Doctorate

A doctorate is an academic degree of the highest level. Traditionally, the award of a doctorate implies recognition of the candidate as an equal by the university faculty under which he studied. There are essentially three types of doctorates: research, first-professional (USA only), and honorary. Research doctorates are nearly always awarded in recognition of academic research that is of a publishable standard (even if not actually published) and represents at least a modest contribution to human knowledge. It is usually assessed by submission and defense of a doctoral thesis or dissertation, though in some cases a coherent body of published literature can be accepted instead. Honorary doctorates are awarded for a substantial contribution to a field but this need not be academic in character. In the EU, UK, Australia, and some other Commonwealth countries, a distinction is made among research doctorates, into doctorates (generally awarded after a course of 3-5 years postgraduate research and study and submission of a thesis), and higher doctorates -- awarded on the basis of ~10 years outstanding research, judged through examination of publications. These higher doctorates are also used as honorary doctorates, but those awarded on the basis of academic research are non-honorary.

Related topics

• Bachelor's degree
• Master's degree
• Engineer's degree
• Bologna process - EU harmonisation
• Degrees of Oxford University
• British degree abbreviations
• Thesis committee
• PhD Central - Open Source Network to Suggest or Find a Thesis Topic
• EURODOC - the European Council of doctoral candidates and junior researchers.

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