Finalizing the doctoral program

• The doctoral student will submit based on request (Annex 1), normally 30 days before the final deadline for submission, the doctoral thesis in electronic format,to the secretariat of the doctoral school, together with the summary of the doctoral thesis, the list of publications and the declaration on his/her own responsibility regarding the originality of the doctoral thesis (Annex 2).
• The doctoral school submits the doctoral thesis to the Doctoral and Habilitation Office the doctoral thesis for the analysis of similarities.
• The Doctoral and Habilitation Office sends the similarity report to the director of the doctoral school, the doctoral supervisor, the doctoral student and the doctoral school secretary. The doctoral supervisor is obliged to send the report to the members of the academic guidance and integrity committee for analysis.
• The doctoral supervisor, members of the academic guidance and integrity committee and the designated person complete the resolution on the similarity report (Annex 4).
• If the analysis of the similarity report confirms the existence of the constitutive elements of plagiarism, defined according to legal provisions, in consultation with the doctoral supervisor, the director of the doctoral school or, as the case may be, the dean organizes his own analysis in the next meeting of the doctoral school council. The director of the doctoral school or, as the case may be, the dean of the faculty informs the doctoral school secretariat and the Doctoral Service regarding the result of the doctoral school council’s analysis (including the deadline for rewriting the doctoral thesis, if applicable).
• In the event that the similarity report indicates the need to make changes to the doctoral thesis, the doctoral student and the doctoral supervisor are officially notified by the doctoral school. After the elements reported have been remedied, the steps leading to a new similarity report are resumed; or, for limited corrections (writing, spelling, etc.), to completing the list of changes (Annex 5).
• If the analysis of the similarity report does not confirm the existence of the constituent elements of plagiarism, defined according to legal provisions, or no changes are necessary at the thesis level, the director of the doctoral school or, as the case may be, the dean of the faculty notifies the doctoral student, the doctoral supervisor and the doctoral school secretariat regarding the fulfillment of the requirements for organizing the pre-defense, which is public.

• The doctoral thesis is presented in the public defense session before the doctoral supervisor and the academic integrity and guidance committee, established at the doctoral school level according to the UB Regulations. The defense may take place in a hybrid format with the physical presence of the doctoral student and the doctoral supervisor. The date of the defense is specified in the defense application (Annex 6), completed by the doctoral student, approved by the doctoral supervisor and registered at the doctoral school. In well-justified situations with the approval of the director of the University Doctoral Studies Council, at the request of the doctoral student and with the approval of the doctoral supervisor, the defense may take place in a completely online format.
• The process of verification and evaluation of the doctoral thesis from the date of submission to the secretariat until the official submission cannot exceed 30 days and may be extended by a maximum of 30 days, in duly justified situations with the approval of the director of the Council for Doctoral Studies.
• After the pre-defense is completed, the guidance and academic integrity committee completes the agreement for the official submission of the doctoral thesis and the organization of the public defense (Annex 7), and the doctoral supervisor draws up the acceptance report (Annex 7bis).
• If the observations and recommendations of the Academic Guidance and Integrity Committee involve substantial changes to the thesis, then the resolution is necessarily NON-APPROVAL, and the doctoral supervisor, together with the Academic Guidance and Integrity Committee, sets a maximum period of 6 (six) months for the re-writing of the thesis.
• In the situation provided above, the procedure resumes from the doctoral thesis submission phase based on the request (Annex 1).

