To start the review process for a doctoral thesis, a doctoral student must have at least received a positive assessment for their research plan, personal training plan and a follow-up report.The last report of follow-up presented must also be approved and the student must have completed the document of activities of the doctoral student (DAD).The University will follow the procedure established in the following sections in order to guarantee the quality of a doctoral thesis prior to its submission. 

When the doctoral thesis is finished, the doctoral student must apply to the School of Doctoral Studies to start the review process.To that end, the student must access the corresponding form for this application which they will find in their record, once they have identified themselves on the University website.Their application must indicate whether they wish to have an international or industrial mention, or both, in their doctorate qualification and if the thesis is being submitted as a compendium of publications.The application will have to be accompanied by the authorisation for the use of curricular data entered into the UdG’s current curriculum management application.It must also be accompanied by a declaration from the supervisors about ethical aspects of the doctoral thesis submitted for revision.The electronic file of the thesis in PDF format will be attached.The doctoral student must also state if the thesis is co-tutored or if its submission is subject to a confidentiality agreement.

If the thesis is submitted as a summary of publications the following documents will also need to be attached with the application:

a) report from the director/s of the thesis stating the suitability of this format and demonstrating the relevance of the specific contribution made by the doctoral student in the publications submitted,

b) the acceptance on the part of the co-authors of the publications, if there are any, that the doctoral student shows them as part of the thesis, and

c) the withdrawal of any non-doctoral co-authors from the publications from being presented as part of the doctoral thesis.

If a thesis is submitted with data or information considered confidential, the work must take into account what is established by article 14 of the Academic Regulations for Doctoral Studies of the University of Girona.

For the review process to continue, the thesis supervisor and the tutor (if all the supervisors are external) must give the go-ahead and state that, to their knowledge, the thesis faithfully reflects the work done by the doctoral student, that it has been prepared in accordance with the UdG code of good practice and that it does not contain any plagiarised elements.

Subsequently, the doctoral programme academic committee will, in a maximum of five working days following the go-ahead from the thesis supervisor and tutor, check whether this fulfils the requirements established in the present regulations and the formal requirements specific to each area, as well as the format criteria approved by the School of Doctoral Studies Management Committee.

The thesis has to receive a minimum of two reports issued by two doctors with expert knowledge in the subject area, belonging to two institutions of higher education or external research centres different to the UdG.These experts will be able to be part of the tribunal that evaluates the thesis.The experts will be appointed by the doctoral programme academic committee and must have an active research premium or equivalent research merits.In the event there are publications derived from the thesis, none of the co-authors will be able to act as an expert in the doctoral thesis review.In the case of joint doctoral programmes, neither expert may belong to any of the universities participating in the programme.

The reports that the experts issue should refer in equal measure to the formal aspects of the doctoral thesis and to whether it meets the theoretical framework, the objectives, methodology, results, discussion, conclusions and references, and, if necessary, they should highlight any repercussions it may have in the scientific and social sphere.The reports have to point out any aspects the experts consider necessary to amend.Finally, the conformity or otherwise of the doctoral thesis presentation and defence, taking the aspects mentioned into account, must be stated.

The academic committee has to ensure that the process of issuing expert reports is completed within two months from the day after the experts are appointed.

If one of the reports issued by the expert reviewers states the thesis is not in a condition to be defended, the academic committee will appoint a third expert with a casting vote from a higher education or research institute external to the UdG, and who is different to the two previous experts.If two of the reports are negative, the process will be closed and the doctoral student and the director/s will be notified so that thesis can be improved and, if necessary, the review process restarted, within the maximum time allowed in the doctoral programme.

The academic committee has to send the doctoral student, the thesis supervisor/s and the tutor/s a copy of the anonymous reports from the expert reviewers.The doctoral student will have to introduce the changes proposed in the reports or, if necessary, provide reasons why they consider these changes cannot be incorporated in response to the reports.Their response should also make clear which changes have been implemented.This answer has to be presented when making the submission.

If the student seeks an international mention in the doctoral certificate they need to bear in mind that, with respect to external experts, the aspects mentioned in point 8.4.1, and if they seek the co-tutored doctorate with an international mention, they must fulfil what is set out in point 8.3.9, both points from the Academic Regulations for Doctoral Studies of the University of Girona.

