Final Steps

Submitting the dissertation

Before you submit your dissertation, make sure that you have fulfilled all formal criteria and met any other conditions. You can use this PDF checklist and PDF template to design your title page and the affidavit.

• Doctoral candidates must cite all resources and aids, and affirm in an affidavit that they wrote the dissertation themselves and that no other resources were used except those specified.
• The thesis may not have been accepted as part of any previous doctoral procedure or graded as insufficient. In cases of doubt, work from previous doctoral procedures must be submitted for comparison.
• A cover page should contain space for the names of your reviewers. The doctoral studies office adds the names.
• The dissertation must include a short summary of results in both English and German and a list of any publications ensuing from it.

Please submit the application to open the examination procedure in Docata and upload the electronic version in PDF format (max. 100 MB) to Docata. Then submit five copies of the typewritten dissertation to the doctoral office. Compliance with the submission deadline is fulfilled by uploading in Docata.

Examination commission and reviews

Confirm the composition of the examination committee with your supervisor and then submit the application to open the examination procedure in Docata. As soon as you have uploaded your dissertation to Docata and provided that your work meets all formal criteria according to § 7 PromO GW, the doctoral committee will appoint an examination board at its next meeting. You have the right to nominate reviewers.

Once all reviews have been submitted, there is a 2-week viewing period (in the lecture period; 4 weeks outside the lecture period). After this viewing period, the examination commission decides whether to accept your dissertation, to admit you to the oral defense, and the grade for the dissertation. Subsequently, the examination commission notifies the doctoral researcher of its decisions and names a date for the oral defense. This should take place within 2 months of the submission of the last review; justified exceptions will be determined by the chair of the examination commission. You will receive messages in Docata regarding your examination procedure. You will be informed about new messages in Docata by e-mail.

Oral defense and interim results

The oral defense is the second and final examination task in your doctoral procedure. It is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your abilities orally and to discuss academic issues. Oral defense procedures are recorded in a log (PDF) by a member of the examination committee and then uploaded in Docata. Oral defenses are open to the University public, unless otherwise desired. Oral defense dates are published on the website: Oral defense schedule (available internally only)

After the overall grade has been established by the examination commission, you will receive your interim results—a certificate with the title of the dissertation, the individual grades for the dissertation and oral defense, and the overall grade. The interim certificate does not entitle the holder to bear the title “PhD.”

Obligation to publish and degree certificate

Dissertations must be published within 2 years of completing the doctoral procedure. If publication cannot be executed within this period, the examination commission can extend it for justified reasons upon request. This request is not submitted through Docata, but directly to the doctoral studies office. Read the German PDF on publishing dissertations.

After you publish your dissertation, the degree certificate for your doctorate will be issued in German and, upon request, English. The certificate states the subject area of your doctorate, your dissertation title, the grades for your dissertation and oral defense, your overall grade, and the date the oral defense was successfully completed. You may use the title “PhD” only when you have this certificate.