• The doctoral thesis is formally submitted with a request (Annex 8), to the secretariat of the doctoral school, in printed format (1 copy), and in electronic format, together with:
  •  the summary of the doctoral thesis
  • the affidavit regarding the originality of the doctoral thesis (Annex 2)
  • the doctoral student’s CV and scientific memorandum
  • the declaration of acknowledgement that the doctoral thesis and its annexes will be published in preview on the national public consultation platform, for 90 days, according to the legal provisions in force, before the public defense (Annex 9).
• The doctoral thesis, its annexes and the declaration (Annex 9) of the doctoral student that he/she has taken note of the fact that the doctoral thesis will be published in preview on the national public consultation platform, for 90 days, before the public defense, will be sent to Doctoral Service in order to be uploaded on the national platform. These will be available for public consultation for 90 calendar days on the national platform managed by the Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation, in accordance with the legal provisions in force in the field of copyright.
• During the 90 days, any authenticated natural or legal person may make observations regarding the existence of deviations from the standards of ethics and deontology, including from the perspective of the existence of elements of plagiarism. The observations will be sent online to the e-mail address provided by Council for Doctoral University Studies, namely director@csud.unibuc.ro.
• The validation/invalidation report will be sent to the Council for Doctoral Studies, accompanied by the doctoral thesis, in electronic format, for the issuance of the similarity report following the public consultation period and the issuance of the decision of the Council for Doctoral Studies on validation/invalidation.
• If the Council for Doctoral Studies invalidates the initiation of the procedure for the public defense of the doctoral thesis, the doctoral school will receive recommendations regarding the rewriting of the doctoral thesis and the elimination of situations that do not comply with scientific, ethical and deontological standards, and the doctoral student is obliged to remedy the content of the thesis within 3 (three) months from the communication of the decision to invalidate the defense, with the resumption of the procedure, respectively with the submission of the doctoral thesis on request.
• If the decision of the University Doctoral Studies Council (Annex 12) is to validate the doctoral thesis, the public defense procedure is initiated by establishing the doctoral committee. This is proposed by the doctoral supervisor, is endorsed by the doctoral school council and approved by the Council for Doctoral University Studies.
• The doctoral committee is composed of the president, the doctoral supervisor and at least 3 (three) official referees, of which at least two specialists carry out their activity outside the University of Bucharest. The persons proposed to be members of the committee must be renowned specialists, with concerns and contributions relevant to the issues of the doctoral thesis and must meet the internal standards of the University of Bucharest and the doctoral schools.
• The referees are specialists in the field in which the doctoral thesis was developed, have the title of doctor and have the teaching position of at least associate professor or scientific researcher level II or have obtained the qualification and have the quality of doctoral supervisor, in the country or abroad.
• In the case of a doctorate in co-supervision/co-direction and depending on the clauses of the respective agreement, the doctoral committee is made up of specialists from both institutions and is chaired by a representative of the institution hosting the public defense of the doctoral thesis. The doctoral committee may be completed with 1-2 specialists from a third higher education institution.
• The referees are required to submit/send the analysis reports to the doctoral school secretariat, within 30 days from the date of receipt of the doctoral thesis, accompanied by the CVs or links where they can be viewed (with a minimum of personal data: name, surname, institutional e-mail address, updated, dated and signed) and payment documents, including the taxpayer’s declaration (Annex 16).
• If at least one official referee considers that the thesis does not meet the quality standards, it will have to be redone.
• The doctoral supervisor informs the doctoral student that the thesis must be redone and sets the deadline for the redone, which must not exceed 6 (six) months. The redone doctoral thesis will be subject to a new verification in order to issue an updated similarity report. The redone doctoral thesis is submitted by the doctoral student to the doctoral school secretariat with the written consent of the doctoral supervisor. The official referees electronically receive the rewritten thesis indicating the changes made and send to the doctoral school either confirmation of the initial papers or their updated form.
• Before the public defense, at the request of the doctoral student (Annex 17) and with the approval of the doctoral supervisor, the University of Bucharest is obliged to verify the final version of the doctoral thesis by means of a computer program for detecting similarities including the AI ​​component and to issue a new similarity report.
• The public defense of the doctoral thesis can be organized only if all the reports prepared by the referees contain the recommendation/proposal for granting the doctoral degree in the field in which the doctoral student was enrolled. These are submitted to the secretariat of the doctoral school at least 25 days before the public defense. in physical or electronic format.
• The request for setting the date for the public defense of the doctoral thesis is formulated by the doctoral student, approved by the doctoral supervisor and by the president of the doctoral committee. The Doctoral School Secretariat hands the doctoral student the standard application for setting the public defense date (Annex 18), after fulfilling all the requirements provided for by the regulations in force.
• The application is registered with the doctoral school secretariat at least 25 calendar days before the proposed date for the public defense. The proposed date for the defense cannot be earlier than the previously estimated date for the public defense.
• The doctoral school ensures access to the content of the doctoral thesis at the specialized library: a copy of the doctoral thesis is handed over based on a report to the faculty library (Annex 19), at least 20 days before the established date.
• The date, time and place of the doctoral thesis defense are posted at the doctoral school headquarters at least 20 calendar days before the date proposed in the defense request; also at that time, the announcement of the public defense in word format (Annex 20), the summary of the doctoral thesis in pdf format, the scientific memorandum in pdf format, the CV of the doctoral student (the doctoral student decides whether the CV will also contain confidential personal data in addition to the name, surname and an e-mail address) and the CVs of all members of the doctoral committee (with a minimum of personal data: name, surname, dated institutional e-mail address) or links where they can be viewed, will be sent electronically to the Doctoral Service for posting on the University’s website. If the doctoral thesis is written in an internationally spoken language, the summary of the doctoral thesis is also prepared and disseminated in Romanian.

