Doctoral thesis

This page outlines the full process for presenting the doctoral thesis.
The University of Barcelona offers the widest range of doctoral programmes and the most attractive options for carrying out research in laboratories, institutes and research groups. You will also find the best researchers, who will provide support and supervision as you prepare your doctoral thesis. The programme culminates in the formal reading and defence of the thesis, after which you will receive the highest qualification in the university system: the doctoral degree.

Admission and access
In order to enrol for a programme, you need to be admitted. Doctorates have a limited number of places and, therefore, admission must be requested. The admission procedure is done online and is the responsibility of the academic committee of each doctoral program.

If the application for admission is resolved favourably, then the access procedure begins.

Each programme has specific admission requirements and deadlines. It is advisable to see the website of the programme you want to take to know its admission requirements, which are elicited in their verification memorandum. In case of doubt, contact the person who coordinates the programme.

To resolve any incident or doubt regarding the admission to the programme, contact the secretary of the centre where you must formalize the enrolment.

Enrolment and extension
Once obtained access and admission to the doctoral program, you must formalize the enrolment of academic guardianship in the academic year and in the period in which the admission has been made. Remember that if you do not register, the admission is annulled, unless you get a predoctoral contract later. In this case, you can do the enrolment later. There are two enrolment periods: September-October and February-March. You have to enrol in the period when you have admitted.

The secretaries of each faculty are responsible for the management of the enrolment for the doctoral programmes that belong to the faculty.

If you have not been able to end your research in the agreed period, you may request the Academic Commission of your program to authorize an extension to continue for another year.

Deposit and defence
You have reached the end of your research and writing. If you have two positive consecutive progress reviews, and you consider that you have finished it, you may now present it and defend it. The doctoral commission of each faculty is the body responsible for authorizing the defence of the thesis and appointing the members of the examination panel.

Title request
The doctoral degree is official and valid throughout Spain (and can be recognized in different countries), it has full academic effects and enables teaching and research, in accordance with legal regulations. Once the thesis is read and the votes of the board are scrutinized, contact with the faculty's secretary where you have read your thesis and, if you have any doubts, they will explain the procedure.

Publishing
Since the year 2000, we have participated in the project Thesis Doctorals en Xarxa (TDX), whose purpose is to provide online electronic access to the complete text of the doctoral theses read at various Spanish universities, coordinated by the Government of Catalonia.

All the theses read at the university are archived in the institutional repository, Digital Deposit of the University of Barcelona - Doctoral Theses, and the Cooperative Repository of TDX Thesis.

To publish the thesis in the repository, you must contact tdx@ub.edu for further explanation about the steps to follow. If you want a partial or complete seizure of the thesis for intellectual rights, you must make a request to the Academic Commission.