Consolidated version Approved by Resolution № 24/5 of May 7, 2012 by the TSMU Academic Council, Amended by Resolution №24/1 of September 26, 2014, Resolution №24/4 of June 29, 2015,

Resolution №24/2 of December 15, 2017, Resolution № 24/21 of August 8, 2020 and

Resolution № 24/15 of June 3,  2022 by the TSMU Academic Council

Regulations for Establishment and Performance of the Thesis Committee of the Faculty of Public Health of Tbilisi State Medical University

                                                                                                              and Conferral of the Academic Degree of the Doctor of Philosophy

Article 1. General provisions

Article 2. Thesis Committee of the Faculty

1. Thesis Committee of the Faculty of Public Health of TSMU, hereinafter referred to as the Thesis Committee, is the body under the aegis of the Faculty responsible for conferral of the Academic Degree of the Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health.

2. Thesis Committee is comprised of all Professors and Associate Professors of the faculty, principal scientists and senior scientists, the latter bearing academic degrees, of the scientific-research units of TSMU. (September 26, 2014)

3. Thesis Committee is headed by the Chair of the Thesis Committee, hereinafter referred to as the Chair of the Committee, elected by the majority of votes of the Committee members by secret ballot for a term of four years. Chair of the Thesis Committee shall be Professor. The candidacy shall be proposed by a candidate or initiative group of at least three members. Names of the candidates shall appear on the  register within one month. Date of elections shall be defined by the Elections Commission. All registered  candidates shall appear on the ballot paper. It is the duty of a candidate to present their views on  performance of the Thesis Committee to the members of the Thesis Committee. (September 26, 2014;  December 15, 2017)

4. Candidate shall be elected Chair of the Thesis Committee for no more than two consecutive terms.

5. Elected Chair of the Thesis Committee shall be approved by the Academic Council of TSMU, hereinafter referred to as the Academic Council.

6. Chair of the Committee shall propose to the Thesis Committee Deputy Chair selected among the members of the Thesis Committee who shall be approved by the majority of the entire membership.

7. Secretary of the Thesis Committee, appointed by order of the Rector, shall ensure proceedings of the Committee, receipt, registration and storage of documents. (September 26, 2014).

8. Removed (September 26, 2014)

9. Minutes of the decision shall be taken to which Chair of the Committee shall append a signature.

10. Sessions shall be invited and headed by the Chair of the Thesis Committee in whose absence Deputy Chair shall perform on his/her behalf. Decisions on procedural matters shall be made by the majority of votes. (September 26, 2014).

11. Thesis Committee shall perform during an academic year.

Article 3. Thesis Requirements

1. Thesis proposed for the Academic Degree of the Doctor of Philosophy shall be consistent with the rule laid down in the regulations for the Academic Degree of the Doctor of Philosophy.

2. Thesis Committee shall be entitled to confer Academic Degree of the Doctor of Philosophy in the field approved by the Academic Council and on the register of the Thesis Committee.

3. Thesis proposed for the defense shall report on accomplished scientific research treating relevant scientific issue(s) and having result of scientific worthiness. (September 26, 2014)

4. The main results of the thesis should be published in Georgia and abroad in peer-reviewed and refereed scientific journals of the field, collections of scientific works with an international-scale distribution. The minimum number of works requested is four.

For PhD students enrolled before 05.10.2020, the requested scientific publications must appear in the international database(s), while for students enrolled after 05.10.2020, - one scientific article should be published in at least 0.5 impact factor scientific journal indexed in the Web of Science or Scopus and three articles should appear in the international recognized database(s) (June 03.2022; N24/15).

• PhD student shall be the first or second author for aforementioned publication and list TSMU as their affiliation.

• Authorship/ co-authorship of a book or monograph edited by a foreign publisher shall pass as an internationally rated publication provided the one corresponds with PhD research findings.

• The book must be cited in scientific databases of Web of Science or Scopus. Towards this end, TSMU Quality Assurance Service shall select an expert or a board of experts in the relevant field. (August 8, 2020)

5. Thesis shall not exceed 150 printed pages excluding references and appendices. Thesis shall be laid out in accordance with the following requirements:

• page size-A4; font- Sylfaen; font size-12; space-1,5;

• top and bottom margins-2 cm; right margin-1,5 cm; left margin-3 cm. Thesis shall include:

• Information/data on the relevance of research, its scientific novelty, goal and objectives;

• review of scientific literature including that of the previous 10 years impinging on the subject of a thesis;

• description of research material and methodology;

• detailed and lucid description of research;

• description of criteria for reliability of results;

• review and analysis of research results;

• scientific conclusions on research;

• theoretical and/or practical worthiness of research results;

• references;

• abstract of a thesis in the English language which shall include information/data on relevance, scientific novelty, goals and objectives, theoretical and practical worthiness of research;

• appended copies of published papers impinging on the subject of a thesis. References shall be laid out as follows:

a) Literature shall be listed in alphabetical order or in the order of review of the literature;

b) while making reference to a book or monograph, it is required that following be indicated: author’s name and initials, city, publisher and year of publication;

c) while making reference to a scientific work, it is required that following be indicated: author’s name and initials, title of work, title or accepted abbreviation of a scientific journal, year, volume, number, first and last pages of a publication;

d) in case of patent or invention, it is required that following be indicated: all authors, title, number and class of a patent, date of submitting an application, date of publishing and number

of a bulletin;

e) all aforementioned requirements shall be observed and names of all coauthors shall be indicated provided a PhD candidate is an author or coauthor of scientific works.

• Unless aforementioned requirements are observed, Thesis Committee shall refer a thesis back to a PhD candidate who shall resubmit his/her thesis after satisfactory corrections to a thesis have been made.

• Provided one of the coauthors of published paper reports scientific result in his/her thesis, the same scientific result(s) shall not be treated as main by the rest of coauthors.

(June 29, 2015; December 15, 2017; August 8, 2020)

51. Thesis may represent a compilation of published scientific papers provided a PhD candidate has published at least 4 scientific papers on the subject of a thesis cited by at least 0.5 impact factor edition in the Web of Science.

• PhD candidate shall be the first or second author or coauthor for at least 2 aforementioned publications;

• PhD candidate shall list TSMU as their affiliation for all aforementioned publications. Towards this end, TSMU Quality Assurance Service shall select an expert or a board of experts in the relevant field.

In case laid down in this paragraph, PhD candidate shall present as follows:

• Title page of a thesis that contains title of a thesis, author’s name, consultant or a supervisor’s name, list of published papers;

• abstract of a thesis in the Georgian language (400-800 words) treating relevance, methodology, scientific novelty of the main subject of published papers, review of the results and recommendations;

• resume in the English language treating relevance, methodology, scientific novelty of the subject of a thesis, review of the results and recommendations.

It is mandatory that a PhD candidate submits:

a) certificate of completion of taught courses with corresponding credits;

b) certificate of plagiarism issued by the TSMU Quality Assurance Service;

c) certificate of submission of annual progress reports issued by the Department of Research Coordination, Master and PhD Programs;

d) certificate of compatibility of the subject of published papers with goals and objectives of research treated in a thesis; 

e) published papers and appended documents shall be submitted to the thesis Committee by relevant regulations. (August 8, 2020)

6. Removed. (September 26, 2014)

7. Defense costs shall be covered by a PhD student.

8. Thesis involved in plagiarism or falsification shall be rejected. (September 26, 2014)

Remark: detection and response to plagiarism and scientific/academic dishonesty (fraud, falsification) is regulated by relevant rules established by the TSMU Academic Council. (August 8, 2020)

Article 4. Submission of a Thesis to the Thesis Committee. (September 26, 2014)

1. Prior to submission to the Thesis Committee, preliminary review of a thesis shall be held at the structural subunit and/or department under whose aegis PhD program was accomplished.

2. Thesis shall be supported by professional/field associations/society. (September 26, 2014; December 15, 2017).

Two reviewers, selected as required by the subject of a thesis and one of whom may be a representative of the department under whose aegis a thesis was accomplished, shall be put forward by the Head of the structural unit where preliminary review is to be held. (December 15, 2017)

2.2. Reviewer may bear Academic Degree of the Doctor of Philosophy in the relevant field of science and be representative of either TSMU academic staff such as Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor or a specialist bearing Academic Degree of the Doctor of Philosophy.

2.3. Reviewer shall not be a supervisor of a PhD candidate or a coauthor of works associated with a thesis. (December 15, 2017)

2.4 Reviewer’s conclusion shall evaluate scientific relevance of research, its novelty, ingenuity, theoretical and practical worthiness, adequacy of design and methodology, objectivity and reliability of original material of research, structure, layout and language fluency of a thesis.

2.5. If the reviewers consider that corrections should be made and thereof are acceptable for a PhD candidate, they must require the latter to correct a thesis under supervision before it is submitted to the Thesis Committee. (December 15, 2017)

3. Removed (June 29, 2015)

4. Minutes of the conclusion made at the department (minutes of the preliminary review) shall be taken and approved by the TSMU Rector. (September 26, 2014)

Conclusion on preliminary review shall include:

• Date of approval of PhD research Program to which number of the minutes is appended;

• relevance of a subject of a thesis;

• contribution of a PhD candidate to the main findings of research;

• scientific novelty and reliability of research results, their theoretical and/or practical worthiness as well as structure and language fluency of a thesis.