If the research has to obtain an ethical evaluation report from the CEBRUdG (Committee of Research Ethics and Biosecurity at the UdG), this favourable report will be attached at the time of the review.

The doctoral thesis must be submitted within a maximum of three months after the review process.If this period is exceeded, the procedure will be deemed closed and the doctoral student, the tutor and the supervisor/s will be informed.Under these circumstances, the doctoral student will have to restart the review process if they wish to defend their thesis.

The student shall make the submission application through the corresponding procedure which, once they have identified themselves on the University website, they will find in their record.They will have to attach:

a) The electronic file of the thesis in PDF format (without signing or protecting with a password).In doctoral theses elaborated in doctoral programmes that companies take part in, or those that are subject to confidentiality agreements, or if the content is subject to protection or technology or knowledge transfer processes, such as patents or industrial secrets, a second electronic file with the doctoral thesis encrypted will be required, which has to allow the reader to get an idea of the work carried out.Encryption will only be needed for the elements that are essential for the protection or transfer of the results.

b) If the doctoral thesis is shown as a summary of publications or includes works published with restricted access, doctoral students will be requested to have authorisation from the editor of the publication where necessary.

b) The editable electronic file with a summary of the thesis in Catalan and in English, of approximately one page, with a representative publishable image of the subject addressed in the thesis

c) The electronic file of the doctoral student’s response to the reports from the academic committee, where applicable, and from the external experts, clearly stating the changes made to the doctoral thesis.

e) Data of the doctoral student and of the doctoral thesis in the “Declaration of authorship”, with the information necessary for the publication and diffusion of the thesis in the TDX and DUGi institutional repositories.f) Academic data for the introduction of thesis information in the TESEO database.

b) Electronic CV taken from the UdG’s current curriculum management application.

e) If the doctoral student seeks an international mention in their doctorate, they must also attach proof of a stay of a minimum of three months in one or more higher education or research centres outside Spain, signed by the head of the host centre or centres (in the case of various stays,at least one must have been for a minimum of a month).

f) If the student wishes to ask for an industrial mention, if they have not already been recognised as having obtained an industrial doctorate grant from the Government of Catalonia or the Government of Spain, they will have to provide documentation accrediting the circumstances described in the requirements set out in Article 8.5 of the Academic Regulations for Doctoral Studies of the University of Girona.

j) If a thesis is submitted with data or information considered confidential, the work must take into account what is established by article 14 of the Academic Regulations for Doctoral Studies of the University of Girona.

For the submission process to continue, the thesis supervisor and tutor (if all the supervisors are external) must give the go-ahead.

The School of Doctoral Studies will open a public display period of three working days, from the day following publication of an edict to that effect on the e-office noticeboard.During this period the thesis may be examined in the School of Doctoral Studies by anyone who can prove they have a PhD, and in a period of two working days from the day after the last day of public display, considerations deemed pertinent may be presented to the School of Doctoral Studies, which will send them to the corresponding academic committee.

The doctoral thesis document submitted to the School of Doctoral Studies is the one that is published in the institutional repositories (TDX, DUGi), and corresponds to the copies given to the members of the tribunal.

If companies take part in the in the doctoral programme for the thesis or the thesis is subject to confidentiality agreements, or if the content is subject to protection or technology or knowledge transfer processes, such as patents or industrial secrets, a document with the encrypted thesis will be published or with the complete text impounded in the institutional repositories (TDX, DUGi).

Once the public display period is over, the doctoral programme academic committee will, if appropriate, authorise the defence of the doctoral thesis and appoint the tribunal, specifying a chairperson, a spokesperson and a secretary, and two substitutes.

Once the defence has been authorised and the panel appointed by the doctoral programme academic committee, the School of Doctoral Studies will notify the doctoral student, the thesis supervisor, the tutor and members of the panel in a period of five working days.The School of Doctoral Studies will notify all the members of the tribunal of the appointment, and will issue an electronic copy of the thesis and other relevant documentation.The members of the tribunal will have to notify the academic committee of any clash of interests, if there are any.The academic committee will evaluate it and, if they consider it appropriate, will propose a new tribunal or replace the member/s affected with substitutes.

