procedure & dates

Step 1: Supervision agreement

An agreement must be concluded between the future doctoral candidate and the supervisor.

The topic of the dissertation, the time and work plan as well as the tasks and duties of the future doctoral candidate and the supervisor are defined. The timetable and work plan should be set out well in advance, as delays can always occur due to illness or vacation. It should also be noted that, according to the current doctoral regulations, acceptance as a doctoral candidate is for 3 years. A one-time extension of 3 years is possible according to § 6 para. 1 sentence 3 of the doctoral degree regulations. The total duration of a doctorate is therefore a maximum of 6 years.
Regular extension applications for the submission of the dissertation will therefore no longer be necessary in future, as acceptance is automatic for 3 or 6 years. However, if a different date is specified in the supervision agreement which does not correspond to the 3 or 6 years, the supervisor and doctoral candidate must come to an agreement. The doctoral position or the acceptance date then have nothing to do with the date stipulated in the supervision agreement.

• Betreuungsvereinbarung der Medizinischen Fakultät englisch
• Merkblatt Betreuungsvereinbarung_en

Step 2: Registration at doc-in

Please register in the doc-in online portal of the Graduate Academy. The doc-in online portal manages all doctorates electronically. The electronic doctoral files can be viewed here and the progress of the doctorate can be tracked.


You can access the registration page via Zu doc-in (Registrierung).
Enter your user data under the menu item “Registration”. As soon as you have done this, you can apply for acceptance as a doctoral candidate under “Application for doctoral studies”.

Changes of address/contact/name must be kept up to date at all times and the doctoral office must be informed by email.

Step 3: Submission of the application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate

Documents can be submitted in person during the designated opening hours (opening hours) or by post or by email at any time.

→ fully completed and signed application form 

→ Current and signed curriculum vitae with a description of your personal and professional career

→ Work schedule and timetable

→ Copy of the completed and signed supervision agreement

→ signed declaration of commitment Verpflichtungserklärung (english version here)

→ Copy of identity document (passport, identity card)

→ officially certified copy of the university degree certificate (single copy, if certificate from FSU)
     or current certificate of study

→ officially certified German or English translation, if the certificate is not in German or English

Step 4: Decision on acceptance as a doctoral candidate by the Faculty Council

The application will be discussed at the next Faculty Council meeting and a decision on acceptance will be made. The decision will be communicated in writing.

Please note that according to the current doctoral regulations, acceptance as a doctoral candidate is for 3 years. A one-time extension of 3 years is possible according to § 6 para. 1 sentence 3 of the doctoral degree regulations. The total duration of a doctorate is therefore a maximum of 6 years.
Regular extension applications for the submission of the dissertation will therefore no longer be necessary in future, as acceptance is automatic for 3 or 6 years.

Here you will find the the essential course of the doctoral procedure.

Step 1: Transfer of the doctoral fee

The doctoral fee is 130.00 euros in accordance with the current version of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena's fee regulations (gebuehrenordnung-uni-jena.pdf).

Please transfer the fee to the following account of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Sparkasse Jena-Saale-Holzland):

Receiver:  Universitätsklinikum Jena
IBAN:         DE97 8305 3030 0000 0002 21
BIC:           HELADEF1JEN

Please state the following purpose:
"Promotionsgebühr Surname, first name(s)"

Step 2: Submission of the application for the opening of the doctoral procedure

Documents can be submitted in person during the designated opening hours (opening hours) or by post at any time.

→ Fully completed and signed application form, which must be generated via doc-in (original signatures of the doctoral              candidate)

→ 4 bound copies of the dissertation
    Important note: The potential reviewers are not to be listed in the 4 copies of the dissertation, as they are only appointed
    at the Faculty Council meeting (see step 3)! Similarly, the completion date should not be entered yet. The date will
    only be entered in the ThULB copies, as you will only know then when exactly your doctoral procedure was
    completed at the Faculty council meeting.

→ signed declaration of honor

→ current and signed curriculum vitae with a description of your personal and professional career

→ if available: signed list of scientific publications and lectures

→ official certificate of good conduct (Document type O - is sent directly to us from Bonn! and must be a
     maximum of 3 months old) or
     Proof of public service affiliation (current certificate of employment from the employer)

→ officially certified copy of the university degree certificate (if already available and not yet submitted) or
     simple copy, if studied at FSU or
     current certificate of enrollment

→ Proof of payment of the doctoral fee in the amount of 130.00 euros

→ Reviewer suggestions from the supervisor (can be submitted by the supervisor + prior request to reviewer whether
     review is possible) Vorlage Gutachtervorschläge

→ Summary of the dissertation with full name and the topic of the dissertation (so that it can be assigned) and electronic
    dissertation each as a PDF file to

→ for publication promotion: share declarations

Hint: The notice of acceptance as well as any extension requests and their confirmations or page number overrun requests and their confirmations do not have to be submitted again. These are available to us.

Step 3: Opening of the procedure by the Faculty Council

The Faculty Council decides at the Faculty Council meeting on the opening of the doctoral procedure and appoints the committee members. The decision is communicated in writing.

Step 4: Obtaining expert opinions and display period

As soon as the Faculty Council has approved the opening of the doctoral procedure, the reviewers are contacted with a request to review the dissertation. The reviews received are stored in doc-in so that the doctoral candidate can see how many reviews have already been received.
As soon as all three reviews have been received, the dissertation and the reviews are displayed for two weeks for the university lecturers and habilitated faculty members.
The display period always begins with the next Faculty Council meeting.

          Hints for reviewers:

            Criteria for the Evaluation of Dissertations

Step 5: Acceptance of the dissertation

After the two-week display period, the doctoral committee decides on the acceptance and overall grade of the dissertation. The decision will be communicated in writing.
After the written notification, it is possible to inspect the reviews upon informal request. However, inspection is only possible up to 2 weeks before the defense, as we then send the files to the doctoral committee.

Step 6: Finding the defense date

As soon as a defense date has been set, the doctoral office will contact the doctoral candidates due to defend. If the date is not suitable for the doctoral candidate, they will be contacted again for the next available date (usually the following month).
If a suitable date is found, the defense can take place. The final invitation will be sent as soon as all feedback has been received.

Step 7: Completion of the doctoral procedure

After the oral examination has been passed (and conditions/corrections have been fulfilled, if any), the Faculty Council decides on the overall grade and concludes the doctoral procedure.
The decision is communicated in writing (final notification).
The certificate is now prepared and submitted to the Dean and the President's Office for signature.

Step 8: Publication of the dissertation and award of the certificate

As soon as the doctoral candidates receive the notification of completion, they will be asked to publish the deposit copies in the Thuringian University and State Library. Information on this can be found at: thulb: Academic theses (deposit)

Here you can find the checklist for university publications: Checkliste_Dissertation_en.pdf

The ThULB informs the doctoral office when the deposit copies have been published. As soon as confirmation has been received, the doctoral candidate will be sent the doctoral certificate by post.

The right to use the doctoral degree only begins when the certificate is issued.

Here you will find the the essential course of the doctoral procedure.

Die Promotionsgebühr beträgt 130,00 Euro gemäß der aktuell gültigen Fassung der Gebührenordnung der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena (gebuehrenordnung-uni-jena.pdf).

Die Gebühr überweisen Sie bitte auf das nachfolgende Konto der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena (Sparkasse Jena-Saale-Holzland):

Empfänger:  Universität Jena
IBAN:             DE97 8305 3030 0000 0002 21
BIC:               HELADEF1JEN

Bitte geben Sie folgenden Verwendungszweck an:
"Promotionsgebühr Nachname, Vorname(n)"