

The university doctoral studies are completed with the defense of the doctoral thesis in a public defense in front of the public defense commission.
The final term for submitting the doctoral thesis for public defense is at the end of the three years of doctoral studies or, as the case may be, at the end of the interruption / extension periods.
Before submitting your thesis, you should check the following:
Regarding the doctoral activity
- Number of credits: at the end of your doctoral studies, you should have acquired 180 ECTS, of which:
- Have 30 credits from courses, of which at least half from ISDS-UB (consult your study plan for the exact number);
- Have 150 credits from the scientific research program;
- Ethnics and Integrity Discipline: it is mandatory for all doctoral students to participate and pass this course ;
- Yearly progress reports: present all these reports and make sure that your catalogues are in original at your file;
- Scientific reports: present all your scientific reports and make sure that your catalogues are in original signed by your steering committee at your file;
- Monthly activity reports: for each month of your doctoral program you should submit to the administrative office an activity report;
- Quality criteria: meet in your thesis all the quality criteria specific for your field and set by your supervisor;
- Scientific activity and publications: meet the minimum criteria established in your field by the Minister Order No.5110 of 2018;
- Institutional affiliation: mention the ISDS-UB affiliation in all the scientific papers elaborated during the period and within the doctoral studies;
- Publication of the thesis: discuss with your supervisor the thesis publication options;
- Individual training plan: check that your plan is updated with information about the activities performed during your studies;
Regarding the doctoral thesis
- Title: notify the administrative office about changes regarding the title of your thesis.
- Originality of the Ph.D. thesis: must be the result of its scientific research activity, through the coordination of the doctoral supervisor and the steering committee, and contain original results. It includes the presentation of the author’s research in the past and current scientific context of the chosen theme. The original findings of the author should be the main part of the thesis;
- ISDS-UB affiliation: the first page of the Doctoral Thesis must state the visual identity of the Doctoral School and UB;
- Content of the thesis: The structure, content, and form of the thesis are determined by consultations between the Ph.D. student and the supervisor;
- Plagiarism statement: The doctoral thesis will contain a handwritten statement by which the doctoral student assumes the quality of author for the work, the compliance with the provisions of the scientific, academic and professional ethics and the compliance with the intellectual property rights.The Ph.D. student will explicitly state that the Ph.D. thesis does not contain plagiarized ideas or formulations and will confirm the authenticity of the empirical data invoked in the paper, where appropriate.
If you completed all the obligations described above and the ones provided by the internal regulations of ISDS-UB and the student contract, then you will begin the process of submitting and presenting your thesis, which at the end, if you are successful, will bring you the title of “doctor”. You will pass through the following stages:
1). The similarity analysis of the thesis
- 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 on CD, and as the case may be, in printed format at the secretariat of the doctoral school.
- 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 will perform the analysis of similarities using a program recognized by the C.N.A.T.D.C.U.
- The Doctoral and Habilitation Office sends the similarity report, to the doctoral supervisor and to the secretary of the Doctoral School, and, if the case, to the dean of the faculty.
- The doctoral supervisor fills in the resolution on the similarity report.
- If the analysis of the similarity report confirms the existence of constitutive elements of a plagiarism, the director of the doctoral school or, as the case may be, the dean organizes the analysis in the next meeting of the Council of the Doctoral School. The director of the doctoral school or, as the case may be, the dean of the faculty notifies the secretariat of the doctoral school and the Doctoral and Habilitation Office regarding the result of the analysis of the Council of the Doctoral School (including the term for rewriting the doctoral thesis, if applicable).
- If the analysis of the similarity report does not confirm the existence of the constitutive elements of a plagiarism, the director of the Doctoral School notifies the doctoral student, the doctoral supervisor and the Doctoral School secretariat that they are allowed to organize the pre-defense.
2). Pre-defense of the thesis
- The doctoral thesis is presented for pre-defense in front of the doctoral supervisor and of the steering committee. The date for the pre-defense is specified in the pre- defense application/ request (Annex 4), filled in by the doctoral student, endorsed by the doctoral supervisor and registered at the doctoral school.
- The process of verification and evaluation of the doctoral thesis from the date of submission to pre-defense will not exceed 30 days and may be extended by a maximum of 30 days, in duly justified situations.
- As a result of the pre-defense, the steering committee fills in its opinion (Annex 5). If the observations and recommendations of the steering committee involve substantial changes to the thesis, then the resolution is necessarily NOT APPROVED, and the doctoral supervisor and the steering committee set a maximum period of 6 months for the thesis to be rewritten. In this situation, the procedure resumes from the phase of submitting the thesis on the basis of application (Annex 1).
