The following must be submitted as part of the doctoral programme:

• a written doctoral thesis,
• an oral examination (defence),
• successful completion of the accompanying curriculum (Dr. med) or the structured doctoral programme (MD-PhD)
• Publication of the dissertation

Section 7(1) of the Doctoral Regulations sets out which individuals may act as supervisors. The supervisor provides academic guidance on the dissertation and supports the doctoral process by submitting an ‘informative opinion’. In addition, a doctoral committee is usually appointed, for which the doctoral candidate may submit proposals.

A supervision agreement governs the relationship between the doctoral candidate and the supervisor, as well as the supervisory committee, including further aspects relating to the conduct and supervision of the doctoral project.

• Supervision Agreement Form 

During the course of the doctoral studies, a logbook must be kept, documenting various milestones of your doctoral project, which is to be submitted along with the dissertation.

• Logbook form

If you have any questions, problems or difficulties relating to your PhD, you can always contact the PhD Committee or the ombudsperson responsible for your faculty. You can rest assured that your enquiry will be treated in strict confidence.

Before commencing the doctoral programme, the first step is to be accepted as a doctoral candidate in accordance with Section 7 of the Doctoral Regulations by signing the supervision agreement, which must be countersigned by the Chair of the Doctoral Committee.

As a rule, admission to the doctoral programme takes place at the same time in accordance with Section 8a of the Doctoral Regulations. Under certain conditions (see Annex 1 of the Doctoral Regulations, ‘Procedure-specific provisions for the Dr. med. degree’) , admission as a doctoral candidate for a doctoral programme leading to the degree of ‘Dr. med.’ may take place even before the completion of the degree programme in Medicine – which is required for admission – and the passing of the medical examination. In any case, the application for admission to the doctoral programme must be submitted no later than one year after admission.

Please use the forms below:

• Form ‘Acceptance as a doctoral candidate’ [required only if there is a time lag between acceptance and admission]
• Form ‘Application for Admission as a Doctoral Candidate’

Applications for acceptance as a doctoral candidate or for admission to a doctoral programme must be addressed to the Dr. med./MD-Ph.D. Doctoral Committee.

The Dr. med./MD-Ph.D. Doctoral Committee decides on admission to the doctoral programme and on all other procedural matters at its meetings.

All applications must be submitted in writing to the Doctoral Committee. The required documents must be submitted in full, both in paper and electronic form, to the Doctoral Office no later than twelve days before the Doctoral Committee meeting.

As an ethics approval is required for most medical doctoral projects, you should contact the Medical Ethics Committee at the University of Oldenburg before commencing your research. For such enquiries, please use the form for assessing the need for consultation with the Ethics Committee.

Form for assessing the need for consultation 

Once admitted, doctoral candidates should enrol as PhD students at the earliest possible opportunity. Further information on this can be found on the Enrolment Office’s website

Dr med.

As part of the Dr. med. doctoral programme, one of the requirements for the degree is the successful completion of the supplementary curriculum designed to develop research skills, totalling 6 credit points (CP). Through this supplementary curriculum, doctoral candidates acquire subject-specific, methodological and practical skills designed to enable them to successfully complete their doctoral studies and embark on a research-based career. For further information on the supplementary curriculum, please refer to Appendix 1 of the Doctoral Regulations and the following information sheet:

- Information sheet on the completion of the 6 CP in the supplementary curriculum in accordance with Appendix 1 of the Doctoral Regulations

- Appendix to the information sheet (valid for admissions and enrolments from 1 June 2026)

Please use the following tracking sheet to provide evidence of successful participation in the supplementary curriculum and complete it digitally:

• Tracking sheet

Proof of participation in the supplementary curriculum must be submitted together with the application documents when the doctoral procedure is initiated (see Section 10(2) of the Doctoral Regulations). The Doctoral Committee decides on the recognition of the credits earned.

Once you have been accepted as a doctoral candidate, if you have any questions or uncertainties regarding the accompanying curriculum for the Dr med., you may seek advice from the Doctoral Office () or the Academic Career Support Team ().

