Dissertation guidelines

Guidelines for the author

The Doctoral degree constitutes the highest academic degree in Denmark, and a substantially higher scientific and academic level is required as compared to that of for a PhD degree. It is stated in the Ministerial Order no. 750 of 14 August 1996 on Doctoral Degrees that it must be demonstrated i) that “the author has shown considerable scientific insight and maturity” and ii) that “the author has contributed substantially to the advancement of science” with the dissertation.

These criteria must be fulfilled separately for i) the compressed account and for ii) the body of included scientific publications (unless the dissertation is a monography). It is expected that the compressed account has the format of a comprehensive scientific review, in which the (sub)field in question is reviewed and the discoveries by the author are presented and discussed appropriately in this context.

Thus, in the compressed account of the dissertation (Dansk: Den sammenfattende redegørelse), the doctoral candidate should present state of the art as well as future perspectives of the research (sub)field, including a discussion of the most significant challenges and unanswered questions in the field. The author’s own findings and discoveries should be an integral part of this, demonstrating the impact of the author’s scientific contribution.

Overall, it is recommended that the structure of the compressed account conforms to that of corresponding review articles in peer reviewed international literature in the field, and optimally may be published as such.

Examples of accepted dissertations

Acknowledging that comprehensive reviews may take different forms depending on the field, a few selected examples of recently accepted dissertations are provided for inspiration:

• Molecular mechanisms of brain water transport
• Gastrointestinal dysbiosis and Escherichia coli pathobionts in inflammatory bowel diseases
• Diagnosing equine parasites: The challenges of a moving target
• Translational Aspects of FGF21 “From physiology to pharmacology – from mouse to man”
• A Role of Vitamin C in the Young Brain: Effects of deficiency in a model of human hypovitaminosis C
  
  

Publication of the compressed account

The compressed account must be fully up to date but may be published as a review article before or after submission for assessment.

Please note:

If you submit an already published comprehensive scientific review as the compressed account, the following must be fulfilled

• A preface must be included with a list of the papers that the dissertation is based on and how they are cited in the review
• The comprehensive scientific review should be published recently and have a considerable impact
• The doctoral candidate must be the sole author of the review article
• A summery in Danish and English of the author’s thesis work must be included 

Guidelines for the assessment committee

Read about the guidelines for the assessment of a doctoral thesis (PDF).

Ministerial order on doctoral degrees 

Ministerial Order no. 750 of 14 August 1996 on Doctoral Degrees (PDF).

As per the Ministerial Order, section 4, holders of master’s or PhD degrees within the most relevant academic field are entitled to submit a dissertation for consideration for the doctoral degree (however, see (2) below).

The Academic Council may, notwithstanding the Ministerial Order, section 4 (1), decline to consider a submitted dissertation if:

The Academic Council at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences has decided that all submitted doctoral dissertations are to be considered as new submissions.

Therefore, a doctoral dissertation where parts have previously been assessed, must be 1) substantially revised (significant changes of text/ content/ scope ) and 2) include new papers in order to be considered a new submission.

Unless specific reasons prevent it, a new assessment committee will generally be appointed.