3). Public defense preparations
- The doctoral thesis is formally submitted with a request (Annex 8), to the secretariat of the doctoral school, in printed format (3 copies), together with:
- the acceptance/ report of the doctoral supervisor (of the doctoral supervisors in case of co-supervision )
- the resolution (Annex 3) on the similarity report from the doctoral supervisor
- the opinion of the steering committee (with the resolution ENTORSEMENT)
- the declaration of non-plagiarism (Annex 7).
- The final term for submitting the doctoral thesis for public defense is at the end of the three years of doctoral studies or, as the case may be, at the end of the interruption / extension periods.
- The public defense of the doctoral thesis may take place within a maximum of one year from the moment of official submission.
- Once the doctoral thesis is submitted, the file will be completed according to the list (Annex 19).
- The secretariat of the doctoral school will complete the file of the doctoral student with the preliminary report (Annex 6) regarding the doctoral studies.
- Candidates who have study documents obtained abroad will present the translation into Romanian of the respective documents together with their equivalence by the specialized departments within the relevant Ministry.
- The doctoral supervisor will propose the doctoral commission which will be approved by the Council of the Doctoral School.
- The doctoral commission is composed of the president, the doctoral supervisor and at least 3 official reviewers, of which at least two specialists that carry out their activity outside the University of Bucharest.
- Those proposed to be members of the commission must be renowned specialists, with relevant concerns and contributions to the issue of the doctoral thesis and meet the internal standards of the University of Bucharest and doctoral schools. Of those proposed as official reviews, apart from those who are part of the “Universitaria” consortium, only one can be, in exceptional and in well-justified cases, affiliated to an institution other than the advanced research universities abroad or in the country, the institutes of the Romanian Academy, the National Research and Development Institutes, and other prestigious research institutions abroad.
- The president of the doctoral commission is the director of the Doctoral School, the dean of the faculty in which the doctoral school operates or their delegate, but who has the didactic degree of at least associate professor.
- The official reviewers are specialists in the field in which the doctoral thesis was elaborated, have the title of doctor and have the didactic function of at least associate.
- In the case of co-supervised doctorates and in accordance with the provisions of the respective agreement, the doctoral commission is composed of specialists from both institutions and is chaired by a representative of the institution that hosts the public defense of the doctoral thesis. The doctoral commission can be completed with 1-2 specialists from a third higher education institution.
- The Doctoral School submits to the Doctoral and Habilitation Office the proposal for the commission (Annex 9 with 6 formats) to be approved by the management of the University of Bucharest.
- The official reviewers have the obligation to transmit the analysis reports to the secretariat of the doctoral school, within maximum 30 days from the date of receiving the doctoral thesis, accompanied by:
- Their CVs (with a minimum of personal data: name, surname, institutional e-mail address, updated, dated and signed)
- Payment documents, including the taxpayer’s declaration (Annex 12).
- The public defense of the doctoral thesis can be organized only if all the official reports are submitted to the secretariat of the doctoral school and are favorable. If at least one official reviewer considers that the thesis does not meet the quality standards, the thesis will have to be redone/ rewritten.
- The doctoral school ensures the access to the content of the doctoral thesis through the profile library. The doctoral school submits a printed copy of the doctoral thesis to the faculty library (Annex 15), at least 20 days before the fixed date.
- The Doctoral School Secretariat hands over to the doctoral student the standard application form for establishing the date of public defense (Annex 13), after fulfilling all the requirements provided by the applicable regulations.
- To the file of the doctoral student, the secretariat will also attach the following documents, in a single copy :
- copy of the study plan of the university doctoral studies ;
- possible changes in the situation of the doctoral student ;
- the similarity report (will print the first 2-3 pages and the page where the percentage appears) ;
- the handing over report of a copy of the thesis to the faculty library (Annex 15) ;
4). Public defense of the thesis
- The date, time and place of the defense of the doctoral thesis are displayed at the headquarters of the Doctoral School at least 20 days before the established date; at the same time, the announcement of the public defense in WORD format (Annex 14), the summary of the doctoral thesis, in pdf format, the CV of the doctoral student (her/ she decides whether the CV will contain confidential personal data besides name, surname and an e-mail address) and the CVs of all members of the doctoral commission (with a minimum of personal data: name, surname, institutional e-mail address, updated, dated and signed), will be sent electronically to the Doctoral and Habilitation Office for posting on the IOSUD web page.
- If the thesis is defended in a language of international circulation, the summary of the doctoral thesis must be elaborated and disseminated in Romanian.
- The public defense of the doctoral thesis can take place in the presence of at least 4 of the 5 members of the doctoral commission, with the obligatory participation of the chairman of the doctoral commission and of the doctoral supervisor (s) (in case of co-supervision). If one of the three reviewers is unable to participate at the defense, for well-founded reasons, he must send the written vote to the chairman of the committee before the public defense (Annex 17).
- Based on the public defense of the doctoral thesis, the doctoral commission evaluates and deliberates on the grade to be assigned to the doctoral thesis. The grades that can be assigned are: “Excellent“, “Very good“, “Good“, “Satisfactory” or “Unsatisfactory“. The councils of the doctoral schools will establish the criteria for awarding the grades assigned to the doctoral theses.
- If the doctoral commission has decided to award the grade “Excellent“, “Very good“, “Good” or “Satisfactory“, the chairman of the committee shall communicate to the audience the decision to award to the doctoral student the title of doctor.
- In case of awarding the grade “Unsatisfactory”, the doctoral commission will specify the elements to be rewritten or added, the period granted to the doctoral student for mending or completion, and will set the deadline for a new public defense of the doctoral thesis . After the rewriting, the steps are resumed from the moment of submitting the rewritten doctoral thesis in order to issue a new similarity report and to send the doctoral thesis to the reviewers. They will prepare new reports on the rewritten doctoral thesis. For a new date for the public support, the terms from the initial defense are maintained.
- At the public defense, the doctoral student will complete the statement regarding the options for publishing the doctoral thesis (Annex 18).
- The Secretariat of the Doctoral School will scan and upload on the online platform (DRIVE) created by the Doctoral and Habilitation Office all the documents part of the defense file and will send in physical format all the document required by the Finalization procedure.
5). The validation/ invalidation by the National Council for Attestation of University Degrees, Diplomas and Certificates
- 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.
6). Awarding the title of doctor
- 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.
Necessary documents
- Registration/ Matriculation Disposition- Administrative Office
- Study Contract with additional agreements- Administrative Office
- Doctoral thesis submission form- Doctoral Student
- Doctoral thesis in electronic form (2 CD)- Doctoral Student
- Doctoral thesis in printed form (3)- Doctoral Student
- Summary of the doctoral thesis, in electronic form- Doctoral Student
- Summary of the doctoral thesis, in printed form and signed by the doctoral supervisor- Doctoral Student
- Self-declaration for non-plagiarism- Doctoral Student
- CV of the doctoral student- Doctoral Student
- The similarity Report- Doctoral supervisor
- The supervisor’s resolution on the similarity report- Doctoral supervisor
- Acceptance report from the supervisor- Doctoral supervisor
- Application signed by the doctoral student, registered at the doctoral school, regarding initiation of the thesis evaluation procedures by the steering committee,endorsed by the doctoral supervisor, for pre-defense- Doctoral Student
- Opinion of the steering committee (Annex 5)- the doctoral supervisor and the steering committee
- Copy of the study plan- Administrative Office
- Copy of the identity card- Doctoral Student/ Administrative Office
- Copy of the birth certificate- Doctoral Student
- Copy of the marriage certificate (if available)- Doctoral Student
- Copy of baccalaureate diploma- Administrative Office
- Copy of bachelor degree diploma and transcript-Administrative Office
- Copy of master degree diploma and transcript- Administrative Office
- List of publications and scan of articles- Doctoral Student
- Preliminary report (dated after the evaluation in steering committee) (Annex 6)- Administrative Office
- Submission of the thesis request- Doctoral Student
- Proposal for members of the doctoral commission- Doctoral supervisor
- The disposition for the doctoral commission- Administrative Office from the Doctoral and Habilitation Office
- Report of the reviewers (3 reports)- Doctoral commission
- The CV for the 3 reviewers- Doctoral commission
- Request for the establishment of a data for the public defense- Doctoral Student
- Announcement of the public defense- Administrative Office
- Certificate regarding the submission of a copy of the thesis at the library- Doctoral Student
- Minutes for the public defense- Doctoral commission
- The vote for the absentee member of the commission, if case
- Statement regarding the options for publishing the doctoral thesis (Annex 18)- Doctoral Student