• The public defense of the doctoral thesis may take place in the presence of at least 4 of the 5 members of the doctoral committee, with the mandatory physical participation of the president of the doctoral committee, the doctoral supervisor(s) (in the case of co-supervision/co-direction) and the doctoral student. The other members of the committee may also participate online, in which case the participation vote (Annex 23) will be completed, with the obligation to register the public defense by the doctoral school. If one of the three referees cannot participate in the defense (physically or online), for well-founded reasons, they must send the written vote to the president of the committee before the public defense takes place (Annex 22). In case of force majeure, for the doctoral thesis developed in co-supervision/co-direction, with the approval of the Council for University Doctoral Studies, the doctoral supervisor from the partner institution may participate online and will complete the participation vote (Annex 24).
• The public defense must include a question session from the members of the doctoral committee and the public, which will be recorded in the minutes.
• If the thesis is defended in a language of international circulation, the summary of the doctoral thesis must be elaborated and disseminated in Romanian.
• Based on the public defense of the doctoral thesis, the referees’ reports, the statement regarding the originality of the work and the analysis regarding the degree of similarities, the doctoral committee evaluates and deliberates on the award of the doctoral degree, in compliance with the minimum standards developed by the National Commission for the Attestation of University Titles, Diplomas and Certificates for the award of the doctoral degree. The doctoral committee also deliberates on the grade to be assigned to the doctoral thesis and draws up the minutes (Annex 21) of the defense meeting, signed by the chairman of the committee and all the members of the doctoral committee present. The grades that can be assigned are: “Excellent”, “Very good”, “Good”, “Satisfactory” or “Unsatisfactory”, in compliance with the criteria for awarding the grades assigned to doctoral theses established by the doctoral school council.
• If the doctoral committee has decided to award the grade “Excellent”, “Very good”, “Good” or “Satisfactory”, the chairman of the committee communicates to the audience the decision to award the doctoral student a doctoral degree.
• At the public defense, the doctoral student completes the declaration regarding the options for publishing the doctoral thesis (Annex 25). If the doctoral student does not opt ​​for the separate publication of the thesis or some chapters thereof, the digital form of the thesis remains public and can be freely accessed on the national platform managed by Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation, including after the issuance of the decision to award the doctoral degree. The doctoral thesis will be assigned a copyright protection license.
• If the doctoral student opts for the separate publication of the doctoral thesis or some chapters thereof, he/she benefits from a grace period of maximum 24 months from the date of issuance of the Decision to award the doctoral degree, to carry out this publication (with the assignment of a license), during which the doctoral thesis, in digital format, becomes inaccessible to the public. After the expiration of the grace period, if no notification regarding the separate publication of the thesis has been uploaded to the platform managed by Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation, the document in digital format automatically becomes accessible, with the assignment of a copyright protection license.
• After publishing the thesis or some chapters thereof, the author is obliged to notify the University of Bucharest, at the email address birou@doctorat.unibuc.ro, of this fact and to send the bibliographic reference and a link to the publication, which will then be made public on the national platform managed by the Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation.
• In case of failure to meet the minimum standards required for the award of the doctoral degree and/or obtaining the qualification “Unsatisfactory”, the doctoral committee will specify the elements to be redone or completed in the doctoral thesis and the related period granted to the doctoral student, of a maximum of 6 (six) months, and will request a new public defense of the thesis. The second public defense of the thesis takes place before the same doctoral committee. If the minimum standards are not met even at the second public defense and the minimum grade of “Satisfactory” is not obtained, the doctoral degree will not be awarded, and the doctoral student will be expelled.

• The Doctoral and Habilitation Office uploads the doctoral file on the electronic platform of the Ministry of Education in order to validate the decision of the doctoral commission by the National Council for Attestation of University Degrees, Diplomas and Certificates.
• If the C.N.A.T.D.C.U. arguably invalidates the thesis, the Doctoral and Habilitation Office sends to the doctoral school and to the doctoral student the invalidation address sent by the Ministry of Education.
  • The doctoral student has the right to rewrite the doctoral thesis within 12 months from the date of invalidation by the C.N.A.T.D.C.U.
  • In order for the doctoral thesis to be uploaded on the electronic platform of the Ministry of Education, it must be approved in advance by the doctoral supervisor and the Council of the Doctoral School.
  • If the renewed thesis is not approved by the Council of the Doctoral School, the refusal has to be motivated.
  • If the rewritten doctoral thesis is approved by the doctoral supervisor and by the Council of the Doctoral School, it is submitted to the Doctoral and Habilitation Office in order to issue a new similarity report.
  • The revised doctoral thesis, which will have mentioned on the first page “REVISED YEAR …”, will be submitted to the Doctoral and Habilitation Office no later than 15 days before the expiration of the 12 months from the date of invalidation by CNATDCU, in the basis of a memorandum endorsed by the Council of the Doctoral School, which specifies the changes made to the doctoral thesis.
  • In case the C.N.A.T.D.C.U invalidates for the second time the rewritten form of the doctoral thesis, the doctoral title is not granted, and the doctoral student is expelled.

