PhD in Health Sciences

Regulations for the presentation and reading of theses

The regulations for the preparation, presentation and processing of thesis defence, including the proposal and appointment of a committee, and the modalities of International Mention, compendium of publications and joint supervision of this programme are included in the REODULL (Chapter III, art. 24-30). According to this regulation, the thesis will consist of an original research work that enables 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. After completion, the doctoral candidate will present the thesis to the Academic Committee of the programme in the established format. The latter will send it to the Doctoral School accompanied by:

1. authorization from the director for presentation and defense,
2. favorable report from the guardian,
3. conformity of the Academic Commission stating that it meets the requirements established by the program, and
4. request for an International Doctorate mention, if applicable. The Doctoral School will certify by means of registration and stamp that the thesis complies with the requirements established in the REODULL for its deposit. The thesis will remain on public display for 15 school days.

During this period, any doctor may present any objections, suggestions or proposals for improvement that he or she deems appropriate to the Doctoral School, stating his or her agreement or disagreement with the public defence. The Doctoral School will guarantee the publicity of this period of public information. In exceptional circumstances, determined by the Academic Committee of the programme, such as the participation of companies in the programme, the existence of confidentiality agreements with other entities or the possibility of generating patents derived from the thesis data, the university will enable the procedure to protect this data from publicity. After the exhibition period, the Doctoral School will authorise, if appropriate, the defence of the thesis. If any objection is presented during the public exhibition period, the Doctoral School will forward it to the doctoral student, the thesis director and the Academic Committee of the programme, who must respond within a period of 10 school days. In view of the objections and responses, the Doctoral School will decide whether or not the defence is appropriate. If it deems appropriate, the Doctoral School may resort to reports from specialists. In the event of a refusal to defend the thesis, the Doctoral School will issue a reasoned report.

The thesis will be evaluated by a panel proposed by the Academic Committee of the programme at the Doctoral School, made up of five doctors who are experts in the subject to which the thesis refers. The qualifications of the members of the evaluation panel will be supported by their curriculum vitae, which will state their specific merits in the area or in related areas. The panel will be made up of three full members (president, secretary and member) and two substitutes. Two of the full members must be external to the ULL with a civil service or contractual relationship with other universities or research organisations. The directors and the tutor of the doctoral student may not form part of the panel. The defence will be carried out within a period of no more than 3 months from its authorisation. If it is not defended within this period, the process must be started again. The Doctoral School will give the defence the appropriate publicity. The defence will be public and will take place during the academic calendar period. The defence will consist of the presentation by the PhD candidate of the justification of the work, the methodology used, the content and the conclusions, with special mention of the original contributions. The defence may be carried out in Spanish or in any of the official languages of the European Union, in which case it will be guaranteed that the tribunal can assess it appropriately. The members of the tribunal may express their opinion and ask as many questions as they consider appropriate, to which the PhD candidate must respond. The doctors present at the event may also ask questions of the PhD candidate at the time and in the manner established by the president of the tribunal. The tribunal will have the document of the PhD candidate's activities. This document will not give rise to a quantitative score, but will constitute an instrument of qualitative evaluation complementary to the thesis itself. The tribunal 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 mention for doctoral theses. Only three sections 6, 7 and 8 of article 27 of the current Regulations for Official Doctoral Studies at the University of La Laguna do not comply with the provisions of Royal Decree 534/2013. Given the higher hierarchical rank in terms of regulations of the aforementioned Royal Decree, the grading system applied at the University of La Laguna for doctoral theses is the one indicated in Royal Decree 534/2013 since its entry into force, and already indicated previously. As regards the mechanism for granting the Cum Laude mention, it was established by the Rector's Resolution of 19 December, while the modification of the indicated sections of the Regulations for Official Doctoral Studies by the Governing Council is taking place, 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 period of doctoral training, the doctoral candidate has completed a stay of at least three months in a prestigious non-Spanish research centre 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 condition will not apply when the stays, reports and experts come from a Spanish-speaking country,
3. that the thesis has been reported by a minimum of 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 different from the person responsible for the stay mentioned in the circumstance
5. has been part of the thesis evaluation committee.

PhD 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 on topics in accordance with their line and research plan in scientific journals that appear in the Journal Citations Report, may opt to submit their thesis in the form of a compendium of publications. The presentation of a thesis in this form must include a copy of the works, which must include the personal data of all the authors, the complete reference of the journal in which the works have been published or, where appropriate, the acceptance letter.
of the thesis at the Doctoral School will include:

1. Authorization from the thesis director for presentation in this format.
2. Document proving the impact index of the publications that make up the thesis.
3. If any of the works presented have been carried out in collaboration with researchers other than the thesis supervisors, a document must be submitted in which the supervisor declares that the essential part of the work included in the articles has been 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. The articles that form part of a thesis of this modality may not be included as part of another. The co-authors of the works presented may not be proposed as members of the tribunal that is to judge the thesis.

In order to facilitate scientific cooperation with research teams from other institutions and to facilitate the mobility of doctoral students, joint supervision actions with a university from another country may be developed within the framework of doctoral studies. The joint supervision procedure must meet the following requirements:

1. Admission to the doctoral programme and the deposit and defence of the doctoral thesis will follow the regulations governing doctoral studies at the corresponding university.
2. Candidates will carry out their work under the responsibility of a director at each of the interested universities.
3. Joint supervision will be carried out within the framework of a specific agreement between the two interested universities, which will establish which of them will issue the doctoral degree, with the other recognizing said degree.
4. The preparation time for the thesis will be shared between the two universities. The stay at either of them will never be less than nine months and may be done in one go or in several periods.
5. The publication, exploitation and protection of the results of the research carried out will be ensured by the two 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, which will include the conclusions, written in the other language.