Applications and forms
The doctoral degree regulations serve as a basis for the application at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences. Here you can find all the information and regulation for potential and current doctoral candidates.
Steps of procedure for the admission to the doctoral studies:
1. Agreement with the supervisor
An important prerequisite for the admission to the doctoral studies is the acceptance of a doctoral supervisor. Please find the information about the research areas of potential supervisors on their websites and enter into contact with them personally. Please take into consideration that doctoral supervisors can’t accept any amount of doctoral candidates. That is why you cannot always expect to be accepted.
After having received the assurance of a doctoral supervisor, you have to compose a proposal/exposé of your planned dissertation as well as a time schedule in consultation with him/her. Additionally, you have to complete and both of you have to sign the doctorate agreement .
2. Online registration
After having completed the agreement for the doctoral studies and before being admitted as a doctoral candidate, the doctoral student has to register at the Online Portal heiDOCS:
3. Submission of the documents at the doctoral office
Afterwards, the documents have to be submitted at the doctorate office (office of the dean). In order to be admitted, you need to hand in:
- Application for admission
- Doctorate agreement , including proposal/exposé and schedule
- CV
- A copy of your secondary school leaving certificate that qualifies you for university study (e.g. Abitur, High School Diploma, etc.)
- Certified copies of the certificates and transcripts of all of your higher education degrees. The certificates have to be either submitted in German or English, or a German or English translation has to be added.
- Identification
In case there are no transcripts available, a list with all absolved courses of the degree has to be submitted.
The doctoral committee decides on requests for admission. If the doctoral candidate is admitted, he/she has to register at Heidelberg University. Find information at the website from the Graduate Academy .
Steps of procedure for doctoral candidates:
4. Online Portal heiDOCS
Please keep your personal information at the Online Portal heiDOCS up to date.
5. Time period for the submission of the dissertation / Extension
Doctoral candidates are initially accepted for three years. The time period starts on the day of the admission given by the doctoral committee. Extensions of one year each time are possible upon request .
6. Submission of the dissertation
Five bound copies as well as a digital copy in a searchable format (pdf) of the dissertation are to be submitted to the Faculty Dean's office.
Additionally, the following documents have to be submitted in a printed, completed and signed form.
- An affidavit
- A declaration of consent stating that electronic data processing programmes may be used to check the dissertation for compliance with general academic standards.
Please note the regulations concerning cumulative dissertations:
7. Appointment of the evaluators / Inspection
The doctoral committee appoints the evaluators. Once the evaluations have been submitted, the two-week inspection period starts. During this time, the doctoral candidate has the possibility to inspect the evaluations on site.
8. Oral defence
The members of the examination commission are appointed by the doctoral committee. The doctoral supervisor is responsible for the coordination of the oral defence.
The doctoral candidate receives a certificate after having successfully completed the oral defence.
9. Publication
The dissertation must be published not later than within two years after the date of the oral defence or a publishing contract must be submitted on condition that the doctoral candidate gives an assurance that the dissertation will be printed and free of charge submission will be provided within three years after the contract date.
Beforehand, the publication has to be approved by the doctoral supervisor.
The publication can occur in the following forms:
- As a digital publication via Open Access on the University Library’s (UB) document server. Additionally, one printed and bound deposit copy of the text has to be submitted to the University Library. Other forms of digital publication may be used only upon agreement with the University Library.
- Printed in a series of publications or as a self-contained book distributed by a publisher, provided that proof of a minimum print run of 100 copies is provided. In this case, three deposit copies have to be submitted to the University Library. If the publisher has a print-on-demand process in place to fulfil additional orders, a lower minimum print run may be accepted. It is the responsibility of the doctoral candidate to provide evidence thereof.
A print remark must be added stating that it is Heidelberg dissertation. In case of change of the title it is necessary to point the title of the dissertation submitted.
Additionally to the mentioned deposit copy which must be provided to the University Library, two copies of the published dissertation must also be provided to the doctorate office (faculty dean’s office) and one copy must be provided to each of the evaluators.