The regulations for the preparation, presentation, and processing of the thesis defense, including the proposal and appointment of a committee, and the modalities of International Mention, publications compilation, and joint supervision for this program, are included in the REODULL (Chapter III, art. 24-30). According to these regulations, the thesis will consist of an original research project that qualifies the author to work independently in the field of R&D&I. It may be developed and defended in the usual languages of scientific communication. Upon completion, the doctoral candidate will submit the thesis to the program's Academic Committee in the established format. The Committee will then forward it to the Doctoral School, accompanied by:

1. authorization from the director for presentation and defense,
2. favorable report from the tutor,
3. conformity of the Academic Commission stating that it meets the requirements established by the program, and
4. Application for an International Doctorate mention, if applicable. The Doctoral School will certify, by means of a registry and seal, that the thesis meets the requirements established in the REODULL for submission. The thesis will remain on public display for 15 school days.

During this period, any doctor may submit any objections, suggestions, or proposals for improvement they deem appropriate to the Doctoral School, stating their agreement or disagreement with the public defense. The Doctoral School will ensure the publicity of this public information period. In exceptional circumstances, determined by the program's Academic Committee, such as the participation of companies in the program, the existence of confidentiality agreements with other entities, or the possibility of generating patents derived from the thesis data, the university will implement a procedure to protect this data from publicity. After the presentation period, the Doctoral School will authorize, if appropriate, the defense of the thesis. If any objections are presented during the public presentation period, the Doctoral School will forward them to the doctoral candidate, the thesis supervisor, and the program's Academic Committee, who must respond within 10 school days. In light of the objections and responses, the Doctoral School will decide whether or not the defense is appropriate. If it deems appropriate, the Doctoral School may resort to expert reports. If the defense is denied, the Doctoral School will issue a reasoned report.

The thesis will be evaluated by a panel proposed by the Academic Committee of the program to the Doctoral School. The panel is made up of five doctors who are experts in the subject matter of the thesis. The qualifications of the members of the evaluation panel will be supported by their curriculum vitae, which will include their specific merits in the area or related fields. The panel will be composed of three regular members (president, secretary, and member) and two alternates. Two of the regular members must be external to the ULL with civil service or contractual relationships with other universities or research organizations. The supervisors and the doctoral student's tutor may not be part of the panel. The defense must be held within a period of no more than three months from its authorization. If the defense is not completed within this period, the process must be restarted. The Doctoral School will give the defense adequate publicity. The defense will be public and will take place during the academic calendar. The defense will consist of the doctoral student's presentation of the justification for the work, the methodology used, the content, and the conclusions, with special mention of original contributions. The defense may be conducted in Spanish or any of the official languages of the European Union, ensuring that the committee can adequately evaluate it. The members of the committee may express their opinions and ask any questions they deem appropriate, to which the doctoral student must respond. The doctors present at the event may also ask the doctoral student questions at the time and in the manner established by the chair of the committee. The committee will have access to the doctoral student's activity document. This document will not give rise to a quantitative score, but will constitute a qualitative assessment tool complementary to the thesis itself. The committee will issue a report and the overall grade awarded to the thesis according to the following scale: fail, pass, notable, and outstanding, as established by Royal Decree 534/2013, which modifies the grading system established by Royal Decree 99/2011. The publication of Royal Decree 534/2013, of July 13, modifies the provisions of Royal Decree 99/2011 regarding the grading system and the mechanisms for granting the Cum Laude distinction for doctoral theses. Only three sections, 6, 7, and 8, of Article 27 of the current Regulations on Official Doctoral Studies at the University of La Laguna do not comply with the provisions of Royal Decree 534/2013. Given the higher regulatory hierarchical rank of the aforementioned Royal Decree, the grading system applied to doctoral theses at the University of La Laguna is the one indicated in Royal Decree 534/2013 since its entry into force, as previously indicated. Regarding the mechanism for granting the Cum Laude distinction, this has been established by the Rector's Resolution of December 19, pending the modification of the relevant sections of the Official Doctoral Studies Regulations by the Governing Council, scheduled for the next session in January.

The title of doctor may include on its front the mention "International Doctorate" when the following circumstances occur:

1. that during the doctoral training period, the doctoral student has completed a stay of at least three months in a prestigious non-Spanish research center or higher education institution, pursuing studies or carrying out research work endorsed by the thesis director and authorized by the Academic Committee of the program,
2. That part of the doctoral thesis, at least the summary and conclusions, has been written and presented in one of the usual languages of scientific communication, other than any of the official languages of Spain. This requirement will not apply when the stays, reports, and experts come from a Spanish-speaking country,
3. that the thesis has been reported by at least two expert doctors belonging to a non-Spanish higher education institution or research center, and
4. that at least one expert belonging to a non-Spanish higher education institution or research center, with a doctorate degree, and other than the person responsible for the stay mentioned in the circumstance
5. has been part of the thesis evaluation committee.

Doctoral students who, prior to submitting their thesis and with the authorization of their supervisor, have published or accepted for publication, after their enrollment in the doctoral program, at least three articles with a topic consistent with their line of research and plan in scientific journals listed in the Journal Citations Report, may opt to submit their thesis in the form of a compendium of publications. The submission of a thesis under this form must include a copy of the papers, which must include the personal data of all authors, the full reference of the journal in which the papers have been published, or, where applicable, the letter of acceptance.
of the thesis at the Doctoral School will include:

1. Authorization from the thesis director for presentation in this format.
2. Document certifying the impact index of the publications that comprise the thesis.
3. If any of the submitted works were carried out in collaboration with researchers other than the thesis supervisors, a document must be submitted in which the supervisor declares that the substantial part of the work included in the articles was carried out by the author of the thesis, and another document in which the other authors state their agreement that the corresponding articles be used for the presentation of the thesis under this modality. Articles that are part of a thesis under this modality may not be included as part of another. Co-authors of the submitted works may not be proposed as members of the panel that will judge the thesis.

To facilitate scientific cooperation with research teams from other institutions and facilitate the mobility of doctoral students, joint supervision may be carried out with a university in another country within the framework of doctoral studies. The joint supervision procedure must meet the following requirements:

1. Admission to the doctorate program, and the submission and defense of the doctoral thesis, will follow the regulations governing doctoral studies at the corresponding university.
2. The candidates will carry out their work under the responsibility of a director at each of the interested universities.
3. The joint supervision will be carried out within the framework of a specific agreement between the two interested universities, which will determine which of them will issue the doctoral degree, with the other recognizing it.
4. Thesis preparation time will be divided between the two universities. The stay at either university will never be less than nine months, and it may be completed in one sitting or over several periods.
5. The publication, exploitation, and protection of the results of the research carried out will be ensured by both institutions in accordance with the specific procedures of each country.
6. The thesis will be defended only once at either university.
7. The committee before which the thesis must be defended will be designated by mutual agreement between both institutions in accordance with the regulations of the university where it is defended.
8. The thesis will be written in the official language of one of the two universities, or failing that, in English, supplemented by a summary, including the conclusions, written in the other language.