Häufig gestellte Fragen
Before acceptance as a doctoral candidate
1. Do I have to be enrolled at FSU to do a doctorate?
No, enrollment is not required.
(Students can exmatriculate with the status “accepted doctoral student”, for example)
2. Is it sufficient to register in Doc-In to be accepted as a doctoral student?
No. Please hand in the printed and signed application together with all listed attachments to the doctoral office or send it by post.
3. I am a student. What do I enter in the Doc-In for my enrollment periods?
The Physikum is entered as the first university period with the result completed and the degree 1st state examination. Further studies (with 2nd or 3rd state examination) can be entered as ongoing. The planned graduation date is then entered as the end date. The data must be updated at the end of your studies.
4. Where can I have my documents officially notarized?
You can have your certificates officially certified by any public authority that has an official seal.
These are, for example
- all public authorities, e.g. municipal administrations, districts and lower administrative authorities, e.g. local mayors and local heads, city administrations (town hall), district administrations
- university legal departments
- notaries
- churches organized under public law
Changes during the procedure
5. Change of address/name - How do I proceed?
You must update the data in Doc-In. Please also send information about this by email to the doctoral office. If you change your name, please enclose a copy of the certificate.
6. Change of the working title - And now?
You cannot change the topic in the Doc-In yourself after you have been accepted as a doctoral candidate. You can find a corresponding sample at Procedure.
Please note that a change to the thesis title must always be submitted BEFORE submitting the application to open the doctoral procedure and the 4 bound dissertations. When you receive notification of approval, you can have your dissertation printed and submit it to us.
7. When does my status change in Doc-In?
If you have registered in Doc-In, you are considered an “Interessent" (interested).
As soon as the application for acceptance has been generated and printed, your status is “Candidate”.
After the faculty council meeting in which you were accepted as a docotrand, the status will change to “Doctoral candidate”.
8. I would like to receive the Ph. D. instead of the Dr. rer. nat. How do I proceed?
It is not sufficient to state “Ph.D.” as the degree in the Doc-In. A separate application must be submitted to the Dean to obtain this. You can find a sample here: More Applications
9. Do I have to make an appointment to submit applications and documents or to inspect the expert reports?
The doctoral office has office hours. You can find these here.
However, you can also submit documents by post at any time.
Questions about the deadline and design of the dissertation
10. My submission deadline expires soon. What do I have to do?
Current acceptances (since January 2020) are made for 3 years in accordance with the applicable doctoral regulations. An extension of 3 years is possible. Sample: Application_extension (acceptance as a doctoral candidate from 2020)
(Maximum duration of the doctorate thus 6 years. Extensions beyond 6 years are only possible in exceptional cases).
For acceptances that have not yet been automatically granted for 3 years (until December 2019), please submit an application for an extension of the acceptance if the time limit is about to expire. Sample application_extension (acceptance as a doctoral candidate until 2019)
Please apply for a generous period of time so that we all have less work. However, you can then hand in the dissertation at any time as soon as you have finished.
11. Can I submit my dissertation shortly after the end of the time limit?
No application for an extension must be submitted within three months of the end of the time limit.
12. What regulations are there on gender-equitable language in dissertations?
The University and the University Hospital have no central guidelines for the use of gender-appropriate language in theses.
Nevertheless, the university endeavors to use fair language in official documents and in the university administration and has published information on this here:
https://www.uni-jena.de/gsb_fakten#Faire%20Sprache
However, apart from neutral formulations, the university's guidelines have so far only depicted the binary gender image. Forms such as the gender star or gender colon have not yet been taken into account. Currently, reference is only made to external guidelines.
It is recommended that you use neutral formulations in your dissertation wherever possible. If you yourself have a preference for a particular form of gender (e.g. the gender star), you should ask your supervisor whether he/she sees any problems with this.
However, if you are aiming for a publication-based doctorate based on publication(s), you must follow the conventions of the journal or publisher for the publication anyway. If you are not the sole author, you must also coordinate with the other authors. Neutral wording should not be a problem. You can also use other publications in the respective journal as a guide; if in doubt, you should contact the journal directly.
13. What do I have to do when using images from publications?
The source must be stated in the dissertation and when the publisher gave you permission to use it.
14. What information must be included in the dissertation for studies on humans or animals?
Please state the registration number of the ethics vote (studies on humans) or the registration number of the animal experiment approval (studies on animals) in your dissertation.
15. Are the experts to be entered in the four copies to be handed in at the opening of the proceedings?
The reviewers are not to be entered in these four copies. The reviewers and the date of the defense are only entered in the copies to be submitted to the library.
Students whose disputation took place before graduation must enter the date of the last examination passed as the date of the defense in the deposit copies.
The information sheet on formal design is to be used for the layout. The margins are freely selectable.
16. Which date should be entered on the title page?
The current date must be entered on the title page. E.g. date of printing.
17. What criteria are used to assess the dissertation?
Criteria for the evaluation of dissertations at the Faculty of Medicine (Criteria for the Evaluation of Dissertations)
Important information
18. I am employed as a doctor in a hospital and am paid according to the collective agreement. Does this count as public service?
No. Your employer should, for example, be an institution or public corporation, which is usually the case in university hospitals or when working as a medical officer. If this is not the case, an official certificate of good conduct (document type 0) is required.
19. How am I insured?
Information on insurance cover can be found on the Graduate Academy website: Steuern & Versicherungen (uni-jena.de)