In order to start a doctorate with us, you must have already found a doctoral topic and a supervisor (doctoral supervisor or doctoral supervisor) for your thesis and fulfill one of the following requirements:

• If you are studying at RUB, you can start a doctorate after completing the 1st state medical examination.
• If you are studying at another university, you can only start your doctorate after completing your studies and receiving your license to practice medicine.

Before submitting your application, find a doctoral supervisor (first supervisor). To do this, contact the respective departments that interest you.

The first supervisor can be any habilitated member of the RUB Faculty of Medicine. You can also register a second supervisor. This supervisor must have at least a doctorate and be a member or affiliate of a university (also outside RUB).

You and your supervisor will agree on a suitable doctoral topic that interests you and is suitable for an independent scientific thesis. 

If you meet the requirements and have a supervisor and a topic, you must register your thesis. To do this, prepare the “Application for admission as a doctoral candidate” (see download area) and compile the necessary additional documents. Please refer to our “Information sheet for admission to doctoral studies” and our “Application checklist”.

Please send the application to the doctoral office by e-mail and in paper form. Please make sure that your application is complete - incomplete applications cannot be considered.

After a positive review of your application, you will receive provisional acceptance as a doctoral candidate, which you should use to enrol as a doctoral student and register with the RUB Research School. If you provide us with proof of both, you will receive final acceptance

During the doctoral phase, you will attend qualification events and acquire credit points. Please refer to the information sheet on qualification courses and the acquisition of credit points. When you submit your dissertation, you must provide proof of a total of 8 CP - corresponding to 5 CP - by submitting the signed certificate.

The most important step is, of course, writing your dissertation. Please refer to the information sheet on writing your dissertation and consult your first supervisor regularly.

Once your dissertation has been completed, prepare the “Application for admission to the doctoral procedure”, which you can find in the download area, and compile the required documents. Please refer to our information sheet on submitting the dissertation and contact our doctoral office if you have any questions. Three bound copies of your dissertation and a digital version are required. Please send us the latter by e-mail together with a digital version of your application. Please send us all other documents by post or submit them in person during office hours.

There is no deadline for submitting your thesis. Please note, however, that you can only submit your dissertation one year after receiving “final acceptance”. 

The doctoral procedure usually takes about six months. However, this period may be extended if, for example, a correction of your dissertation (monita) is requested or a third opinion is required in the event of major grade discrepancies.

Once the assessment has been completed, you will receive an invitation to the oral defense at least three weeks before your examination date. Examinations only take place during the semester or lecture period. The date is binding and can only be postponed for valid reasons. The disputation lasts approx. 20 minutes. During this time, you should give an introductory report on the methodological principles and results of your dissertation and respond to questions in a concluding discussion. The presentation will be in free speech.

After passing the defense, you must submit deposit copies of your dissertation within six months to the Exchange and University Publication Office of the University Library of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. The library will issue you with a certificate of successful submission. The doctoral certificate can be collected from the doctoral office during office hours at the earliest 30 days after passing the defense on presentation of a valid identity card and the certificate from the university library.

The new Doctoral Regulations will include, among other things, the following changes:

Introduction of the New Doctoral Degree Dr. rer. medic.

With the introduction of the new Doctoral Regulations, graduates of degree programmes other than Medicine will be able to obtain the doctoral degree Doctor rerum medicinalium (Dr. rer. medic.).

Discontinuation of the Dr. med. dent. Degree

A doctoral degree in dentistry (Dr. med. dent.) is no longer offered. Doctoral candidates who are already registered for the Dr. med. dent. degree when the new Doctoral Regulations come into force will have the opportunity to complete their current doctoral project within 12 months. After this period, it will no longer be possible to submit a thesis. The examination procedure set out in the new Doctoral Regulations, including the appointment of new Examination Boards for Doctoral Procedures, will apply.

Changes to the Qualification Phase

Under the new Doctoral Regulations, doctoral candidates will be required to obtain 8 credit points (CP) during the Qualification Phase instead of the previous 8 qualification points (equivalent to approximately 5 credit points). This will increase the overall workload. In addition, participation in a course on academic writing will become compulsory.

