Please note that changes may occur due to the current situation. You will find these constantly updated on the page
Doctoral Studies
This page answers questions about the different stages of a doctoral procedure for the Dr.med., Dr.med.dent., Dr.sc.hum. degree. Here you will find information on:
You have the M1 certificate, a supervisor with Habilitation, and a PhD project.
Application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate must be completely filled out and submitted to the Office of Doctoral Affairs / sent to the Office of Doctoral Affairs, including documents: Copy of M1 certificate and supervision agreement. For external doctoral procedures (additional): Form for external applicants
After acceptance as a doctoral candidate, your doctoral project is official. The acceptance only takes place once the ethics committee has approved the application. Your completed application will be forwarded to the ethics committee by the Office of Doctoral Affairs. Once you have been accepted, you are a member of the university's Graduate Academy.
Via unsolicited application to a habilitated member of the faculty (with informative documents including letter of motivation, CV and certificates, preferably in a pdf file), at the doctoral exchange (see announcements on the homepage) or via the homepage
Immediately at the start of the research work. You can find detailed information on this here
Independent check of the documents for being complete - incomplete applications will not be processed and will be returned via mail, knowledge of the respective valid doctoral regulations.
The most important contact person in the entire doctoral procedure is the supervisor with Habilitation. You enter into the contract on the supervisory relationship with your supervisor. Another member of the research group often acts as an additional supervisor.
The ethics committee must approve any scientific work in biomedical and clinical research (see also the information sheet on the doctoral procedure in the download area).
Since 30.03.2018, you have to enrol at the Student Secretariat of the University of Tübingen after being accepted as a doctoral candidate by the faculty, see § 38 paragraph 5, sentence 1, first half-sentence of the State University Act. You can find concrete information on the pages of the Student Secretariat.
According to § 3 (1) of the doctoral regulations, the following is stipulated: "The applicant should have studied at least two semesters at the Medical Faculty of the University of Tübingen or have worked in the area of the Tübingen Medical Faculty for at least one year. The doctoral committee may allow exceptions in justified cases upon application by the applicant before the start of the doctoral procedure."
If your supervisor is not a full-time employee at MFT, please submit a proposal for an additional supervisor to form a supervisory team with the main supervisor.
Please enclose a letter of consent from your main supervisor with the application.
The following requirement will apply if you should be accepted as a doctoral student: During the doctoral period, and at least every 6 months, supervision meetings with the supervisory team must take place and be documented (preferably in the doctoral logbook of the faculty). A total of at least three discussions must be documented when applying for admission to the doctoral program, from the beginning of the doctoral period, at the conclusion of data recording and before submission of the dissertation thesis.
Requirements: independently prepared and written dissertation, consent of the doctoral supervisor to submit the dissertation, attendance of a course on Good Scientific Practice.
To-do: Submission of an application for admission to the doctoral procedure with the currently requested documents (see application for admission). For instructions on plagiarism check, see below.
Comment: After completion of the dissertation thesis, the actual doctoral procedure (the examination procedure) is opened with the admission. Please note that only complete applications will be processed.
A total of three copies must be prepared. Please hand in two copies in a sturdy folder/binder to the Office of Doctoral Affairs. You can give a third copy directly to your responsible supervisor (doctoral supervisor).
No, you can also send the complete admission documents by post or instruct someone to hand them in. Please note that incomplete documents will be returned to you unprocessed.
In order to have your dissertation checked for text copies ("plagiarism check" - obligatory since 12.05.2016), you must send an electronic version of the dissertation to the Office of Doctoral Affairs by e-mail. The plagiarism check will only be carried out after all necessary admission documents have been submitted. On the application for admission, you certify that this version corresponds to the writing submitted in the sturdy folder/binder. You also certify that you are aware that the use of external sources that have not been identified count as an attempt to deceive.
We check your dissertation (personal data will be removed by us beforehand) for text and data matches using the plagiarism finder "PlagScan". In the pdf report that we receive, all paragraphs which match with other sources will be marked; these sources are also indicated. You and your supervisor will receive the report by email with a request to check it for harmlessness (i.e.: are all transfers correctly marked?). You both sign a declaration of clearance and submit it by post or in person during office hours in the Office of Doctoral Affairs. Only then will your dissertation go into the appraisal process.
