Apply for thesis defence at LIME

The most common type of thesis at KI is the compilation thesis, which consists of a comprehensive summary (“kappa”) and separate constituent papers.

Below is information regarding compilation theses. For information on monograph theses, see Monograph thesis. 

Number of papers

The number of papers in a doctoral thesis may vary, but in total they must have a scope corresponding to four years of full-time studies in doctoral education and two years of full-time studies for licentiate theses. It is the Examination Board that judge this, whether these requirements and the requirement of a scientific standard of the thesis that can be expected an internationally pre-eminent university are met. 

Publication requirements

At least two original papers (at least one in licentiate theses) must be published, or accepted for publication, in a peer-reviewed journal. It is part of the doctoral education to take an active part in the publication process. 

Order of authorship

At least one of the original papers, published or in manuscript, shall have the doctoral student as first author (does not apply to licentiate theses). Shared first authorship is accepted. Please note that the requirement for first authorship only applies to those who have been  admitted to doctoral education from 1 March 2024.

Type of papers 

In addition to original papers, published or manuscript, a thesis may also include other scientific papers accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Examples of such publications are case reports, non-systematic review articles, method descriptions and study protocols.

Original papers means results from empirical research studies presented for the first time and structured according to IMRaD (i.e. Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion). Note that systematic review articles that include a meta-analysis or other comprehensive qualitative or quantitative synthesis and where established reporting guidelines have been followed are original work.

As soon as you have a preliminary date for dissertation you need to send an e-mail to administrative officer Ingrid Smedberg at ingrid.smedberg@ki.se to make sure that your planned date is not already booked for another earlier planned dissertation at our department. 

NOTE! If you wish to have your dissertation during the first week of the academic semesters for undergradauate/graduate education (first week of September and third/fourth week of January) you will not be able to book a dissertation venue on KI campus and you need to find a publicly accessible room elsewhere in the Stockholm/Solna area. 

Applications to defend a doctorate thesis is to be submitted to the Dissertation Committee in ways as instructed on the application form 9. Deadlines for applications to Dissertation Committee is found in link below - HOWEVR two weeks before their deadline, the application is to be sent to the administrative officer at LIME (see how below).

Meetings and deadlines of the Dissertation Committee 

The Board for Doctoral education at LIME has created recommendations for manuscripts' preparation intended for doctoral student and supervisors by the time the candidate is ready to his/her application to the Dissertation Committee. The incentive for these recommendations is as a checklist to help the doctoral student to enhance the quality of the manuscript/s to be included in doctoral thesis but that yet not have been published. The recommendations hopefully will assist both in writing the manuscript/s, and prior to preparing to submit the application for public defence or licentiate seminar.

Checklist for manuscripts

Public defences at KI, doctoral and licentiate, will take place on site with participants present in the room, but it is also possible to combine this with digital participation, creating a hybrid thesis defence. sustainable development to decrease the number of airfares. 

The respondent and the chairperson must be present in person. Exceptions can be made if exceptional reasons apply (e.g. an ongoing pandemic) upon the approval of the Dissertation Committee. Apply via form 12:1 ->Form 12:1

Members of the examination board and the opponent can participate at a thesis defence through digital solutions, under the condition that this is not affected the quality of the examination or the quality of the public defence act.

It is desirable that all are present on site, but by allowing remote participation more international scientist could be chosen to participate in KI’s public defences. It is also in line with KI’s work for sustainable development to decrease the number of airfares. 

Hybrid thesis defence beyond the pandemic 

Technical support for digital public defence

Please read LIME checklist (below) for more information about this. Information is also found in link above.

Fill out application form 9 (make sure you are using the correct version) according to instructions (link to instructions on top of form 9). The application form 9 is combined with a report on the doctoral student’s achievement of learning outcomes which is submitted in a separate form and constitutes part 3 of the defence application. 

Here you find forms needed for thesis defence 

1. Do you have all the necessary credits?

Look through your Ladok-excerpt to make sure you have all necessary credits according to your general syllabus as well as enough activity percentage. There are five general syllabi for the research subject Medical Science, find your version below (dependent on your starting date as a doctoral student). 

General syllabi for the subject Medical Science at KI 

2. How to sign the application (doctoral student and supervisors):

• Supervisors and doctoral student can physically sign the same signature page for COI, or you can sign one page each, then scan that page/these pages and attach to the application form pdf, or you can use EduSign (applies only for KI employees/affiliated to KI). You can also have a combination, with scanned signatures and digital signatures. However, scanned signatures need to be done first, then you can use EduSign for the page/document.
• Make sure it is clear in the application if a person is to sign digitally - if so print out the these names on all designated places on the different forms.
• Write on the last page of form 9 the name of director of doctoral studies (Per Palmgren) or deputy director of doctoral studies (Stefano Bonacina)* and the name of the head of the department Sabine Koch. They normally always signs digitally. Don´t forget signature by doctoral student on the last page of the application (including name in print if signing digitally). *Be aware if it is Per Palmgren or Stefano Bonacina that has approved your ISP.
• Make sure the doctoral student's name is visible on the top of all pages.
• Signatures by director/deputy director of doctoral studies and head of department is handled by administrative officer after you have sent in your application to LIME!

