Doctoral candidates at the Faculty of Philosophy and Education may submit their dissertation either as a monograph or as a so-called cumulative dissertation (see our guidelines), that is, as a compilation of publications and manuscripts.

• This is decided together with the supervisor(s) and thesis advisory committee, ideally this is stated in the doctoral thesis agreement.
• It is a good idea to start drafting thesis chapters as soon as possible, with the aim of having written the full thesis by the end of year three.
• Where a fourth year is available, this can be used for final editing and preparation for the defense.

Doctoral researchers are asked to propose individuals to act as reviewers/ examiners of their doctoral thesis. Please note that reviewers cannot be supervisors or thesis advisory committee members, and must be external to the University of Vienna. It is a good idea to identify potential reviewers in year two or three. Please discuss this with your supervisor(s)/ thesis advisory committee.

Information about the thesis submission and review process:

doktorat.univie.ac.at/en/phd-process/final-phase/completion-and-public-defense/

Information about the defense:

doktorat.univie.ac.at/en/phd-process/final-phase/defense/

How to Choose Thesis Examiners

1. Basics: Propose three external experts (not from the University of Vienna) as potential reviewers. The Studienpräses will select two. Reviewers have four months to assess your thesis, with a positive assessment needed from both to proceed to defense.
2. Consult: Discuss potential examiners with supervisors and peers, or directors.
3. Expertise: Examiners should have sufficient expertise, though their primary interest need not align fully with your thesis topic. Look for examiners who have previously supervised or examined PhD work.
4. Conflict of Interest: Avoid examiners with whom you or your supervisors have close professional or personal ties. Please refer to the university guidelines on partiality. In particular, avoid individuals with whom you have collaborated on any published work, such as joint authorship of conference proceedings, or researchers with whom you have carried out external research. Attendance of the same conference does not constitute a close professional relationship.
5. Reputation: Select examiners with a strong academic reputation, as they may later provide letters of recommendation.
6. Intellectual Virtues: Choose examiners who demonstrate curiosity, tolerance, and interpretative charity, balanced with critical judgment.
7. Diversity: Aim for diversity in gender, institution, and background among your examiners.
8. Fallback Options: Identify a few backup candidates, as your preferred reviewers may decline.
9. Please visit the university entry on the final phase of the PhD.
10. Please visit the SSC Philosophy entry that explains the procedure of submitting your dissertation and choosing examiners.

Submission of the dissertation

1. To initiate the process of submitting your dissertation, please contact the SSC.
2. A minimum of four weeks prior to the submission deadline, the candidate is required to propose three external reviewers via the official form. Please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions section for guidance on the selection process. Two reviewers will be approved by DSPL43 and subsequently invited by the SSC.
3. The external reviewers are granted a period of up to four months to conduct their review of the dissertation. It is requested that no contact is made with the external reviewers during this period.

Setting up and preparing for the Defensio