Doctoral examination procedure

You submit your thesis together with your application for the opening of the doctoral examination procedure. The application form must be completed in full. The following information is required:

• Doctoral subject
• Title of the thesis
• First and second reviewer
• Members of the Examination Committee

Please submit your application in duplicate. Only applications completed in full can be accepted. Please note the instructions in Section 4 (3) when listing the members of the Examination Committee. The members of the Examination Committee should have been asked in advance concerning their participation.

Checklist: Annexes to the application for the opening of the doctoral procedure

© Uwe Dettmar, Goethe Universität Frankfurt

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Reviewers:

One reviewer must be a regular member of the faculty. The other can be an external reviewer (Section 9 (4)). External means from another university or from another faculty. All professors employed at the Faculty of Social Sciences as well as postdoctoral (habilitated) researchers or junior research group leaders employed at the Faculty of Social Sciences are regular members of the faculty. 

Emeritus or retired professors, external lecturers, honorary professors, adjunct professors and senior professors are affiliates of the faculty and not regular members. They are therefore external. 

If you nominate an external reviewer, please also include their address in your application. 

Examination Committee:

The Examination Committee includes, in addition to the reviewers, three further members (Section 10). A maximum of two committee members can be external. The faculty assumes that one member from the respective other institute will be nominated (in the case of Political Science, one member from the Institute of Sociology, and vice versa). 

It is strongly recommended that doctoral candidates also nominate substitute members. Without substitute members, scheduling the disputatio might be considerably delayed.

You should contact the members of your Examination Committee in advance and enquire whether they are willing to participate in the committee.

© Uwe Dettmar, Goethe Universität Frankfurt

Once the reviewers have submitted their reports, the thesis is displayed in the Examination Office for Humanities, Cultural Studies and Sport Sciences. The display period lasts two weeks during the lecture period and four weeks during the lecture-free period.

© Uwe Dettmar, Goethe Universität Frankfurt

The disputatio is the oral defence of the thesis. A date for the disputatio can be set as soon as the display period commences. The disputatio can only take place after the end of the display period.

The date is set in agreement between the doctoral candidate and the examiners, whereby first of all the two reviewers are asked to propose dates. Please inform the Doctoral Studies Office as soon as you have found a date for the disputatio. The Doctoral Studies Office can book a room for it.

Please enquire in advance about the technical possibilities of the respective room; you might have to bring your own laptop, for example, and please arrive about 30 minutes earlier for a briefing on the media equipment. 

After the disputatio, you will receive a provisional final examination certificate (pursuant to Section 12 (5) Doctoral Regulations). This includes the examination result.

© Uwe Dettmar, Goethe Universität Frankfurt