3. Send in the application to LIME administrative officer two weeks prior to deadline for the Dissertation committee:

Name the files with the correct number 1A, 1B, 2B_Ethics, 2B_Papers and 3, together with your last name. 

Don´t forget signatures from doctoral student and supervisors, as well as all attachments needed.

Send to departmental administrative officer for doctoral education Ingrid Smedberg (ingrid.smedberg@ki.se) as five pdfs. 

• 1A. Application form, D1-D6 with signatures from doctoral student and supervisors (signatures by director of doctoral studies and head of department will be handled by administrative officer after you sent in the application)
• 1B. One (1) PDF file with the following documents in the indicated order: 
  • First page/ title page of all constituent papers (incl. author list and affiliations)
  • Copy of protocol from half-time/licentiate seminar (make sure it has all necessary signatures)
  • Copy of the ISP where supervisors are listed. As well as possible changes in the supervisor's constellation.
  • Other attachments (if required: see form 9 instructions)
• 2B_Ethics. ONE (1) PDF-file containing copies of all ethical applications and permits (decision with approval) stated in D4. Find instructions about how to compile this on form 9.
• 2B_Papers. ONE (1) PDF-file containg all constituent papers, including manuscripts (not necessarily in a finalized form), in full text.
• 3. The report of achievement of learning outcomes 

Note, attachment pdf 2A listed on form 9 is not to be sent in to us, just to the dissertation committee after departmental approval. 

After approval and signing by director of doctoral education and head of department, the signed form will be sent back to you and you are responsible to send in the digital application with all signatures to the Dissertation Committee at KI (as instructed on the application form). Signatures by director/deputy director of doctoral studies and head of department is handled by administrative officer after you have sent in your application to LIME, don't forget to put their names in print on the form.

4. Notification decision from the Dissertation Committee:

A few days after the meeting of Dissertation Committee, you and your supervisors will receive an e-mail notification of the decision, which can be that your application has been either approved, postponed pending complementary material or clarifications, or rejected. 

Forward that information to administrative officer (ingrid.smedberg@ki.se), assistant to the head of the department (prefektassistent@lime.ki.se), communications officer (kommunikation@lime.ki.se) and director of doctoral education at LIME Per Palmgren (per.palmgren@ki.se). Please always keep administrative officer updated if there are bigger changes in the dissertation process (changed date, changed venue, changed opponent/examination board and likewise).

Doctoral students at LIME that are planning for their dissertation are expected to have a pre-dissertation seminar in some form (on location at KI, or online). The seminar is to be announced publicly. Send an email to kommunikation@lime.ki.se as well as an email to “LIME staff” with information about the event (date, time, Zoom-link/room, name of doctoral student and supervisors, name of research plan etc). The pre-dissertation seminar is to take place no earlier than 6 months prior (or less than 3 days before) to planned dissertation. A specific protocol is to be filled out by principal supervisor at the seminar and handed in to administrative officer Ingrid Smedberg directly after the seminar.

Pre-dissertation seminar at LIME - protocol

Generally speaking, responsibility for keeping the dissertation or licentiate seminar process moving devolves on the supervisor, and to some extent on the student. Some service is provided by the administration (check with your research group), but it is up to the supervisor to be aware of deadlines, rules and routines, forms etc. 

Below checklist is LIME specific and can help with some practical matters that will appear in the process. Link to KI central flowchart can help with managing the time line from before the application is submitted and leading up to the dissertation. 

Checklist is found here!

Flowchart for the dissertation and licentiate process

Read more about defending your thesis at KI

In the form 11 ”Decision of the Examination Board– public defence” it should be stated if anyone has participated digitally. The person who participated digitally writes a note about it next to where he/she signs their name.

The form 11 is sent to whoever was not physically present who then signs and returns it as a pdf or by post. The chair of the dissertation is responsible for collecting all signatures on form 11 and then to send all the signed pages (including the one with original signatures) to the administrative officer for doctoral education who will report the decision in Ladok. After that - an email will be sent to the doctoral student with information about how to apply for the degree certificate. 

Since 2024, KI only issues digital degree certificates. To receive your degree certificate, you must apply for it yourself in Ladok. You will receive a notification by e-mail when your diploma has been issued and you will collect your diploma directly in Ladok. You can collect the diploma as many times as you like. The document is a PDF and contains an e-stamp. The e-stamp proves that it is a genuine document and only works if the proof is opened and read digitally.

Read more about digital degree certificates here:

Applying for a degree certificate