School IV offers doctoral programmes in the following subjects:

• Protestant Theology and Religious Education
• History and
• Philosophy
• Sports Science

As a first step, the topic of the dissertation is agreed with a university lecturer or a habilitated member of the relevant subject area. You conclude a supervision agreement with him or her and he or she supervises the dissertation from a subject-related perspective and is also the first supervisor (Section 5 PromO).

In cases where an interface topic is being worked on, it may make sense to appoint a supervisory committee consisting of several people instead of a single person (cf. 5 para. 3 PromO). It should be borne in mind that in the case of a supervisory committee, a maximum of two of the persons can later act as reviewers, as a maximum of three persons may review the thesis and at least one of them must not have been involved in the supervision.

You do not need to obtain the signature of the doctoral committee chairperson. Your signature and that of the supervisor(s) are sufficient.

In order to obtain doctoral candidate status, the second step is acceptance or admission by the School's doctorate committee.

The doctorate committee strongly recommends that all doctoral candidates have a discussion with their first supervisor in the early stages of their doctorate about the implications of AI andthe extent to which independent scientific work is possible after the inclusion of AI!

Acceptance is a preliminary stage to admission with fewer documents (e.g. the exposé does not yet need to be submitted).

The following must be submitted

• the completed form "Application for acceptance as a doctoral candidate"
• Enclosure 1 Supervision agreement signed by doctoral candidate and supervisor (the signature of the chair of the doctoral committee is automatically added during the process)
• Enclosure 2 Requirement for referral to the Ethics Committee signed by doctoral candidate and supervisor
• certified copies of the university entrance qualification (usually A-level certificate) and the university degree authorising the doctorate (usually Master's certificate). Notarised copies can be obtained from the Citizens' Registration Office or a notary, for example.

In the case of foreign school and university degrees, an equivalence check must be carried out in accordance with §7 Para. 1 PromO. This also requires copies of all degrees (including Bachelor's degrees) and the corresponding diploma supplements or transcripts of records.

You will receive written notification of acceptance, which you can then use to enrol at the Admissions office.

The accepted doctoral candidate phase serves as further preparation for the doctoral project. To maintain your status, you must either apply for admission within three years of acceptance or submit an informal application for extension, which must be countersigned by your supervisor (see §5 para. 1 last sentence).

Admission can be applied for directly without prior acceptance. Two deadlines begin to run from the time of admission: On the one hand, there should be a minimum period of 1 year between admission and submission of the thesis; on the other hand, the thesis must be submitted within 5 years of admission (Section 9 (1) PromO). In justified cases, a deviation from these deadlines may be authorised on proposal.

The following documents are required to apply for admission:

• Form "Application for admission to doctoral studies"
• Enclosure 1 Supervision agreement (the signature of the doctoral committee chair is automatically included in the process)
• Enclosure 2 Requirement for approval by the Ethics Committee
• Certified copies of the university entrance qualification (usually Abitur certificate) and the university degree entitling you to a doctorate (usually Master's certificate).
• Short academic curriculum vitae, if applicable with a list of publications
• Exposé of the doctoral project
• If applicable, further proposals (joint thesis, writing the thesis in another language, bi-national doctorate, cumulative doctorate), see also 3.3 and 3.4.

NOTE: Documents that may have been submitted in the course of the proposal for acceptance as a doctoral candidate do NOT have to be submitted again (e.g. copies of certificates).

• If the dissertation is to be written in a language other than German, the supervisor must agree and an informal proposal must be submitted to the doctorate committee.
• International applicants without a German school or university degree must provide proof of German language proficiency at DSH level 2, Telc level C1 or TestDAF4 (adult education centre). The doctorate committee may decide to make up the tests during the doctoral period as a condition.
• In the case of foreign school and university degrees, an equivalence check must be carried out in accordance with Section 7 (1). This is carried out by the Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB), which requires scans of the certificates of all degrees (including Bachelor's degrees) and the corresponding Diploma Supplements or Transcripts of Records. Please also submit these documents if necessary. The examination at the ZAB is arranged by School IV and usually takes several weeks, so that the decision on approval can be significantly delayed.
• Anyone who can provide proof of a university degree that is not represented in the subject canon of School IV can be admitted to doctoral studies. In these cases, a postgraduate course must be completed in accordance with Section 7 (2) PromO, which generally comprises 30 semester hours per week (= 45 credit points) and a final oral examination. Relevant courses already attended can be recognised on proposal. The doctorate committee determines the scope of the postgraduate studies on a case-by-case basis.
• Joint dissertations (Section 8 (5) PromO) are possible. The suitability of the topic for a joint thesis is formally determined by the doctorate committee after hearing the applicants. The individual contributions must be assigned to the respective author (this must be listed in detail in the affidavit when the procedure is initiated).

