REQUIREMENTS FOR SUBMITTING A THESIS TO THE PROGRAMME

In order to be able to present a doctoral thesis, students must have been enrolled in the programme for at least one year, have passed the last annual report and have passed the training activities.

In addition, you must prove that you are in possession of 1 JCR article as first author and with the affiliation Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (in Spanish and with the tilde) or shared with another institution (the thesis started in the academic year 2017/18 will have to be in at least a Q3). This article must be linked to your thesis and carried out during the period of duration of the doctoral thesis.

• Submission by indications of quality. If the student accredits having two or more articles as first author in JCR impact journals in the first or second quartile, he/she may submit the thesis for indications of quality, not being necessary to perform the pre-defence referred to in art. 16 of the Regulations for the preparation and evaluation of the UPM doctoral thesis.

REQUIREMENTS FOR SUPERVISING/CO-DIRECTING A THESIS IN THE PROGRAMME

To belong to the Doctoral Programme it is a requirement to be directing or co-directing a doctoral thesis. The list of professors belonging to the programme will be updated every academic year, when the UPM requests the annual report from the doctoral students.

Those professors who wish to join the programme must apply by e-mail to the Academic Secretary of the Programme, attaching the documentation that guarantees the fulfilment of one of the following requirements*:

• To have an active six-year research period.
• Be the author or co-author of at least four publications in JCR journals in the last six years.

The decision on admission to the programme will be taken by the programme's Academic Committee or its designated representatives.

In the case of an application for co-direction of the thesis by a researcher from an external research centre, the latter must be the author or co-author of at least 4 articles of impact in the last six years (at least two of them in JCR journals and the rest either in JCR or SCOPUS).

*These requirements also apply to any lecturer/researcher involved in the programme, whether as a member of the thesis committee, pre-reading expert, external expert, etc.).

ASSESSMENT PRIOR TO THE DEFENCE OF THE DOCTORAL THESIS (PRE-DEFENCE)

Once the work has been completed and the provisional version of the thesis has been written, and with a positive evaluation of the last Research Plan submitted, the PhD student will inform the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme (CAPD), attaching a report from the director(s) of the doctoral thesis approving the pre-defence and proposing to the members of the examining board, the letter from the PhD student requesting the pre-defence and the scientific performance of the PhD student. 

Within a maximum period of 30 days from the presentation of the report mentioned in the previous point, the PhD student will carry out a pre-defence before a committee of experts, with accredited research experience, chosen by the Academic Committee of the PhD Programme, with the presence of his/her supervisor(s). The pre-defence may be replaced, if authorised by the centre responsible for the doctoral programme, by an equivalent mechanism that guarantees the quality of the doctoral thesis: report by external experts, indications of quality, etc.

The committee of experts in charge of judging the pre-defence or the committee in charge of assessing the provisional version of the thesis will issue a report to this effect. In the event of a negative report, duly reasoned and justified, the PhD student must modify or redo the work and redo the pre-defence or the equivalent procedure. If the report contains suggestions for improvement, the Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme will decide whether their incorporation into the final document is obligatory or at the discretion of the PhD student and the supervisor(s) of the doctoral thesis. This report will not be necessary if the doctoral thesis has been processed through the mechanism of indications of quality.

The Academic Committee of the Doctoral Programme (CAPD) may only authorise the processing of the doctoral thesis when the pre-defence report, or equivalent procedure, is positive and the required changes have been introduced and verified by the said committee, or when the thesis has been processed through the quality assurance mechanism. The decision on whether or not to authorise the defence of the doctoral thesis and the corresponding justification, if applicable, must be communicated to the supervisor(s) of the doctoral thesis and to the PhD student within a maximum period of 14 days from the date on which the report is received.

In order for a doctoral thesis to be admitted for defence, it must have results published in journals of recognised prestige in its speciality and included in the Journal Citation Reports catalogue or equivalent, or with the existence of patents in operation demonstrated by means of a sales contract or licensing contract. The centre responsible for the doctoral programme must certify that this advance of results is fulfilled before the doctoral thesis is deposited, informing the UPM Doctoral Commission accordingly. The UPM Doctoral Commission may approve a regulation governing the submission of the doctoral thesis by compendium of articles.


PROCESSING OF THE DOCTORAL THESIS DEFENCE

Once the student has successfully completed the pre-reading of his/her thesis before a panel of three experts, and these have issued their favourable reports to the CAPD, the PhD student must be up to date with the payment of the academic supervision fee for the current academic year (payment at the secretary's office of the centre) and all supervision fees for previous years.

They must be up to date with the submission of the annual thesis reports that the student will upload annually through the RAPI platform. The reports will be uploaded to this application in the month of September-October of each academic year, in arrears. The reports must be approved by the CAPD once they have been approved by the director/s and the coordinator of the doctoral programme from RAPI.

Once the CAPD has given final authorisation for the doctoral thesis to be processed, the PhD student must register for the defence of the thesis, paying the amount (€143.15) and, where applicable, the annual academic supervision fees pending, including those for the current year. In any case, the registration fee must be paid before the doctoral thesis is deposited. A letter of payment should be sent to secretaria.alumnos.etsiaab@upm.es.

The PhD student and his/her supervisor/s must request authorisation for the defence from the CAPD, providing the following documents: 1_Defence and tribunal acceptance letter; 2_Tribunal member data letter; 3_Tribunal member acceptance letter; 4_Pre-defence improvement suggestions report; 5_02E7_Register of activities (check first with the programme's technical secretariat: mdrgs.etsiaab@upm.es).

Once the final authorisation has been obtained from the CAPD for the processing of the doctoral thesis, the doctoral student must provide a copy of the doctoral thesis in electronic format PDF (maximum capacity 15MB), a summary/abstract of the doctoral thesis, both in Spanish and English of 4,000 characters maximum, and an update of the doctoral thesis through the Virtual Polytechnic/Utilities/Doctoral Thesis. 000 characters maximum and an update of your CV o Research performance (most relevant aspects of your research career, being mandatory to have published a JCR article, in a prominent position, Q1, Q2, Q3, or in other quality lists such as Scopus (first 3 sections), or publications indexed in AVERY. Where articles are indicated, the impact index of the publication, the quartile, and the position of the publication within the quartile must be included).

The thesis will be accepted for deposit immediately, provided that the following procedures have been carried out:

a) Doctoral student's formalities:
1. The student has registered and has paid for the defence of the doctoral thesis.
2. The student is up to date with the payment of academic supervision fees.
3. Has provided the digital version of the doctoral thesis (pdf), and of the complementary materials (zip) if applicable.
4. Has provided a summary/abstract of the doctoral thesis in both Spanish and English.
5. If the doctoral thesis is subject to confidentiality clauses, the digital version of the thesis and the complementary materials that do not include the confidential parts.
6. You have filled in the TESEO form for the thesis.

b) Formalities of the centre responsible for the doctoral programme:
7. Has given final authorisation for the presentation of the thesis, stating whether the thesis is eligible for the international mention.
8. It has certified the progress of the results of the thesis.
9. Has submitted the application for the proposal of the thesis examining board.
10. In the case of confidential doctoral theses, the request for confidentiality is approved or has been sent to the UPM Doctoral Commission.
11. In the case of doctoral theses that opt for the international mention, the required documentation has been submitted. 

The doctoral theses will be deposited for 15 days from the day following the acceptance of their deposit. The centre responsible for the doctoral programme must notify the members of the PDI of the doctoral programme of the deposit of the thesis, and make available to them a copy of the provisional copy of the doctoral thesis sent to the Doctoral Commission of the UPM (CD-UPM). For its part, the CD-UPM, through the UPM website, will disseminate the theses that are in deposit at any given time.

The Vice-Rector's Office responsible for doctoral studies will facilitate the procedure to be followed so that any doctor, duly accredited, can examine the deposited theses in their entirety and, if appropriate, can send in writing, in free format, to the CAPD any observations they consider appropriate, up to the last day of deposit. In the event that observations are made, the centre responsible for the doctoral programme, in view of their content, will express its opinion in writing to the CD-UPM on the need to continue or halt the process. To do so, they have a period of 7 days from the end of the deposit period.

Once the deposit period has elapsed without any observations being submitted, or once any observations have been resolved, the CD-UPM must decide whether or not to authorise the defence of the thesis. The decision taken must be communicated to the centre responsible for the doctoral programme which, in turn, will communicate it to the CAPD and to the PhD student and the thesis supervisor(s) within a maximum period of five days. If the defence is not authorised, the motives and reasons for this decision must be specified. The decision of the UPM Doctoral Committee will be considered final and definitive and exhausts administrative channels.

Together with the agreement notifying the authorisation for the defence of the doctoral thesis and in view of the proposal for the examining board presented by the centre responsible for the doctoral programme, the CD-UPM will approve the examining board that will judge the thesis. The examining board will be composed of five full members and two substitutes. No more than two members from the same university or organisation may sit on a thesis examining board. A member may not be a member of the selection board if he/she meets any of the abstention criteria established in article 28 of Law 30/1992 of 26 November.

The centre responsible for the doctoral programme shall be notified of the appointment of the examining board so that it can send each of the members of the examining board notification of the appointment and a copy of the doctoral thesis. The centre responsible for the doctoral programme must also notify the PhD student and the supervisor(s), within a maximum period of five days, of the appointment of the examining board. Once the examining board has been appointed, a maximum period of three months will be allowed for the defence of the thesis to take place. Otherwise, a proposal of members of the panel must be resubmitted to the CD-UPM.

For further information, please click on the following links: 

Normativa e impresos relacionados con la elaboración y defensa de la tesis
Modelo de Doctorado de la UPM
Normativa de permanencia
Compromiso de Formación y Supervisión del doctorando (CFS)
Normas de Supervisión y seguimiento de la tesis doctoral
Normas de redacción y depósito de la tesis doctoral
Normas de Código de buenas prácticas

More information  (normativa propia UPM / estatal / regional / otra)