If the report contains indications of incorrect citations, please submit an informal letter to the Office of Doctoral Affairs in agreement with your supervisor and request a revision of the paper. We then require two copies (loose sheets) or, in the case of minor revisions, the pages to be exchanged. A new plagiarism check is then no longer needed.
Yes, the dissertation can be written in German as well as in English. In the case of an English thesis, a German abstract must also be included and signed by your supervisor.
A sturdy clip folder or binder is available in office supply stores under this term (see "Klemmbinder" on the internet at Wikipedia).
The following format is recommended: DIN A4, printed on one side, line spacing: 1.5 lines, bibliography one line, font size: Arial or Times New Roman 12, legends may be printed on one line and in smaller font, the distance to all page margins should be 3 cm.
Please note that the final printed version will be reduced to DIN A 5. It is therefore advisable to first choose a correspondingly large font (12 pt) and not to design the illustrations too small, so that the pages remain legible without restriction after reduction to DIN A5 and the page design can thus remain. Apart from the print format, the deposit copies that you submit to the university library at the end of the doctoral procedure must correspond to the version of the dissertation submitted for appraisal. Therefore, when designing figures and tables, please note that the number of coloured pages can significantly increase the printing costs.
Yes, please refer to the "Merkblatt zum Erstellen der Dissertation" on writing the dissertation.
In exceptional cases, independently written publications or manuscripts accepted for publication may also be included in the dissertation thesis.
Before submission, you must submit an application to the doctoral committee. This contains:
- a cover letter (signed by supervisor and doctoral candidate)
- a signed Curriculum vitae with details of degrees
- List of publications (published or accepted for publication (otherwise: submit classic dissertation))
- the publications as pdf
- a declaration of the authors' shares in each publication (declaration of own contribution)
Further important information can be found in the information sheet "Best practice". For example, if your proposal is accepted, you must submit a summary introduction and discussion. The co-authors of your publications must also give their consent.
Requirements: Admission documents complete
To-do: There is nothing you can do during the review phase (of usually 4-6 months) but wait for the Office of Doctoral Affairs to inform you of the result (or preliminary result in the form of a reviewer's recommendations for reworking). Questions about the status of an ongoing review process will not be answered.
Comments: The appraisal process is usually carried out by the main supervisor and a second reviewer appointed by the faculty. The main supervisor has the option of proposing an independent second reviewer. Proposals are not accepted from the doctoral candidate. For information on rewrite recommendations, see below.
The appraisal process usually takes 4-6 months.
The Office of Doctoral Affairs cannot give you any information about an ongoing procedure, yet we recommend an active exchange with your supervisor.
Before the appraisal
During the review process
Comment: If revisions are necessary, you will be informed by the PhD Office. The review process will not be resumed until the revised paper is available.
All information is found in the guidelines on oral defense
Requirements: M3 examination passed (proof in the form of a certified certificate), you will receive print release by the Office of Doctoral Affairs.
To-do: Usually, you publish your dissertation thesis online according to the rules of the applicable doctoral regulations.
The publication takes place through the delivery of an electronic version, which must completely correspond to the submitted dissertation thesis and whose data format and data carrier must comply with the specifications of the University Library of the University of Tübingen. Information on the exact procedure and advice can be found on the pages of the University Library. With the print release you will receive a form on which your supervisor must confirm his/her consent to electronic publication. You will hand in to the University Library in the course of publication.
If the supervisor does not agree to electronic publication, we expect them to submit a justified request (in letter form) for publication by means of printed copies.
Print format DIN A 5, printed on both sides, title page additionally on the cover, soft cover, paper 80g.
If the paper was submitted for appraisal in colour print, it must also be printed in colour in the final version, as otherwise the readability of the illustrations in particular is no longer guaranteed as in the reviewed version.
The publication of the curriculum vitae is voluntary. If you have the curriculum vitae printed, please state the date of the 2nd or 3rd state examination or the dental examination to the day (DD/MM/YYYY).
