Rules for awarding the traditional higher doctoral
degree at Aalborg University
The Management Secretariat
Case no.: 2012-500-00007
Date: 18 November 2013
Ref.: pfr
TRANSLATION
Please note: This translation concerns rules for awarding the traditional higher doctoral degree (Danish: doktorgraden) – not the PhD degree. In case of discrepancies between the Danish rules and the
English translation, the Danish rules prevail.
Pursuant to section 1, subsection 2, in the Ministerial Order No. 750 of 14 August 1996 on Doctoral Degrees
the following rules apply:
Section 1. Aalborg University may award doctorates and honorary doctorates within the academic subject
areas stated in section 2 in accordance with the present rules; it is a precondition, however, that the academic
main area offers a full-time Master’s degree programme (Danish: kandidatgrad) within the subject area in which
the doctorate is awarded.
Part 1. Doctorates at Aalborg University
Section 2. The Academic Council under the Faculty of Humanities may award the following doctorates:
1) the doctoral degree in psychology – doctor psychologiae (dr.psyk.)
2) the doctoral degree in philosophy – doctor philosophiae (dr.phil.)
Subsection 2. The Academic Council under the Faculty of Social Sciences may award the following doctorates:
1) the doctoral degree in administration – doctor scientiarum administrationis (dr.scient.adm.)
2) the doctoral degree in economics and business administration – doctor mercaturae (dr.merc.)
3) the doctoral degree in philosophy – doctor philosophiae (dr.phil.)
4) the doctoral degree in law – doctor juris (dr.jur.)
5) the doctoral degree in sociology – doctor scientiarum socialium (dr.scient.soc.)
6) the doctoral degree in social sciences – doctor rerum socialium (dr.rer.soc.)
7) the doctoral degree in economics – doctor oeconomices (dr. oecon.)
Subsection 3. The Academic Council under the Faculty of Medicine may award the following doctorates:
1) the doctoral degree in medical science – doctor medicinae (dr.med.)
2) the doctoral degree in natural sciences – doctor scientiarum (dr.scient.)
3) the doctoral degree in technology – doctor technices (dr.techn.)
Subsection 4. The Academic Council under the Faculty of Engineering and Science may award the following doctorates:
1) the doctoral degree in natural sciences – doctor scientiarum (dr.scient.)
2) the doctoral degree in technology – doctor technices (dr.techn.)
Subsection 5. The Rector may award the corresponding honorary doctorates stated in subsections 1 to 4.
In such case, the title carries the addition “honoris causa” (h.c.), e.g. “doctor psychologiae honoris causa” or
“dr.psyk. h.c.”
Part 2. Procedures for awarding doctorates at Aalborg University
Section 3. The award of the degree is based on a dissertation which is defended at a public, oral defence
session. In exceptional circumstances, the dean may agree to forego the oral defence.
Page 1 of 4
Subsection 2. Holders of Master’s or PhD degrees within the most relevant academic field are entitled to
submit a dissertation for defence to the relevant faculty. The dean may allow candidates who have not been
awarded one of the Master’s degrees stated to submit a dissertation for defence.
Subsection 3. A submitted dissertation may only be considered for a doctoral degree within the academic
subject areas stated in Part 1. In addition, the dean may refuse to consider a submitted dissertation on the basis of section 4, subsection 2, of the Ministerial Order on Doctoral Degrees.
Subsection 4. The doctoral degree is awarded in acknowledgement of the author’s considerable scientific
insight and maturity, and of the author having achieved new research results and thereby contributed substantially to the advancement of science with the dissertation.
Section 4. Dissertations submitted for consideration and defence must be forwarded to the faculty office in
five hard copies and, if requested by the faculty office, also in digital copy. When the date stated in section 6,
subsection 2, has passed, the dissertation may only be withdrawn under special circumstances if the dean
agrees to this.
Subsection 2. On the recommendation of the assessment committee, the dean may allow the author to
make minor alterations or provide minor supplements to the dissertation before the dissertation is made publicly
available prior to the defence.
Section 5. A dissertation may comprise one dissertation or several dissertations related in subject matter
or method. If a dissertation comprises several dissertations, a summarising account describing the results that
the author claims to have obtained from the research must form part of the dissertation.
Subsection 2. The dissertation must be written in Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, English or another language preapproved by the dean in the individual case. A summary must be included; if the dissertation is written in a Scandinavian language, the summary must be written in English, German, Spanish or French; if written
in another language, the summary must be in Danish. The same applies to the summarising account, if applicable.
Subsection 3. The author must submit a declaration stating whether the dissertation has previously been
submitted for consideration for a doctoral degree. If the dissertation comprises dissertations or research results
which have already been successfully submitted for an academic degree in Denmark or abroad or as a prize
thesis, this must appear from the doctoral dissertation, cf. also section 3, subsection 4.
Subsection 4. If the dissertation or parts hereof are the result of the joint efforts of a group of scholars, a
declaration must be submitted, signed by the co-authors and the author, setting out the scope and character of
the author’s contribution to the work.
Section 6. When a doctoral dissertation is submitted, the Academic Council will appoint an assessment
committee as soon as possible and normally no later than three months after the submission date. The committee must consist of two or three members who are experts within the subject area of the dissertation and who
are either professors or other experts with comparable academic insight.
Subsection 2. Immediately after the composition of the assessment committee has been determined, the
author must be notified by the faculty of its composition and be given the option of objecting to this within a
specified term of no less than eight days and no more than fourteen weekdays. If it is decided to change the
composition of the assessment committee, the author must be notified in the same way and must be given the
opportunity to object. When the Academic Council has made its final decision on the composition of the assessment committee, the author must be notified of this and of the stipulation that allows the withdrawal of the
dissertation from assessment within a specified term of no less than eight days and no more than fourteen
weekdays.
Subsection 3. Within eight months or another deadline set by the dean, the assessment committee must
provide the Academic Council with a written reasoned recommendation on whether the dissertation should be
accepted for defence for the doctoral degree or should be rejected. If there is a difference of opinion in the
committee about the recommendation, the members will provide their recommendation individually or in
groups.
Subsection 4. When the final recommendation is available, it must be sent to the author as soon as possible. If rejection of the dissertation is recommended by or one of a number of members of the committee, the
Page 2 of 4
author must be notified of the right to submit his or her written comments to the recommendation or to withdraw
the dissertation from further consideration within three weeks. Any comments submitted by the author must be
sent to the assessment committee member for comments.
Subsection 5. The decision to accept the dissertation for defence or to reject it must be made by the Academic Council in compliance with the Ministerial Order on Doctoral Degrees, sections 12 to 13. In the exceptional case that the oral defence is foregone pursuant to section 3, a decision will be made as to whether the
doctoral degree be awarded or the dissertation be rejected.
Section 7. If the dissertation is accepted for defence, the dean will stipulate a time for the defence in consultation with the author and the officially appointed opponents pursuant to subsection 2. When this has been
accomplished, the author must submit a number of copies of the dissertation free of charge to the faculty office
in a form identical to that in which the dissertation was accepted; information about acceptance and time and
place of the defence must be included. Upon request, the author must submit a digital copy of the dissertation,
whereas the dean will determine the number of hard copies to be submitted to the faculty office. The maximum
number to be submitted will be 10. The executive management will determine guidelines as to how the defence
information is to be announced, and how it should appear from the dissertation.
Subsection 2. The dean will appoint two members for the assessment committee to act as official opponents during the defence. Under special circumstances, other expert members may be appointed as official
opponents; normally these will be appointed upon recommendation by the assessment committee.
Subsection 3. No later than four weeks in advance of the defence, the dean will announce the time and
place of this. The announcement will include information as to how a copy of the dissertation may be obtained.
Detailed rules applying to the defence will also be announced, including procedures for unofficial opponents to
register, and whether the language of the defence will be Danish, Norwegian, Swedish or another language
approved by the dean in the individual case.
Subsection 4. The defence is public and conducted by the chairperson of the academic council in question, or by another academic staff member appointed by the chairperson. A maximum of six hours is allotted for
the defence, which may include contributions from the author and the opponents, cf. section 19 in the Ministerial Order on Doctoral Degrees. The chairperson of the defence will make sure that defence is sufficiently documented for subsequent reference.
Subsection 5. Pursuant to section 20 in the Ministerial Order on Doctoral Degrees, the official opponents
must submit a report stating whether they consider the defence satisfactory. If one or both opponents do not
consider the defence satisfactory, this must be substantiated in the report, which is forwarded to the author for
commenting. If the defence has caused one or both opponents to doubt whether a positive report can be submitted, they may recommend to the Academic Council that the dean obtain written comments, which the doctoral candidate will be given the opportunity to comment on before the material is sent to the opponents. Statements and comments submitted may cause the report to be revised before it is forwarded to the author.
Subsection 6. The final decision as to whether the doctoral degree will be awarded to the candidate will be
made by the Academic Council pursuant to section 21 in the Ministerial Order on Doctoral Degrees. The doctoral candidate will receive a diploma documenting the award.
Part 3. Procedures for awarding the honorary doctoral degree
Section 8. The Rector may award the honorary doctoral degree to researchers who have achieved such
outstanding academic results that Aalborg University deems it to be natural to honour them by awarding the
highest academic degree. In exceptional circumstances, the honorary doctoral degree may be awarded for
other than academic achievement; it may be awarded for contributions which are deemed essential for the
promotion of research.
Section 9. Any academic member of staff at the university may submit a detailed reasoned proposal to the
dean of the academic area in question to award the honorary doctoral degree to one or a number of candidates.
Subsection 2. If, upon request, the Rector confirms it to be possible for the university to award the honorary doctoral degree to the proposed candidate, the dean will appoint a committee for the assessment of the
candidate consisting of three to five professors or other experts with comparable academic insight. Before the
Page 3 of 4
assessment committee is appointed, the candidate must be informed that the committee will only be appointed
if, within a stipulated time period of no less than two weeks, the candidate consents to being assessed, and to
receiving the honorary doctorate in the event of a positive assessment. The candidate must also be informed of
the dates of the next doctoral promotion ceremony, cf. subsection 4.
Subsection 3. The assessment committee must submit their written recommendation to the dean, stating
whether the honorary doctoral degree should be awarded to the candidate. The recommendation must include
information of the material on the basis of which the decision was reached. The dean will submit the recommendation to the Academic Council for an opinion.
Subsection 4. The recommendation made by the assessment committee and the opinion forwarded by the
Academic Council will form the basis of the Rector’s decision to award the honorary doctoral degree. The honorary doctoral degree will be awarded at an event celebrating a university anniversary or doctoral promotions,
and the candidate will receive a diploma documenting the award.
Part 4. Commencement
Section 10. These rules will come into force on 15 September 2013.
Aalborg University, 10 September 2013
Finn Kjærsdam
Rector
Page 4 of 4