Minimum requirements for obtaining a PhD degree
1. Requirements for obtaining a degree at the Pekár Imre Doctoral School of Mechanical Engineering
It is generally expected that the candidate will conduct scientific research/development activities in the field of building engineering, mechatronics, or mechanical engineering, and publish their findings in prestigious publications.
Quantified requirements are set out in the document entitled Academic Requirements as defined by the Doctoral School.
2. Documentation of publications
When awarding a PhD degree, publications that have already been published or have been accepted for publication at the time of submission of the thesis may be considered.
The publications must be uploaded to the publication database of the University of Debrecen and National Library. Based on the publications uploaded to the database, the library will prepare and certify the Candidate's list of publications, which must be attached when submitting the dissertation.
3. Considering professional achievements beyond publications
When awarding a PhD degree, the results of research and development work that are not published must also be considered. These primarily include engineering works, patents, and professional awards. Documents certifying the results must be attached when submitting the dissertation.
4. Language requirements
At the Pekár Imre Doctoral School of Mechanical Engineering, a prerequisite for obtaining a degree is that the candidate has the language skills necessary to pursue the discipline.
Language exams are only accepted in languages in which prestigious engineering journals are published. The Doctoral School considers the following languages to be such: English, French, German, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese. The Doctoral School Council decides on the acceptance of other languages as chosen languages.
The language proficiency required for the field of study must be demonstrated by the time the doctoral dissertation is submitted at the latest.
The Candidate must prepare a self-assessment based on the above criteria and attach it to the thesis when submitting it.
Scientific Requirements Related to the Doctoral Dissertation as Defined by PIDSME
Supplement to Annex 15 of DCNSET -DR
SCIENTIFIC REQUIREMENTS
The requirements for obtaining a degree at the Pekár Imre Doctoral School of Mechanical Engineering are as follows:
1. At least 5 English-language articles, each with a minimum of 4 pages.
2. At least 250% cumulative authorship share in Hungarian Science Bibliography (MTMT-reviewed English-language journal articles or WoS/Scopus-indexed conference papers, each with a minimum of 4 pages.
3. At least 150% cumulative authorship share in English-language journal articles with WoS impact factor, each with a minimum of 4 pages, at least one paper was not published in a Hungarian journal.
4. A total of at least 150% cumulative authorship share in English-language articles rated at least Q2 according to SJR, each with a minimum of 4 pages.
5. For native Hungarian speaker candidates, at least 1 Hungarian-language journal article, educational article, or conference paper.
6. Deliver at least 1 presentation in English at an international professional conference.
Only those publications may be considered that are not opposed by MTMT in the year of publication and where the Candidate's authorship share is at least 14.2%.
The 4-page constraint does not apply to highly ranked scientific journals (e.g. Nature, Science) that typically publish shorter articles.
When calculating authorship share, only publications related to the thesis topics may be considered. The authorship share is determined by a uniform distribution among the authors, excluding the supervisor from the author count. Only one co-supervisor may be considered. The candidate must specify which co-supervisor to exclude from their articles. Publications may be partially replaced by equivalent profession-specific works with the approval of the Doctoral Council. In the case of multiple co-authors, the applicant must provide the authors' declarations for the articles (signed by the co-authors). If this is not done, the 100% will be divided by the number of authors. The weight of scientific activity such as oral or poster presentations at international and national conferences varies from case to case, therefore such publication activity can only be considered as a complementary criterion. Deviation from the listed requirements is possible with the unanimous decision of the Doctoral Council. Outstanding scientific results (achieving at least 300% of the degree requirements for publications) may also be submitted in a shorter (at least 30-page) summary with the preliminary consent of the Doctoral School Council.
A single scientific result may appear as a thesis in only one dissertation. The doctoral candidate and their supervisor must declare that the results described in the theses do not appear as theses in any other dissertation.
The main steps in obtaining a degree:
Recommended scenario for students starting the 4-year program who wish to defend their thesis in a Public defense by the end of the 4th year:
7th semester, month 2: Selection of preliminary discussion members (chair, external reviewer, internal reviewer)
- Finalising the paper (the version deemed acceptable by the student; no major changes should be planned at this stage).
7th semester, 3rd month: Acceptance of preliminary discussion members (program manager, head of DS – via email is acceptable)
- inviting reviewers to prepare reviews
- The secretary sends the text of the paper for plagiarism detection and then forwards the results to the reviewers
7th semester, 4th month: Receipt of reviews, writing of candidate responses
- holding preliminary defense
7th semester, 5th month: Selection of the members of the defense committee (the reviewers and the chair may be the same as those invited to the preliminary discussion,
- must be approved by the program leader and the head of DS (to be submitted in paper and electronic form)
- The TMDT accepts the defense committee.
8th semester, month 1: consultation with committee members, setting the date for the defense
- Submission of the thesis to the reviewers and committee members
8th semester, 2nd month: Verification of final semester research work, request for final exam certificate
Semester 8, months 3-4: Helding the defense
The above schedule includes some buffer time to deal with any problems that may arise, so short delays will not affect the execution of the order.