Please note: Enrolment on university courses is restricted to registered PhD students only. Further information on enrolment can be found at: https://uol.de/studium/bewerben/promotion.

MD-PhD

As part of the MD-Ph.D. programme, you must, amongst other things, successfully complete the structured doctoral programme ‘Medicine and Health Sciences’ at the Graduate School of Natural Sciences, Medicine and Technology, comprising 30 credit points. Further information on the programme content, enrolment procedures, etc. can be found on the OLTECH website. OLTECH decides on the recognition of completed coursework in consultation with the programme coordinators. Further information can be found on the OLTECH website.

Please address any questions regarding the content of the structured PhD programme “Medicine and Health Sciences” to .

The doctoral thesis must be written in German or English. Theses written in German must also include an abstract in English, whilst those written in English must include an abstract in German. As a general rule, the University of Oldenburg’s guidelines on good academic practice always apply to the writing of the doctoral thesis.

The thesis may be written in monographic form or based on published works. Further details are set out in Section 9 of the Doctoral Regulations.

Upon submission, the thesis must be accompanied by the title page set out in Appendix 3 of the Doctoral Regulations.  

Further guidance on writing the doctoral thesis:

• Recommendations for writing the doctoral thesis
• Recommendations on citation style (collection of examples based on: International Committee of Medical Journal Editors)

Die Abgabe der Dissertation und das Stellen eines Antrags auf Einleitung des Promotionsverfahrens ist in der Regel frühestens ein Jahr und spätestens fünf Jahre nach Zulassung möglich. Auf Antrag der Doktorandin oder des Doktoranden können diese Fristen vom Promotionsausschuss um einen angemessenen Zeitraum verändert werden. Wird der Antrag auf Einleitung des Promotionsverfahrens nicht fristgemäß gestellt, gilt die Zulassung als zurückgenommen ( § 10, Abs. 1 der Promotionsordnung).

Nach Fertigstellung der Dissertation reicht die Doktorandin bzw. der Doktorand den Antrag auf Einleitung des Promotionsverfahrens gemäß § 10 der Promotionsordnung ein.

• Antrag auf Einleitung eines Promotionsverfahrens / Application for opening of a doctoral procedure

Weitere einzureichende Unterlagen sind (siehe §10, Abs. 2 der Promotionsordnung):

• eine eidesstattliche Erklärung darüber, dass die Bewerberin oder der Bewerber die Dissertation „selbständig und ohne fremde unzulässige Hilfe erbracht hat, das heißt ohne Benutzung anderer als der angegebenen Hilfsmittel angefertigt und die aus fremden Quellen direkt oder indirekt übernommenen Gedanken als solche kenntlich gemacht“ hat (als Bestandteil der Dissertation, s. § 10 Abs 2b)
• eine Erklärung darüber, dass der Inhalt der Dissertation nicht schon überwiegend für eine eigene Bachelor-, Master-, Diplom- oder ähnliche Prüfungsleistung verwendet wurde (als Bestandteil der Dissertation, s. § 10 Abs 2c)
• ein Nachweis über die erfolgreiche Teilnahme am Begleitcurriculum (Dr. med.) bzw. über das erfolgreiche Absolvieren des strukturierten Promotionsprogramms (MD-Ph.D.; s. § 10 Abs 2d)
• ein Nachweis über ein geführtes Logbuch (s. § 10 Abs 2e)
• ggf. ein aktualisierter Lebenslauf in deutscher Sprache mit Angaben über den Bildungsgang, ergänzt durch eine Liste etwaiger wissenschaftlicher Veröffentlichungen (s. § 10 Abs 2f)
• eine Erklärung darüber, ob klinische Versuche am Menschen, epidemiologische Studien mit personenbezogenen Daten oder Untersuchungen an entnommenem menschlichen Material mit Personenbezug (Ethikkommission), Versuche mit gentechnisch veränderten Organismen (Gentechnikgesetz) oder Experimente an Wirbeltieren (Versuchstiergenehmigung) durchgeführt wurden. Sofern nicht bereits bei Zulassung erfolgt, ist im zutreffenden Fall dem Promotionsausschuss eine Genehmigung der zuständigen Behörde in Kopie vorzulegen (s. § 10 Abs 2g)
• ggf. Namensvorschläge für eine Gutachterin oder einen Gutachter nach § 6 (s. § 10 Abs 2h, z. B. möglich über Vordruck Antrag auf Einleitung eines Promotionsverfahrens)
• eine Erklärung darüber, dass die Regelungen zu guter wissenschaftlicher Praxis an der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg befolgt worden sind (s. § 10 Abs 2i; siehe auch Vordruck Antrag auf Einleitung eines Promotionsverfahrens, Punkt 4)
• erforderlichenfalls den Nachweis nach § 8a Abs. 6 über die Einschreibung als Promotionsstudierende oder Promotionsstudierender (s. § 10 Abs 2j)
• eine Erklärung darüber, dass im Zusammenhang mit dem Promotionsvorhaben keine Vermittlungs- oder Beratungsdienste (Promotionsberatung) in Anspruch genommen worden sind (s. § 10 Abs 2k; siehe auch Vordruck Antrag auf Einleitung eines Promotionsverfahrens, Punkt 5)
• im Falle eines gemeinsamen Promotionsverfahrens oder einer bi-nationalen Promotion gemäß § 3 Abs. 2 eine Bestätigung der Kooperationspartnerin zur Durchführung des Promotionsprojekts (s. § 10 Abs 2l)

Der Antrag auf Einleitung des Promotionsverfahrens ist schriftlich an den Promotionsausschuss zu richten. Die notwendigen Unterlagen müssen vollständig sowohl in Papierform als auch in elektronischer Form spätestens zwölf Tage vor der Sitzung des Promotionsausschusses beim Promotionsbüro eingereicht werden.

The Doctoral Committee initiates the doctoral procedure by appointing two examiners to assess the doctoral thesis. The examiners generally come from different disciplines and, together, cover the full academic scope of the thesis. Further details regarding the examiners are set out in Section 6 of the Doctoral Regulations.

Following the oral defence, the doctoral committee determines how the doctoral candidate’s work towards the doctorate is to be assessed as a whole (see Section 13 of the Doctoral Regulations).

The doctoral programme is concluded with the publication of the dissertation in accordance with § 14 of the Doctoral Regulations.

Within one year of successfully defending their thesis, the doctoral candidate must make the thesis available to the academic community in an appropriate manner. Publication takes place via the Library and Information System of Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg. Further details regarding publication are set out in Section 14 of the Doctoral Regulations. For printed copies, the title page must be in accordance with the template in Appendix 3 of the Doctoral Regulations.

The award of the doctorate is finalised upon the presentation of the doctoral certificate, and the doctoral graduate is entitled to use the title of Doctor (see Section 15 of the Doctoral Regulations).

In accordance with Section 23 of the Doctoral Regulations, doctoral candidates who, at the time this revised version of the Doctoral Regulations came into force (13 October 2021), have already registered their doctoral research project with the Doctoral Committee in accordance with Section 1(6) of the Doctoral Regulations of Faculty VI of Medicine and Health Sciences at Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg for the award of the degrees ‘Doctor of Medicine (Dr. med.)’ and ‘Medical Doctor - Doctor of Philosophy (MD-Ph.D.)” in the version dated 8 March 2014, and have received confirmation from the Doctoral Committee, and who, within five years of these Regulations coming into force (cut-off date 13October 2026) submit an application to commence the doctoral procedure in accordance with Section 10, or have already submitted such an application prior to the entry into force of these regulations, may request that the previously applicable doctoral regulations of Faculty VI of Medicine and Health Sciences at Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg for the award of the degrees ‘Doctor of Medicine (Dr. med.)’ and ‘Medical Doctor – Doctor of Philosophy (MD-Ph.D.)’ in the version dated 8 March 2014 (Official Notices / 33rd year – 1/2014, pp. 135–146).

Doctoral candidates affected by these transitional provisions can download the form for admission here, in accordance with the doctoral regulations as amended on 8 March 20214.