:

a. That, during the training period necessary to obtain the title of Doctor, the doctoral candidate has completed a minimum stay of three months
outside Spain in a prestigious higher education institution or research centre, pursuing studies 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 student's activity document.

b. Part of the doctoral thesis, at least the summary and conclusions, must have been written and presented 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 experts, doctors belonging to a non-Spanish higher education institution or research institute.

d. That at least one expert belonging to a non-Spanish higher education institution or research centre, with a doctorate degree, and other than the person responsible for the stay mentioned in section 1, has been part of the thesis evaluation committee.

2. The thesis defense must take place at the participating universities.

3. The application for the International Mention must be submitted simultaneously with the presentation of the doctoral thesis for its admission to processing (International Doctoral Mention Form).