Theseregulations are formulated according to the actual situation of the university, the requirements of “Regulations on Academic Degrees of the People’s Republic of China” and the “Interim Measures for the Implementation of the Regulations on Academic Degrees of the People’s Republic of China”.
Article 1 Eligibility for the Doctoral Degree
(1) Doctoral candidates shall complete all sections of training as stipulated in the program within the specified period and obtain passing grades
(2) During the period of doctoral study, the candidates shall have solid and broad understanding of the fundamental theories, systematic and in-depth expertise in the corresponding disciplines, have the competence to conduct scientific research independently, and have yielded innovative achievements in science or areas of specialization.
(3) Publication Requirements:
1. Candidates for the Engineering Doctorate must meet or exceed one of the following conditions:
(a) Publish one research paper (including online publication) in a high-level SCI(E) source journal
Subjects |
Journal Impact Factor or Partition (using CAS JCR Academic Journals Partition Database and Partitioned according to Broad Subject Categories) |
Food Science and Engineering |
≥6.0 |
Light Industry Technology and Engineering and Environmental Engineering |
≥6.0 |
Textile Science and Engineering |
Q1 district of JCR partition table |
Chemical Engineering and Technology |
≥8.0 |
Control Science and Engineering |
≥3.0 |
(b) Publish two research papers (including online publication) in SCI(E), SSCI, A&HCI source journals.
(c) Publish three research papers (at least two published and one accepted) in authoritative journals, one of which must be a SCI(E), SSCI, A&HCI indexed paper. At least two papers shall be published with the doctoral student as the first author and only one may be with the supervisor as the first author and the student as the second author.
2. Candidates for the Doctor of Fine Arts (DFA) degree must meet or exceed one of the following conditions:
(a) Publish one research paper (including online publication) in a SCI(E), SSCI, A&HCI source journal.
(b) Publish three research papers (including online publication) in authoritative journals (at least two published and one accepted) and meet one of the following requirements:①one of them must be an EI source paper;②two of them must be CSSCI source papers;③one of them must be a CSSCI source paper and the other must be published in an authoritative international academic journal of Design or in an academic conference. At least two papers shall be published with the student as the first author and only one may with the supervisor as the first author and the student as the second author.
3. Other achievements of doctoral students can be equivalent in terms of the following rules:
(a) Literature review related to the dissertation published in an authoritative journal is equivalent to one published academic paper.
(b) Students whocomplete scientific research projects that have passed the accreditation at the provincial or ministerial level or above (top 3 places); students who are awarded scientific research achievements at the provincial or ministerial level or above (the Science and Technology Progress Award issued by the Provincial Science and Technology Department and the Humanities and Social Sciences Award issued by the Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences Planning Office are at the provincial level) (top 3 places); students who have been granted national invention patents orinternational patents (top 3 places). The awards and patents are equal to one publication of paper on the condition that they are consistent with the work of the dissertation.
(c) The paper counted according to the above-mentioned criteria can only be equivalent to one academic journal paper, but not to a SCI(E), EI, SSCI, or A&HCI indexed paper.
4. Authoritative journals are provisionally defined as: SCI (E), SSCI, A&HCI, EI, DAAI, CSSCI (core version) or CSCD (core version) source journals. Papers published in non-academic journals such as essay collections and supplements and indexed by EI, CSSCI, etc. cannot be regarded as authoritative papers.
5. The first signed unit of the paper published by the doctoral candidates must be Jiangnan University, i.e., the first signed unit of the first author and the first corresponding author of the paper must both be Jiangnan University; unless otherwise specified, the candidate must be the first author of the journal paper; the first signed unit of other scientific research achievements must also be Jiangnan University. All scientific research achievements must be relevant to the dissertation.
6. Notification of Acceptance of the publication and the original paper must be submitted to the School together, and the Certificate of Doctoral Degree will not be issued until the research paper has been published.
(4)The Degree Evaluation Sub-committee (hereafter referred to as Sub-committee) of each discipline may, on the basis of the university assessment standard, propose higher requirements for the degree conferred by the discipline, and report to the Degree Evaluation Committee of the university for approval and implementation.