If the defence of the doctoral thesis is not authorised, the doctoral student, thesis supervisor/s and tutor must be notified, along with a supporting report, in a maximum of five working days after the agreement has been adopted by the School of Doctoral Studies.

After the final authorisation to defend the thesis and the designation of the tribunal have been notified, the chair will have to convene the thesis defence.When the defence is convened, the chair of the tribunal will have to notify the School of Doctoral Studies at the same time.In any event, this must be done at least 15 working days prior to the date set for the defence.The school will work for this time frame to be met.The chair will also have to notify whether the thesis will be defended on-site or by video conference.If it is by video conference, the doctoral student will have to submit the relevant application and the procedure established by the School of Doctoral Studies will apply.

The maximum period within which to defend the doctoral thesis is four months from the appointment of the panel.The academic committee of each doctoral programme may authorise an extension of this deadline when unforeseen justified causes arise.The chair of the panel convenes the defence of the thesis.

Generally speaking, the defence of a doctoral thesis has to take place on-site in a public session at any UdG centre or affiliated research institute or a joint institute with UdG participation, in the academic period established for thesis readings and in lecture time.All the panel members and the doctoral student need to be present for the thesis defence to start.

If the chair of the academic committee authorises it, the thesis defence and classification may go ahead with the participation of some or all the mandatory assistants (tribunal, doctoral student) by non-on-site means (synchronous video conference), in accordance with the procedure established by the School of Doctoral Studies, as long as the means necessary for ensuring the proper functioning and academic quality of the thesis defence are guaranteed and also the public character of the event, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 14 of the Academic Regulations for Doctoral Studies of the University of Girona regarding theses with confidential content.

If the doctoral student does not attend the thesis defence, this will be recorded in the corresponding record as “not presented”.

If the defence cannot be carried out for any justified circumstance or withdrawal, the chair may make a new call for defence of the thesis, which will have to be carried out in a maximum of 15 working days, and the School of Doctoral Studies shall be notified of the date of the new call at least two working days in advance.

The defence has to consist of the doctoral student's explanation of the research work undertaken, the methodology employed, the results and conclusions, with a special mention for original contributions.The members of the panel can pose any questions they consider relevant to the doctoral student.Likewise, any PhD holders present during the defence may pose questions at the time and in the manner established by the panel chairperson.

The tribunal that evaluates the thesis will have the information from the doctoral student’s activity document (DAD), (courses, received and taught seminars, mobility...),with the training activities carried out by the doctoral student, and the reports of the external experts, as well as the doctoral student’s response to these where applicable.The DAD will not be used for a quantitative mark but will constitute a tool for qualitative evaluation, complementing the evaluation of the doctoral thesis.

Once the defence and discussion of the doctoral thesis has finished, the panel will produce an written assessment.The tribunal will issue the overall mark awarded to the thesis according to the following scale: “fail”, “pass (C)”, “good (B)”, and “excellent (A)”. Members of the tribunal may propose that theses deemed “excellent” be awarded “cum laude” via secret ballot, in accordance with the following procedure:

a) The School of Doctoral Studies will provide the tribunal secretary with the record and all the documents for the thesis defence and a link to an application where each of the panel members will cast their vote regarding the award or not of the “cum laude” distinction, individually and in secret, before 10 am of the working day following the thesis defence.The secretary will send the minutes of the thesis defence, with the original handwritten signatures, to the School of Doctoral Studies.They can only send the result by electronic means if all the signatures of the panel members are digital.They will also send the reports signed by each of the panel members, which may be signed electronically or with an original handwritten signature.The panel secretary will ensure that all the tribunal members vote on the award or not of the “cum laude” distinction.

b) The School of Doctoral Studies will scrutinise the votes and record the result in minutes signed by a representative of the academic secretariat and by the director of the School of Doctoral Studies.

c) The “cum laude” distinction is awarded if the vote is unanimous.The record of the scrutiny will be kept together with the rest of the documentation generated by the thesis defence and evaluation.

d) The School of Doctoral Studies will inform the interested party of the final mark following the scrutiny, and send a copy to the thesis supervisor/s and tribunal members, as well as the academic committee for the doctoral programme.