Further Changes

• The standing Examination Boards for Doctoral Procedures, which currently conduct several thesis defences simultaneously, will be disbanded. Instead, a separate Examination Board for Doctoral Procedures will be appointed for each doctoral procedure, comprising a chair, the first and second examiners of the thesis, and one additional examiner.

• Instead of the previous provisional and final admission procedures, there is now a single final admission as a doctoral candidate once the “Application for Admission” has been approved by the Doctoral Committee. Applicants will then receive a letter from the Faculty’s Doctoral Office, instructing them to enrol as doctoral candidates and register with the RUB Research School.

The new Doctoral Regulations come into force on the date of their publication. Three years after they come into force, the previous Doctoral Regulations will cease to apply to all doctoral candidates. Which set of Doctoral Regulations applies to you depends on the following factors.

Doctoral Candidates Studying for a Dr. med.

Which Doctoral Regulations Apply to You?

Have you already been accepted as a doctoral candidate? Effective Date: publication date of the new regulations

YES
Has the dissertation already been submitted with the application for admission to the doctoral procedure, or has the procedure already been initiated?

• Yes → The previous Doctoral Regulations apply in full.
• No → The previous Doctoral Regulations will remain in force for a further three years, but with a new examination procedure involving smaller Examination Boards for Doctoral Procedures.

NO
Has the Application for Admission been submitted to the Doctoral Office*?

• Yes → The previous Doctoral Regulations will remain in force for a further three years, but with a new examination procedure involving smaller Examination Boards for Doctoral Procedures.
• No: → The new Doctoral Regulations apply.

(*The postmark date of receipt at the Doctoral Office applies.)

Doctoral Candidates Studying for a Dr. med. dent.

If you are already registered when the new Doctoral Regulations come into force but have not yet submitted your thesis:

You still have one year to submit your thesis. After that, submission will no longer be possible. The provisions of the previous Doctoral Regulations apply, with the exception of the rules concerning the Examination Board for Doctoral Procedures (see above). The one-year deadline under the previous regulations no longer applies. Graduates in Dentistry may pursue a Doctor rerum medicinalium (Dr. rer. medic.) degree.

If you are already enrolled in a doctoral procedure and have already submitted your thesis to the Doctoral Office:

The previous Doctoral Regulations apply in full.

The new Doctoral Regulations are expected to be published in the summer semester 2026 and will come into force on the date of publication.

The Doctor rerum medicinalium is a doctoral degree in medical science aimed at graduates in fields other than Medicine who nevertheless wish to pursue a doctorate in the field of medicine. Admission requires specific subjects and areas of study.

Yes. Provided that the admission requirements for the respective doctoral procedure are met, it is possible to obtain both doctoral degrees. This normally requires two separate doctorates, and the two degrees can only be obtained sequentially, not through parallel doctoral procedures.

As a rule, you must have completed a five-year university degree in a medical-related subject. These include, for example, Diplom degrees as well as Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees totalling 300 ECTS credits. If your degree programme lasted less than five years, you may still be admitted under certain circumstances if you can demonstrate that the programme at your “home university” qualifies you for a doctorate and that a longer duration of study is not required.

The Following Subjects Are Recognised:

• Biology

• Chemistry

• Physics

• Biochemistry

• Pharmacy

• Medicine

• Dentistry

• Veterinary Medicine

• Psychology

• Mathematics

• Computer Science

• Medical Biology

• Human Biology

• Engineering

• Sociology

• Health Economics

The Following Subjects Are Recognised, Provided They Are Related to Medicine:

• Economics

• Law (with Honours)

In individual cases, in addition to the subjects listed above, recognised degrees from degree programmes in the following disciplines may also be accepted:

• Natural Sciences

• Engineering and Health Sciences

• Life Sciences and related disciplines

Please note: The Doctoral Committee decides on each individual case.

A doctoral exchange board is currently being developed; however, there is no list of available doctoral topics. You will need to contact a suitable supervisor within the campus or clinical departments. You may use our website as a guide. Alternatively, you may find potential topics on the noticeboard of the Dean’s Office.