Yes. For further changes you need the consent of the doctoral supervisor. In such cases, you must first contact the Office of Doctoral Affairs.
The obligatory copies are handed in at the dissertation office in the main building of the University Library, Wilhelmstraße 32, 72074 Tübingen (for opening hours see the homepage of the University Library). The Dean's Office does not require obligatory copies; however, it is common to send one printed copy each to the first and second reporter.
The copies of the dissertation submitted for appraisal will be disposed in a data-protected manner by the Office of Doctoral Affairs.
Submission of obligatory copies and publication via the university library - the Office of Doctoral Affairs receives appropriate information from the university library.
The certificate will be issued as soon as we have been informed by the university library that the publication has taken place. The issue usually takes 2 - 4 weeks.
You can collect the certificate from the doctoral office by prior appointment or it will be sent to you by registered mail.
An original certificate can no longer be issued. A replacement certificate can be issued upon presentation of a copy of the certificate and a sworn statement that the certificate has been lost. If the original certificate is recovered, the replacement certificate must be returned to the Dean's Office.
Unfortunately, not.
As soon as you are accepted as a doctoral student of the faculty, you are automatically a member of the Graduate Academy of the faculty. You can find information and current announcements on the websites and on ILIAS.
The faculty is currently setting up a "Doktorandenkonvent", which is intended to serve the exchange and co-determination of doctoral students. If you have any questions about this, please contact Ms Montero from the Office of Doctoral Affairs.
Yes! A laboratory book (also called a "research diary") must be kept for every doctoral procedure. This applies to all dissertation projects! Recommendations for keeping a lab book can be found on the homepage in the download section.
A doctorate that has already been registered can continue to be supervised and appraised by the supervisor with Habilitation, even if the supervisor moves to another position. If further supervision is no longer possible or no longer sensible, this can also be transferred to another colleague in the same subject. A change of supervisor is requested in an informal letter to the dean. The doctoral candidate, the previous supervisor and the future supervisor must declare their consent by signature. A change of supervisor is only possible before the application for admission to the doctoral procedure.
Please use the form: Request for extension of the deadline for submission of the admission documents
Generally, yes, if your supervisor agrees. Proceed as for the first extension (see above).
If there is only a change in the wording, but no change in the content, you can make the change without notice.
If something changes in terms of content without the need for a new ethics vote, please inform us as follows:
"I hereby wish to notify you of the change in my doctoral title. I confirm in agreement with my supervisor with Habilitation that no new ethics vote is necessary.
You and your supervisor must sign this declaration.
If a new ethics vote is necessary, you must deregister the work and register it again.
Should you wish to change the official supervisor, you must apply for this change at the Office of Doctoral Affairs
Please use the following wording:
"I hereby apply for the transfer of supervision of my doctoral thesis with the title [topic] from Ms/Mr [name of former supervisor with Habilitation] to Mrs/Mr [name of new supervisor with Habilitation] ".
The application must be signed by yourself, your former s supervisor with Habilitation and the new supervisor with Habilitation. A new supervision agreement is also required.
You will be informed about current dates by e-mail (please ensure that we always have a valid e-mail address from you!). Announcements are also made via our homepage
If you may have achieved results worthy of protection as part of your doctoral thesis, please contact Dr. Ines Dünkel, who will advise you on inventions and patents, research transfer and technology transfer, as early as possible but imperatively before any publication (poster, lecture, paper).
A pure proofreading service that focuses exclusively on grammar, punctuation and spelling can be used. The use of a service should be disclosed in the self-contribution along with a description of which service it was and that it was paid for (e.g. Proof reading for language errors in spelling, grammar and word choice was performed by American Journal Experts using the commercial standard editing option). In addition, the following must be observed:
From now on, remote access can only be requested via the IT Service Portal. Only remote access from doctoral students who have an active employment relationship with the UKT will be processed
Doctoral students who are not enrolled at the University of Tübingen and are not employed at the University of Tübingen and are also not state employees at the UKT can apply for a doctoral student account, which is intended precisely for this group of people. The form can be found at
In addition, there is a current confirmation of the doctoral student status from the doctoral office.