• If the thesis is validated, the granting of the doctoral title is done through order of the responsible minister, at the proposal of the National Council for Attestation of University Titles, Diplomas and Certificates.
• The doctoral diploma is drafted, according to the legal provisions, based on the order of the responsible minister and is issued by the University of Bucharest to the holder within two months from the receipt of the order communicated to the University of Bucharest by official address. If the ministerial order does not mention the final grade, the grade awarded by the doctoral commission mentioned in the minutes of the public defense of the doctoral thesis will be filled in.
• The award of the doctoral diploma may be done in a public ceremony.

The doctoral file uploaded to the national electronic platform contains the following documents:

a) scanned copy of the doctoral student’s identity document;

b) scanned copy of the doctoral student’s birth certificate;

c) scanned copy of the marriage certificate and other documents attesting to the change of name, if applicable;

d) the doctoral student’s CV;

e) the decision of admission to the doctoral study program;

f) the doctoral study contract and the additional documents amending the clauses of the study contract;

g) the decision of appointment of the academic integrity and guidance committee;

h) a request signed by the doctoral student, registered at the doctoral school, regarding the initiation of the thesis evaluation procedures by the academic integrity and guidance committee, endorsed by the doctoral supervisor, with a view to the defense;

i) scanned copy of the declaration signed by the doctoral student and the doctoral supervisor regarding the assumption of responsibility for ensuring the originality of the content of the doctoral thesis, as well as compliance with quality standards and professional ethics;

j) reports on the degree of similarities, which will include both the resolution of the doctoral supervisor, the academic guidance and integrity committee, and the person/persons designated by the doctoral school;

k) the acceptance report of the doctoral supervisor and the agreement of the members of the academic guidance and integrity committee concluded following the defense of the doctoral thesis;

l) the report drawn up by the doctoral school in order to validate the initiation of the procedure for the public defense of the doctoral thesis, after the end of the 90-day period of public consultation of the doctoral thesis, accompanied by documents attesting to the course of the study program;

m) the Doctoral Studies Council decision validating the initiation of the public defense procedure of the doctoral thesis;

n) the request for setting the date of the public defense of the doctoral thesis, formulated by the doctoral student, endorsed by the doctoral supervisor and the president of the defense committee, registered with the doctoral school secretariat at least 25 calendar days before the proposed date for defense. The proposed date for defense cannot be earlier than the previously estimated date for the public defense;

o) the announcement for the public defense, drawn up at least 20 calendar days before the proposed date for defense. The announcement will necessarily include information about the location, date and time of the defense, the doctoral student, the doctoral supervisor(s), as well as about the place where the full text of the thesis can be consulted in printed format;

p) the decision to appoint the doctoral committee;

q) the reports of the official referees, members of the doctoral committee, signed by them, in the form of scanned copies or electronically signed documents, submitted at least 25 days before the thesis defense;

r) the doctoral supervisor’s report, submitted at least 25 days before the thesis defense;

s) the minutes of the public defense of the doctoral thesis and the annex with questions and answers, which contains the proposal to award the doctoral title, signed by all members of the doctoral committee, in the form of a scanned copy or an electronically signed document;

ș) the doctoral thesis and its annexes, in electronic format (PDF format, excluding scans);

t) the list of publications resulting from scientific research from the doctoral study program, published or accepted for publication, if applicable, and scanned copies of the respective publications;

ț) the doctoral student’s declaration regarding his/her options regarding the publication of the doctoral thesis on the national electronic platform, in accordance with the provisions of art. 71 para. (13) and (14) of the Higher Education Law no. 199/2023, as subsequently amended and supplemented; u) the address of the University of Bucharest, prepared by the Doctoral Service, through which the doctoral file and thesis are transmitted to the National Commission for the Attestation of University Titles, Diplomas and Certificates.

necessary annexes & procedure: