Submitting a PhD thesis pursuant to Section 15 (2)

In special cases, the faculties may decide that a thesis may be accepted for assessment without the author having completed a PhD programme, if the PhD Study Board assesses that the author has in other ways acquired other comparable qualifications. When submitting the thesis, it must be stated whether it has been assessed before. Whether the author has a documented affiliation with the University of Copenhagen will form part of the consideration of the application for submission of the thesis without prior enrolment.

In connection with the assessment of a PhD thesis at the University of Copenhagen without prior enrolment, the faculty may ask the author to pay all expenses associated with such assessment, defence etc. These fees are fixed by the faculty. The author may be exempted from these expenses subject to application.

Submitting a thesis without any prior enrolment as a PhD student

A candidate wishing to submit a thesis under Section 15, Subsection 2 of the Danish PhD order must be informed about the Faculty's fee for assessing a PhD thesis.

Currently, the fee for assessment of a PhD thesis is DKK 50,000 (2024), if the author of the thesis in question has not completed a PhD study programme at the Faculty.

The thesis is submitted to the Faculty Secretariat as a pdf-file containing the thesis by email to: phd@hrsc.ku.dk. When submitting the thesis the author also has to submit a statement explaining if the thesis/parts of the thesis has/have been submitted previously at other faculties or educational institutions. A Danish and an English summary as well as 10-20 lines of text which may be used in connection with the announcement of the thesis defence must be submitted along with the thesis. This short text should be sent to both the PhD secretary at the Department and to the Faculty Secretariat. If relevant, statements from any co-authors must be included.

(the author may also decide to give a copy to his/her former supervisor). A

For obvious reasons, there is no statement from the principal supervisor when a PhD thesis written by an author who has not completed a PhD study programme at the Faculty is submitted. Instead the author has to enclose a statement explaining how the necessary qualifications have been obtained, proving that the authors qualifications meet the requirements of Section 7 of the Danish PhD order.

The author has to prove that he/she has obtained qualifications equivalent to:

having completed PhD courses worth approximately 30 ECTS credits
having participated in active research environments, including, for instance, studies at other, mainly foreign, research institutions having gained experience of teaching or other form of knowledge dissemination, e.g. presentation of research results. The responsible head of PhD programme then has to confirm that the candidate holds the required qualifications. The head of department recommends whether the submitted thesis should be accepted and assessed (for example the thesis will be rejected if the subject matter of the thesis does not fall within the discipline of the department). The decision must be reasoned. If the thesis is accepted, recommendations are to be made with respect to the composition of the assessment committee. The Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences has the decision-making power in the matter. The decision is announced on the following meeting of the Faculty Council. The subsequent procedure for assessment and defence of the thesis is the same as described above.

If the head of department rejects the thesis, the author is informed of this decision and is given the chance to respond to the decision before the issue is considered by the Academic Council.

PhD thesis submitted by an author who has completed a PhD study programme at the Faculty

The thesis is submitted electronically to the Faculty Secretariat as described above. You can read more about submission ot the PhD thesis on KUnet. A pdf-file containing the thesis is also submitted by email to: phd@hrsc.ku.dk, cf. the formal application requirements. When submitting the thesis the author also has to submit a statement explaining if the thesis/parts of the thesis has/have been submitted previously at other faculties or educational institutions.

In some cases, a statement from the principal supervisor from the previous, discontinued, PhD study which ended without the candidate obtaining the degree, may be available. This statement may be enclosed as documentary proof of the fact that the candidate has obtained the required qualifications. (cf. Section 7 of the Danish PhD order). In either case, the responsible head of PhD programme will be required to assess whether the candidate has obtained the necessary qualifications.

Resubmitting a thesis

If the thesis has been submitted for assessment previously without it leading to the awarding of a PhD degree, the author also has to explain the points on which the resubmitted thesis is signifcantly different from the previous version. In this case the department has to assess whether the additional work on the thesis justifies spending resources on a new assessment. The head of department recommends whether the thesis should be reassessed. This reccomendation has to be reasoned. If the thesis is accepted, the head of department must make recommendations with respect to the composition of the assessment committee. The Dean of the Faculty has the decision-making power in the matter. The decision is announced on the following meeting of the Faculty Council. The subsequent procedure for assessment and defence of the thesis is the same as described above.

If the head of department rejects the thesis, the author is informed of this decision and is given the chance to respond to the decision before the issue is considered by the Academic Council.