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Completion of the doctorate/PhD

    Here you find answers concerning questions on the completion of your doctorate/PhD study especially on deadlines, assessment, publication, etc.

    A description of the steps for the completion of the PhD/doctoral studies can also be found in the section stages of doctoral studies.

    I have finished writing my doctoral thesis and would like to submit it. What do I need to know?

      Please make sure that you fulfill the administrative requirements, such as filling out the respective forms, in good time - not to do so is a widespread mistake and often leads to tiresome delays in the final stages of someone's doctoral studies.

      We recommend that you consult our Registrar's Office one term before you actually conclude your doctoral studies and ask for personal advice on the documents you need. On our website, you can find all exam and registration deadlines for viva voce/thesis defenses valid for the respective year of study information.

      After submission and as part of the review process, your dissertation will be subjected to a mandatory plagiarism check using plagiarism detection software. However, you also have the option of a one-time, free plagiarism check before submission via the Center for Doctoral Studies. This can be very helpful for the final revision of the dissertation. If you are interested, please contact us well in advance by email at doktoratszentrum@akbild.ac.at.

      In the section forms and documents (end of studies) you find all needed forms and templates for finishing the doctoral/PhD study.

        What are the deadlines for completing the dissertation?

          In the section stages of doctoral studies, you find a step-by-step description of the procedure for submitting your PhD/doctoral thesis. After uploading the dissertation, you and your supervisor will receive a notification that the dissertation can now be reviewed and graded. Please note that the supervisors of your dissertation and the external assessors have a maximum of 4 months to assess and grade your work. In order to be sure that you can complete the desired defense date, you should submit the dissertation at least 5 months before the scheduled date. You can find the registration deadlines and examination dates for rigorosum/defenses in the respective study year here.

            How is the assessment of the dissertation/PhD project carried out?

            For the assessment of your dissertation, two appraisals are required: an appraisal from your supervisor (if you have two supervisors, write this together), as well as a second appraisal from an external appraiser who was not involved in the supervision of your dissertation. The final selection of the external appraiser is made by the Vice-Rector for Art | Teaching.

            In the form "Application for the Approval of the Dissertation" (please find it in the section forms and documents), five or three (depending on curriculum) potential external appraisers have to be proposed, from which one person is finally selected, and the second expert appraisal is written. It is up to you whether you personally clarify in advance with the five or three potential external appraisers proposed in "Applications for Approval of the Dissertation" whether they would be prepared to write an appraisal and attend the thesis defense in Vienna or online. You should consult with your supervisors as to who would qualify as an appraiser for your Ph.D./dissertation, but you are not obliged to do so.

            What are the regulations concerning the second external appraiser of the dissertation?

            In principle, the second external appraisers must be professors or habilitated employees at the academy or another university or have habilitation equivalent qualifications; have professional competence with regard to the topic of the dissertation, and may not have been involved in the supervision of the dissertation. Habilitation equivalence is given if the external appraiser has supervised at least two doctoral theses at her_his university.

            Please note: If there are delays in the dissertation examination, for example, because the selected expert does not have the corresponding qualification (professorship or habilitation), the doctoral students bear the responsibility for this.

              I would like to use illustrations in my doctoral thesis. Am I allowed to?

                Illustrations or images for which you do not own the copyright and/or rights of use can still be used in scientific publications if these images are closely linked to the topic dealt with. In scientific papers, the text has to far outweigh the illustrated part. Moreover, you should only insert images that are essential for understanding the text.

                  I would like to publish my Ph.D. How can I approach this?

                    It would be a good idea to discuss this with your supervisor_s. They are already part of the scientific-artistic community and are often able to recommend specific publishers. Sometimes supervisors even recommend the works of their Ph.D.-students to their publishers, with whom they have already established a long working relationship. This is often much more effective than young researchers approaching the publishers themselves.
                    Searching for potential publishers can also help to check where the literature, which was essential for your Ph.D., has been published.

                    In the case of a publication offer, most publishers demand participation in the printing costs. This is why the question of possible financial aid is essential. Unfortunately, the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna does not have any funds for this case.

                    In Austria, the following funding possibilities can be helpful for publishing your Ph.D.:

                    • The FWF funds stand-alone publications. You find more information under the following link.
                    • The ÖFG offers printing cost subsidies. Have a look here (available in German only).
                    • It is possible to hand in publications as so-called „Einzelvorhaben“ with the Federal Chancellery. See here (available in German only).
                    • The City of Vienna/MA 7 supports publications by Viennese publishers with printing cost subsidies. The application is made through the respective Viennese publishers. You can find the details here (available in German only).
                    • The federal states sometimes offer printing cost subsidies under the condition of a specific link to the respective federal state by the person or work. It can be useful to look that up.
                    • Apart from that, a search for funding possibilities can always pay off: Specific organizations sometimes offer subsidies for works with a specific focus or theme. Also, the academies of the parties sometimes sponsor money, depending on the topic of the work.

                    If you have another nationality than the Austrian one, it is recommended to look up the funding possibilities in the state of your nationality. For example, it is mandatory to publish Ph.D.s in Germany, which is why the number of funding possibilities is greater than in Austria. We ask for your understanding that our employees cannot offer you any expert knowledge on this subject; please do the inquiry yourself.