(5) For candidates who have completed the program but fail to meet the publication requirements one year after the normal academic years may apply for the graduation defense but not for a degree; candidates who meet the requirements of publication within two years after graduation shall apply to the Sub-committee for a Doctoral Degree. Those who meet the requirements for degree conferment shall follow the relevant regulations and procedures of the university. The degree shall be awarded on the date approved by the Degree Evaluation Committee of the university; those who fail to pass the evaluation shall not apply for the degree for a second time.
Article 2 Doctoral Dissertation Review Procedures
(1) The doctoral dissertation shall be submitted to the supervisor for review and comments after completion.
(2) The supervisor reviews the dissertation and fills in the supervisor’s review book.
(3) Doctoral students are required to conduct a pre-defense before the formal defense.
(4) Doctoral students shall participate in the blind review of their dissertations according to the relevant requirements in the “Regulations on the Blind Review of Dissertations of Doctoral and Master’s Degrees of Jiangnan University”.
Article 3 Doctoral Dissertation Defense
The dissertation defense procedure starts only after the candidates have passed the blind review of their dissertations. The defense of a doctoral dissertation is a serious task and must be conducted in public. The names of the dissertation reviewers shall be kept confidential to the candidates before the defense, and the author of the dissertation shall notinviteor contact the dissertation reviewer in person. The dissertation reviews and related materials shall be transmitted in a sealed manner. A poster must be displayed at the designated location two days before the defense.
(1) Panel of Reviewers and the Defense Committee for the Doctoral Dissertation
1. The list of the reviewers and the Defense Committee of the doctoral dissertation shall be determined by the Sub-committee, and the list of experts provided by the candidate’s supervisor may be referred to.
2. The Defense Committee for the doctoral dissertation shall be composed of five or seven experts withsenior professional titles in the corresponding discipline or major, or related disciplines or majors, and more than half of the committee members shall be professors, and at least two are experts from outside institutions, and at least one is a member of the Sub-committee. The supervisor of the candidate shall not be included in the Defense Committee.
3. The review panel has two reviewers, and they can be members of the Defense Committee at the same time.
4. The Chairman of the Defense Committee shall be a member of the Sub-committee or a professor-level expert from outside institutions.
5. The Sub-committee must appoint a responsible and conscientious teacher who has intermediate (or above) professional title or a doctoral degree as the secretary of the Defense Committee. He/she is responsible for recording in detail the questions of the committee members, the answers provided by the dissertation defenders, the comments of the Defense Committee during the defense process, as well as handling the affairs of the defense process.
(2) Before the defense, the dissertation must be reviewed by two reviewers and a detailed academic commentary must be provided in written from for the reference of the Defense Committee. If one of the reviewers holds a negative opinion during the dissertation review process, the dissertation shall be submitted to the Sub-committee for discussion and decision on whether two more reviewers shall be appointed to review the dissertation. If it is decided that no more reviewers will be appointed, the application will be invalidated; if one of the newly-appointed reviewers still holds a negative opinion, the application will be invalidated.
(3) Members of the Defense Committee must carefully review the dissertation before the defense, ask questions and take part in voting during the defense. If they are unable to attend the defense for any reason, they should explain to the head of the Sub-committee in advance to ensure sufficient time for replacement. Membersmay not vote by proxy or by correspondence.
(4) Procedures for Doctoral Dissertation Defense
1. The Chairman of the Defense Committee announces the opening of the defense and introduces the names, titles, work units and academic expertise of the members of the Defense Committee.
2. The secretary of the defense introduces the author of the dissertation (mainly about their academic performances, grades and results of the blind review).
3 Presentation of the dissertation by the author (40 minutes or less).
4. The Defense Committee and other pertinent members will ask questions and the author shall defendin a timely manner.
5.The defense secretary reads out the reviews of the thesis.
