Doctoral education

Instructions for pre-examiners (School of Business)

Guidelines for pre-examiners of doctoral theses in the School of Business

General quality requirements for doctoral theses at Aalto University

  • A doctoral thesis shall contain new scientific knowledge in the field it represents.
  • The doctoral thesis must present the new results clearly and in a manner meeting the criteria set for scientific texts.
  • The independent contribution of the doctoral student shall be sufficient and clearly demonstrable.
  • The research methods used shall fulfil the criteria set for scientific research.
  • A doctoral thesis shall conform to the principles of responsible conduct of research and adhere to ethically sustainable principles.

Forms of theses

The dissertation for a Doctor of Science (Economics and Business Administration) degree or Doctor of Philosophy (Economics and Business Administration) degree can be a monograph or an article or essay-based dissertation.

The scope and general quality requirements of doctoral dissertations follow the instructions and guidelines decided by the University Academic Affairs Committee on 1 December 2015.

Instructions to Examiners for Evaluation of Doctoral Thesis

Preliminary examiners must submit their signed statements within six weeks of the arrival of the official request for statements.

Pre-examiner statements

The preliminary examiners submit a statement to the Doctoral Programme Committee on whether they consider the study to conform to doctoral dissertation standards. If so, at the end of the statement the examiners must state clearly that it is their recommendation to grant permission for public presentation.

The preliminary examiners may discuss any changes or corrections to the dissertation research during the preliminary examination. Communication between the preliminary examiners and the doctoral candidate is the responsibility of the major subject professor(s). However, the preliminary examiners do not act as supervisors of the dissertation research. Their statements cannot be conditional on proposed changes or corrections to be made.

Payment to preliminary examiners for their work is made by the doctoral candidate’s department after the signed statement has been received by the planning officer of the Doctoral Programme. 

  • Published:
  • Updated: