ÌìÃÀÓ°ÊÓ

Progress review is annual and is the pre-requisite for continuing the PhD studies. The progress review decision is based on the fulfilment of the individual study and research plan and on the Progress Review Criteria for Humanities

The documents related to Progress Review can be found here

Submitting your PhD Thesis for Preliminary Examination

• For submitting the thesis the PhD student must write an application to the head of the School of Humanities. The application must include the thesis title in both Estonian and English (and in original language if different form the others) and the written consent of the supervisor(s). The classificators of the thesis should be specified and the student must confirm that (a) thesis and the articles that are part of it do not contain plagiarism and (b) the the main articles of an article-based thesis or the article accompanying the monograph do not breach the principles of research ethics and do not violate the general principles for the publication of scientific work (confirmation that the article been published  in a publication that has peer-reviews, the publisher has an international editorial board, etc.). The application can be submitted either on paper or electronically. If the application is submitted on paper it must be signed by the PhD student and the supervisor(s) and brought to Maris Peters. Electronic applications, digitally signed, should be submitted to this e-mail.
• It is recommended that the plagiarism detection report for the thesis is created by the School not by the PhD student. The report will be sent to the PhD student and should be discussed with the supervisor. If necessary, explanation of the finds must be added by the supervisor.
• The copy of the thesis submitted for preliminary examination should be sent to the e-mail of Maris Peters, brought to her office on an electronic device or shared through googledocs folder. If you use googledocs folder it should be accessible without having to ask for the access.
• The PhD student should have by the time of submitting the thesis for examination:
  • the necessary courses have been passed and results are in ÕIS;
  • if articles are required for submitting the requirement is met;
  • ETIS account has been updated.

Processing the Plagiarism Detection System Report

• A monograph published in the university dissertation series, an analytical cover chapter of a monograph published outside the university dissertation series or an analytical cover chapter of an article-based thesis, submitted as a doctoral thesis, is subjected to the plagiarism detection system check (at least) twice (at the time of submission for preliminary examination and at the time of submission for final defence). Articles that are part of an article-based thesis may, but are not required to, be checked by the Plagiarism Detection System.
• it is recommended that the plagiarism detection report for the thesis is created by the School not by the PhD student. The report will be sent to the PhD student and should be discussed with the supervisor. If necessary, explanation of the finds must be added by the supervisor.
• As the supervisor has more academic experience, it is his/her responsibility to ensure that, in collaboration with the PhD student, a brief written explanation of any overlaps (which do not indicate plagiarism) found in the report is prepared. The supervisor will include this in the documents to be submitted for preliminary/final defence, together with a summary statement that the report does not indicate that plagiarism is present in the parts of the thesis examined.

Arrangement of the Preliminary in TÃœHI

The Preliminary is semi-formal: although two examiners, who write the reviews, and a committee are appointed, the Preliminary is aimed at giving the doctoral candidate as much useful feedback as possible and pointing out bottlenecks in the work, so that improvements can be made before the Final Defence.

The reviewers of a doctoral thesis are two internationally recognised scholars or scientists in the given field, at least one of them from outside the university, who hold a doctoral degree or an equivalent qualification, and who have conducted internationally recognised research in the area related to the topic of the doctoral thesis at least in the amount equal to one doctoral thesis during the previous five years. The reviewer cannot be a co-author of the publications submitted as the doctoral thesis.

The Preliminaries at TÃœHI last approximately two hours. During that time:

• short introduction by the PhD student (max 20 minutes);
• discussions with the examiners (commonly only some core issues pointed our in the repost are chosen for the discussion);
• comments and questions by the other Preliminary committee members;
• the final decision. The doctoral candidate must state the deadline by which he or she will be able to incorporate the corrections recommended by the Preliminary committee and submit the thesis for language edit and final defence. This deadline shall be recorded in the minutes of the Preliminary.

Preliminaries are held on Zoom and the discussion part is recorded.

You can use the slideshow template.

The result of the Preliminary is one of the following:

1. the doctoral thesis is recommended to be submitted for defence in its current form;
2.  the doctoral thesis is recommended to be submitted for defence after the corrections proposed by the preliminary defence committee have been made;
3. the doctoral thesis is returned to the doctoral student for further work.

If, at the Preliminary, the doctoral thesis is allowed to be submitted for defence after the corrections proposed by the preliminary defence committee have been made, the supervisor of the doctoral student confirms the corrections or the reasons for having a differing opinion. It is recommended to draw up a summary table indicating in one column the proposal, in another whether or not the proposal has been taken into account, and in a third column the reasons for disagreeing with the proposals not taken into account.

In TÃœHI it is compulsory to have the thesis edited before submission for final defence. TÃœHI works with its own pool of language editors who have years of experience editing our PhD thesis. You should notify Maris Peters when you have finalised your thesis corrections and it has been approved as the finished version by your supervisor(s).

The doctoral student submits a correctly formatted and edited doctoral thesis to the Division of Doctoral Studies for defending.

Together with the electronic manuscript of the doctoral thesis (do not submit it as a PDF file!), the doctoral candidate submits it to the Division of Doctoral Studies:

1.  a signed application for the examination and defence of the doctoral thesis addressed to the chair of the doctoral studies council. The application must include a statement of the doctoral student that the doctoral thesis in question has not been defended previously at any other higher education institution and that the doctoral thesis constitutes the student’s own original research work. If the English title of the thesis is not reflected in the doctoral thesis, the doctoral student also submits the English version of the title;
2. copies of the publications published on the topic of the doctoral thesis (PDF-format);
3.  in case of an article-based dissertation, permissions from the publishers for the republication of the articles in the doctoral thesis both in the electronic form and on paper;
4. the supervisor’s signed confirmation regarding the making of corrections which were
   recommended at the preliminary defence or reasons for having a differing opinion, and the results of the verification by the plagiarism detection system;
5. a version of the plagiarism detection system report, from which only the earlier version of the doctoral thesis (submitted for preliminary examination) has been removed as a duplicate source.
6. where appropriate, a brief explanation in writing of any overlaps found in the plagiarism report which do not indicate plagiarism. The supervisor shall attach this to the documents to be submitted for defence, together with a summary statement that the report does not indicate any plagiarism in the parts of the doctoral thesis examined.

The academic unit (TÃœHI) will provide to the Division of Doctoral Studies:

1. Academic Transcript from ÕIS;
2. The decision of the Preliminary;
3. The examiner reviews of the Preliminary;
4. The plagiarism report of the Preliminary.

TÃœHI thinks green and does not print the theses, they will be made available online as electronic publications in . If the PhD student wants the thesis to be printed in multiple copies the additional costs should be covered by the PhD student.

In addition to the general formatting requirements, the doctoral candidate must take into account that if he/she has received financial support (e.g. Archimedes scholarships, TÃœHI Research Fund grants, etc.) during the process of completing the doctoral thesis, the names of the supporters must be mentioned on the verso of title page of the thesis.

It usually takes eight to ten weeks from the submission of the materials to the Division of Doctoral Studies until the defence.

• Formatting Guidelines
• The slideshow template

Estonian Doctoral School

Project "Cooperation between universities to promote doctoral studies" is co-funded by the European Union.