6. The candidate shall leave the room, and the committee will call for a motion to pass or fail the candidate after making a comprehensive evaluation of the candidate’s dissertation and defense. The resolution of the defense committee shall be drafted by secret ballot according to a five-point scale. In addition to a comprehensive evaluation of the significance and innovation of the dissertation and the defense performance of the candidate, the resolution shall also include a clear conclusion on whether the conferment of the doctoral degree is recommended or not. The conclusions are as follows:
a. Pass and the conferment of the doctoral degree is recommended.
b. Pass with conditions, the conferment of the doctoral degree shall be deferred until the dissertation has been revised and submitted to the Defense Committee for a decision.
c. Fail. Candidate is required to revise the thesis within a limited period (a clear deadline for revision) and the dissertation will be revised and re-defended after the revision. The period of revision shall not exceed two years.
d. Fail. Only proof of completion of study will be provided.
The conclusion must be agreed by at least two-thirds of all members of the Defense Committee.
7. The Chairman of the Defense Committee announces the voting result to the candidate and reads out the resolution of the Defense Committee.
Article 4 Doctoral Degree Awarding Procedures
(1) Review by the Sub-committee for Degree Evaluation
1. The Sub-committeeforDegree Evaluation shall hold a meeting to conduct a comprehensive review of the degree candidates (including the candidates’ ideological performance, course study and thesis defense) and vote by secret ballot to decide the conferment of the degree.
2. The number of sub-committee members attending the meeting must reach four-fifths of the total, and the number of voters must reach two-thirds of the members present before it could be submitted to the Degree Evaluation Committee of the university for approval. If any Sub-committee member is on a business trip and cannot return to the university in time to attend the meeting, the Sub-committee can file an application and the Graduate School will be responsible for appointing members of other sub-committees of similar disciplines to attend the meeting so that the meeting will be held as scheduled. For a candidate who has passed the thesis defense but failed the degree-awarding evaluation, the dissertation can be revised within two year and resubmitted for evaluation with the approval of the Sub-committee.
3. If the Sub-committee recommends not to award the doctoral degree, it shall notify the candidate in written form and explain its decision. If the candidate disagrees with the rejection, he/she may petition by submitting a written statement of reasons within 7 working days. The petition shall be signed and approved by the supervisor, and then appeal to the Degree Evaluation Committee of the university. The appeal shall not be accepted after the deadline. If the appeal is submitted after the annual meeting time of the Degree Evaluation Committee of the university, it shall be submitted to the next meeting for decision. The decision of the Degree Evaluation Committee shall be final. The execution of the decision of Sub-committee will not be suspended during the appeal period.
4. The resolution and voting result of the Sub-committee must be written on the candidate’s “Degree Application Form of Jiangnan University”, signed by the Chairman of the Sub-committee and submitted to the Degree Evaluation Committee of the university for approval.
(2) Approval by the Degree Evaluation Committee of the University
1. The Degree Evaluation Committee of the university shall hold a meeting to review the degree issues and make a resolution on whether to award the degree. If a conferment is not approved, the reasons for not conferring or suspending the degree shall be clearly stated according to the specific conditions.
2. For those whose doctoral degree conferment has been suspended, the Degree Evaluation Committee of the university will prescribe a limited period of revision (a clear deadline for revision) after discussion with the Sub-committee. The candidate may re-submit the dissertation for approval after completing the revision. The maximum period for revision shall not exceed two years.
Article 5 Supplementary Provisions
(1) The time from the application for the defense to the formal defense shall not be less than 45 days (regular holidays such as summer and winter vacations are deducted), of which the time for dissertation review shall not be less than one month.
(2) The candidates shall not participate in the process of delivering and sending materials of thesis evaluation and shall not inquire about the names of the dissertation reviewers.
(3) The list of conferred doctoral candidates by the Degree Evaluation Committee of the university shall be published on the website of the university, and only when there is no objection three months after the publication can the Certificate of Doctoral Degree be issued.
(4) The Graduate School accepts reports on all acts of falsification in the process of degree application, thesis review and defense. Any academic misconduct of degree candidates or dissertation falsification shall be handled according to the provisions of the “Measures for Handling Falsified Dissertations” (Order No. 34 of the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China) and other documents.
(5) These regulations are applicable to the doctoral students enrolled since 2016, and current doctoral students enrolled before that may refer to these regulations as well.
Note: If these regulations are in conflict with the forthcoming “Academic DegreesLawof the People’s Republic of China”, the “Academic DegreesLawof the People’s Republic of China” shall prevail and the Graduate School shall be responsible for any revision of these Regulations.