The question is often asked whether and when doctoral candidates can or must enrol. The Lower Saxony Higher Education Act stipulates that doctoral candidates should enrol. In any case, however, proof of enrolment must be provided during the doctoral degree procedure at the time the thesis is submitted (see Section 9 (2f) PromO).

For enrolment, please contact the responsible person at the Admissions office.

A binational doctoral degree procedure can be useful if you

• want to ensure an academic connection to both participating countries
• do not yet want to decide in which country you would like to work later
• aspire to work in a binational field
• have decided on a research focus that is closely linked to the other country

However, a binational doctoral degree procedure is not necessary or useful if only a second supervision from abroad or a foreign second or third opinion is desired. This can be arranged individually as part of a national doctoral degree procedure.

Binational procedures require the conclusion of a relatively complex co-operation agreement between the University of Oldenburg and the partner university in advance - preferably before admission.

There are specific procedural regulations for binational procedures with the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in accordance with Annex 7 of the doctoral degree regulations. Further information and sample agreements for co-operation with other universities can be found at: https://uol.de/partneruniversitaeten/binationale-promotion

Several academic theses can also be recognised as a dissertation if they

• are internally related
• in their entirety demonstrate the ability to carry out in-depth and independent academic work
• represent a contribution to the advancement of science in a specific field.

The research context of this work must be comprehensively presented in a summary.

This form of dissertation requires the approval of the doctorate committee (acceptance/admission procedure). At least two accepted academic theses are a prerequisite for a cumulative doctorate. As the appropriate number and scope of theses varies depending on the discipline, please consult your supervisor in advance.

In the case of joint publications, you must state your own contribution and distinguish it from that of your co-authors. In accordance with the recommendations of the German Council of Science and Humanities for publication-based dissertations, at least one reviewer may not be a co-author of the submitted publications.

For the subject of sport science, the doctorate committee has decided on the following specifics for the above points based on the recommendations of the German Association for Sport Science (dvs):

• at least 3 accepted articles in journals with a peer review system
• at least 1 contribution by the doctoral candidate as first author

Initiation must be applied for within 1 to 5 years of admission. A shortening or extension of the initiation period is possible upon informal proposal (§9 para. 1 sentence 3 PromO). The reasons and period by which the period is to be extended or shortened must be stated in the proposal.

The following documents must be submitted to the Faculty Office - NOT the Examinations Office! - ideally using the form on the homepage:

1. As a rule, 6 printed copies of the dissertation (for each member of the examination committee and one copy for the file), in addition, a digital form is also welcome on a voluntary basis
2. Current enrolment certificate
3. Declaration in lieu of an oath that the thesis was written independently and without unauthorised assistance and that the ideas taken directly or indirectly from external sources have been identified as such.
4. Declaration that the content of the dissertation has not already been used for your own Bachelor's, Master's, Diplom or similar thesis.
5. Declaration that the currently valid regulations on good academic practice of the University of Oldenburg have been followed.
6. Declaration that no commercial placement or counselling services (doctoral counselling) have been used in connection with the doctorate.
7. Proposals for the reviewers and an additional subject representative for the examination committee
8. Proof of any conditions imposed on admission (e.g. proof of language skills)

The declarations for points 3 to 6 do not have to be included in the dissertation. You will then receive an email informing you that the procedure has been opened.

There are no binding specifications for the dissertation regarding the number of pages, font size, paragraph, margins, binding, etc.. The thesis should be easy to read and provide opportunities for marginal notes.

Furthermore, the principles of good academic practice at the University of Oldenburg must be observed and the content must not have already been used in your own Bachelor's, Master's or similar thesis. This must be confirmed in writing when the thesis is submitted.

The doctorate committee strongly recommends that all doctoral candidates discuss the implications of AI with their supervisor in the early stages of their doctorate and the extent to which independent scientific work is possible after incorporating AI!

The Presidential Board of the University of Oldenburg has published general recommendations for doctoral candidates on the use of generative AI in dissertations. These can be found in the download area under forms.

Once the expert opinions have been received, there is a period of public display. This is 2 weeks during the lecture period and 4 weeks during the semester holidays. Doctoral candidates are NOT authorised to inspect the thesis during the review period.

After the deadline for special reviews has expired, the doctorate committee decides on the acceptance of the thesis. The doctoral candidate will then automatically receive a copy of the reviews for their information.