The primary supervisor must be a member of the Faculty who has completed their habilitation (i.e. academic staff in the campus or clinical departments who have completed their habilitation at the Bochum Faculty of Medicine, as well as professors of the Faculty). Secondary supervisors must hold at least a PhD and be members of a higher education institution.

You will find a list of the required documents in the application checklist for doctoral candidates. The checklist will be published alongside the new Doctoral Regulations.

Yes, enrolment as a doctoral student is compulsory. Otherwise, it is not possible to attend courses at the RUB Research School, which are required in order to obtain the necessary credit points.

Once your application for admission as a doctoral candidate has been accepted, you can enrol online using the confirmation letter from the Doctoral Office. For doctoral candidates pursuing a Dr. rer. medic., this can be done within the ‘Medical Sciences’ doctoral programme. Once you have enrolled, you can register online with the RUB Research School (usually possible 24 hours after enrolment) in order to attend courses and earn the necessary credit points required for the submission of your thesis.

Yes, this is possible. In this case, the provisions of the implementing regulations for the Doctoral Regulations must be observed.

Please refer to the guidance note on writing a doctoral thesis and the implementing regulations. The guidance note will be published alongside the new Doctoral Regulations.

Work on the doctoral thesis must have commenced no more than six months prior to official registration for the doctoral procedure. The period prior to official registration for the doctoral procedure may only be used for necessary preparatory work. This includes, for example, identifying and finalising a topic, formulating hypotheses, drafting an exposé, conducting literature research, collecting and compiling data, and preparing the analysis.

For a publication-based dissertation, at least one outstanding scientific publication demonstrating sole first authorship is required. The publication must have been published as an original article in an internationally recognised, peer-reviewed journal indexed in PubMed or Web of Science, or have been accepted for publication, and must not be more than three years old. Further information can be found in the Implementing Regulations, which will be published alongside the new Doctoral Regulations.

As part of the Qualification Phase accompanying the doctoral procedure, a total of 8 credit points must be earned and documented through various subject-specific and interdisciplinary qualification activities, for example at the RUB Research School, in colloquia or at other events. Attendance at the course 'Good Academic Practice' is compulsory, among other requirements. Please consult your primary supervisor regarding any additional courses you should take. Evidence of the required credit points must be provided upon submission of the doctoral thesis. Further information can be found in the 'Qualification Phase Verification Form' and in the Implementing Regulations, which will be published alongside the Doctoral Regulations.

You should enter all completed modules that you wish to have recognised on the evidence form in consultation with your primary supervisor, obtain the relevant signatures, and attach the corresponding certificates. The evidence form will be published alongside the Doctoral Regulations.

Yes, work completed before being accepted as a doctoral student can be recognised, provided that it was completed no more than six months earlier and is relevant in terms of content.

The oral examination (thesis defence) should take place within six months of the initiation of the doctoral procedure. Unfortunately, delays may occur during the procedure. As a rule, the thesis defence is scheduled once the reviews have been received and the thesis has been assessed positively. The date is determined by the examination board.

The location of the thesis defence is determined by the examination board appointed for your doctoral procedure.

The thesis defence under the new Doctoral Regulations lasts a maximum of 40 minutes and consists of a presentation on your doctoral research topic followed by a discussion with the examination board. Supporting materials (e.g. PowerPoint) are partially permitted. Further details can be found in the Implementing Regulations, which will be published alongside the new Doctoral Regulations.

The examination board consists of a chair, the first and second examiners of your dissertation, and one additional examiner.

For a change of primary supervisor, please submit an informal written request to the Doctoral Committee. You must apply for the change in this letter. You, your current primary supervisor and your future primary supervisor must confirm their consent to the change with their signatures. The letter must be submitted (digitally) to the Doctoral Office.

Please send us an informal written request by email to the Dean of the Medical Faculty asking for the issuance of a duplicate doctoral certificate. The request must include a justification for the duplicate certificate (e.g. loss of the certificate after a move, etc.). In addition, we require a copy of your original certificate (if not available, the date of your thesis defence), a copy of your identity card, and your current postal address for the dispatch of the duplicate.