Submission and assessment of the doctoral thesis

Formal requirements

• Doctoral candidates have to submit the completed doctoral thesis in electronic form via u:space and in printed form to the StudiesServiceCentre Social Sciences/Doctoral Studies (SSC).
• The doctoral thesis must fulfil certain formal criteria. Please note the relevant formal requirements and the information regarding copyright and the use of images and data protection.
• Please also make sure to follow the Guidelines of the Social Sciences Directorate of Doctoral Studies concerning doctoral theses. Consult the Guidelines especially if your thesis includes published material and/or co-authored sections.
• Please note that, for data protection reasons, the body of your doctoral thesis (from page 7 onward) should not contain any personal data such as name, student ID number, addresses or telephone numbers.
• The title page must be generated via u:space. Before submitting their thesis, doctoral candidates have to open u:space and verify the data that will appear on the title page. The data is automatically imported from the University’s database and includes the candidate’s name, academic degrees and the names of the supervisors of the doctoral thesis. After generating the title page, doctoral candidates must download and insert it into the doctoral thesis. The complete document must then be uploaded to u:space as a PDF file.
• When you submit your doctoral thesis, you must have completed all necessary ECTS credits.

Reviewers

• At the University of Vienna, a doctoral thesis is independently assessed by two experts in the relevant discipline who have not supervised the doctoral thesis. At least one reviewer must be external (external = not employed at the University of Vienna).
• Both internal as well as external reviewers must be members of the relevant academic community, have excellent scientific and academic qualifications and either hold a professorship or have an academic qualification equivalent to an Austrian professorship (habilitation). To ensure objectivity, there should be no close relationship between a reviewer and the candidate, and they should not have written any joint publications or be members of the same research group. A supervisor may act as a reviewer only in special cases. In this case, the second reviewer must be from outside the University of Vienna.
• Together with their supervisors, doctoral candidates must propose two or three experts to act as reviewers by submitting the forms SL/D3 and SL/D4 (abstract) to the SSC (doktorat.sozialwissenschaften@univie.ac.at). Before submitting the forms, the supervisor(s) are responsible for contacting the proposed reviewers to confirm their availability and willingness to assess the doctoral thesis within the given time frame. Supervisor(s) should also serve as contact persons if the reviewers have any questions during the review procedure.
• We recommend submitting the forms SL/D3 and SL/D4 already several weeks before uploading the doctoral thesis. For external reviewers, a curriculum vitae and a list of publications must be submitted along with the forms SL/D3 and SL/D4. The Studienpräses selects and appoints two reviewers in consultation with the Directorate of Doctoral Studies. 

Review procedure

• Both reviewers receive an electronic copy of the doctoral thesis at the same time. A hardcover copy can be supplied on request but needs to be returned after the review.
• In accordance with the Statutes of the University of Vienna, reviewers have a maximum of four months to assess the doctoral thesis and submit their assessment. In the interest of the doctoral candidate, reviewers are kindly requested to complete their reviews as quickly as possible. Supervisors and reviewers can coordinate regarding the possibility of an earlier submission of the reviews and a potential date for the public defence.
• Reviewers send their reviews to the SSC (doktorat.sozialwissenschaften@univie.ac.at). As soon as both reviews have been submitted, the SSC forwards them to the candidate, both reviewers and the supervisor(s).
• After a positive assessment of the doctoral thesis, the candidate may register for the public defence. The reviewers of a doctoral thesis usually serve as members of the examination committee during the public defence.
• If two reviewers are involved and one of them gives a negative assessment, a third review will be obtained. If two or three reviewers are involved and two of them give a negative assessment, the overall assessment is negative. In all other cases, the assessment of the doctoral thesis is based on the submitted grading proposals. If the majority of the reviewers assigns the same grade, this majority decision applies. If no majority decision is reached, the arithmetic mean is calculated. If the number after the decimal point is less than or equal to 0.5, it is rounded to the better grade.

For the submission of your doctoral thesis you need:

• Three copies of the doctoral thesis, hardbound (see formal requirements)
• The form “Doctoral thesis submission“ (SL/D6)
• A signed confirmation that the doctoral thesis has been uploaded to u:space (“Erfassungsbestätigung”) 
• If the doctoral thesis includes co-authored chapters or papers: statement(s) about the candidate’s contribution (see Guidelines concerning doctoral theses).

If not submitted yet:

• The form “Assignment of a thesis to reviewers” (SL/D3) as well as a CV and a list of publications for each external reviewer
• The form “Assignment of a thesis to reviewers – Abstract” (SL/D4)