The thesis defence should take place within 4 weeks of acceptance of the dissertation. The date can already be set during the interpretation phase. The doctoral candidate will receive a written invitation to the thesis defence by email.

The oral doctoral examination consists of

• the presentation: 30 minutes on the aims, methods and results of the dissertation
• a discussion of up to 90 minutes

The university public may listen and cannot be excluded.

The result will be communicated orally immediately after the examination. After confirmation of the assessment by the doctorate committee, a written notification of the assessment of the doctoral performance follows.

If the candidate fails, the thesis defence may be repeated once. Further details are regulated in § 11 para. 6 PromO.

In the event of unexcused absence from the examination, the thesis defence is deemed to have been failed. In the event of excused absence, a new date will be set.

In justified exceptional cases, it is possible to connect individual persons online (hybrid format). This is recommended, for example, for examiners travelling a long way from abroad. In principle, an in-person exam in School IV is preferred. There is no entitlement to a connection via video conference.

For an online connection, the doctoral candidate must submit an informal proposal to the doctorate committee. All members of the examination committee must agree to the connection. The doctoral candidate him/herself can NOT be connected online!

Approval is granted by the doctorate committee, so the proposal should be submitted as early as possible.

The grade of the dissertation is the arithmetic mean of the grades from the reviews.

When calculating the overall grade, the grade of the dissertation counts double and the grade of the thesis defence counts single. Here is an example:

The sample person was awarded magna cum laude in the first assessment, summa cum laude in the second assessment and summa cum laude in the thesis defence.

summa cum laude = 0
magna cum laude = 1
cum laude = 2
rite = 3

Calculation of the grade of the dissertation: (1+0)/2 = 0.5 = magna cum laude
Calculation of the overall grade: (0.5*2+0*1)/3 = 0.333 = summa cum laude

The sample person has graduated summa cum laude.

The dissertation must be published within 2 years of the thesis defence (§ 13 PromO). Prior to publication, approval for printing must be requested from the Chair of the doctorate committee. For this purpose, the "Certificate of Final Publication" signed by the supervisor must be submitted. The form is sent together with the notification of the doctoral assessment.

Depending on the form of publication, different numbers of specimen copies must be submitted. The submitted copies must be provided with a special layout (§ 13 para. 2 PromO). This provides for the information from Annex 2 of the doctoral degree regulations ("Sample title page of the dissertation") in the title page and a short academic curriculum vitae at the end.

You should submit the documents to the BIS Dissertation Office to Mr Hülskamp or Ms Kwast. The most common publication options are

1. Publisher's publication:
   • 3 copies of the book
   • a copy of the publishing contract stating the number of copies (min. 150 copies).
   • Alternatively, 3 self-printed copies can be submitted with the publishing contract to speed up the delivery of the certificate.
2. Electronic publication:
   • Electronic version, the format of which must be agreed with the Dissertation Office of the University Library
   • Two printed specimen copies
   • In addition, short summaries in German and English, which must be approved by the supervisor
   • A declaration that the printed and electronic versions are identical in terms of content and form
3. Cumulative doctorate:
   • three specimen copies
   • a certificate from the first supervisor stating that significant parts of the thesis have already been published. This also includes a list of sources for the published parts.

The publication deadline can be extended by the Chair of the doctorate committee in accordance with Section 13 (4) PromO. This requires an informal proposal stating the reasons and the period by which the deadline is to be extended.

The doctoral certificate is issued on the date of the thesis defence, but is only issued once the publication requirement has been fulfilled (Section 14 (3) PromO). It is not permitted to use the doctoral title before this date. It is also not permitted to use the title "Dr. des." in the meantime.

The certificate is ideally presented in a personal appointment. Alternatively, it can be sent by registered mail.

The Academic Graduation Ceremony of School IV takes place once a year. This is an opportunity to celebrate your successful graduation in a festive setting. You will automatically receive an invitation.

Yes, if there are special reasons, a certificate of successful completion of the doctorate can be issued after the thesis defence has been passed and before proof of publication has been provided. Special reasons exist in particular if:

• a publishing contract with a recognised academic publisher can prove that the timely fulfilment of the publication obligation is sufficiently ensured
• the publication is demonstrably subject to embargo periods due to existing third-party rights and the subsequent fulfilment of the publication is ensured
• the fulfilment of the publication obligation is not possible at the time of application for other reasons for which the doctoral candidate is not responsible and there is a legitimate interest in determining the completion of the doctorate.

An informal application for a certificate may be submitted to the doctorate committee prior to the thesis defence.