• comprehensive coverage of a subject of a thesis in published scientific papers and compatibility thereof with established requirements;

• conclusion that main results of a thesis are not reported as main in any thesis previously defended.

Authenticity of a document certifying compatibility of original materials of a thesis with the results of research is confirmed in writing by heads of academic, research or clinical institutions/units where original materials were collected and reviewers. Aforementioned document is an integral part of the minutes of the preliminary review. (June 29, 2015)

5. Within 10 days of submission of a thesis and appended documents, Thesis Committee shall set up Expert Commission. Membership thereof shall be proposed by the Chair of the Thesis Committee and approved by the majority of votes of the Thesis Committee members on the list.

6. Expert Commission shall be comprised of  3 members bearing Academic Degree of the Doctor of Philosophy. Expert may bear Academic Degree of the Doctor of Philosophy in the field of science corresponding to that of the subject of a thesis concerned and be representative of either TSMU academic staff such as Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor or a specialist bearing Academic Degree of the Doctor of Philosophy.

7. Expert shall not be a supervisor of a PhD candidate or a coauthor of works associated with thesis concerned or a representative of a unit under whose aegis thesis was accomplished. (September, 26, 2014)

8. Expert conclusion shall evaluate scientific relevance of research, its novelty, ingenuity, theoretical and practical worthiness, adequacy of design and methodology, objectivity and reliability of original material of research, structure, layout and language fluency of a thesis. Expert conclusion shall be passed to the Special Council within one month. (September 26, 2014)

9. Following positive conclusion by the majority of experts and consent of the Chair of the Thesis Committee, thesis shall be bound.

10. Based on the subject of a thesis and recommendations provided by experts, holder of the Academic Degree of the Doctor of Philosophy in the appropriate field may be invited to the membership of the Thesis Committee which shall be approved by the Thesis Committee of the Faculty. More than half of the members of the Thesis Committee shall be members of the Thesis Committee of the Faculty. (September 26, 2014)

11. Date of defense is determined by the Chair of the Thesis Committee in agreement with the Vice- Rector.

12. E-version of a thesis, PDF file on a CD, shall be submitted to the members of the Thesis Committee within a month prior to defense. One copy of a thesis shall be passed to the TSMU Library. Information on defense shall be posted to the TSMU website. Following defense thesis shall be sent by post to the National Library of Georgia. (December 15, 2017)

13. In case of negative expert conclusion, PhD candidate shall be entitled to:

a) revoke his/her thesis, and resubmit revised thesis after one year gap.

b) request public defense of a thesis. (September 26, 2014)

14. Deadline for thesis defense shall nor exceed 4 months of the date of its registration in the Thesis Committee. The date shall be defined under Article 2, paragraph 11 hereof. (September 26, 2014)

15. Thesis shall be presented and defended in the national language. Presentation and defense of a thesis in the language other than national is permissible by determination of simple majority of the members present at the session of the Thesis Committee.

Article 5. Defense of a Thesis (September 26, 2014)

1. Session of the Thesis Committee shall be authorized in the presence of more than half of its membership on the list and more than half of the experts. (September 26, 2014)

2. Session of the Thesis Committee is led by its Chair. Decisions on procedural matters shall be adopted by the majority of votes.

3. Procedure of the public defense of a thesis involves:

a) Introduction of a PhD candidate, his/her biographical facts and relevant documents to the members of the Thesis Committee and public by the Chair of the Thesis Committee;

b) presentation of a thesis by a PhD candidate (about 30 minutes); (September 26, 2014)

c) discussion of a thesis with the candidate through questions and answers; (September 26, 2014)

d) public speech and comprehensive analysis of a thesis by experts;

e) answers to questions, recommendations and concerns put forward by experts (September 26, 2014);

f) expression of opinions; scientific discussion; (September 26, 2014)

f1) characterization of a PhD candidate by supervisor(s); (December 12, 2017)

g) closing remarks by the Chair;

h) secret ballot;

4. Thesis Committee shall adopt decision on conferral of the Academic Degree of the Doctor of Philosophy by secret balloting in the presence of quorum. Assessment of a thesis submitted for earning Academic Degree of the Doctor of Philosophy shall be made by Order №3 m.4, p.10,11,12,13 of January 5, 2007 by the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia. Assessment of a thesis shall be made by rules established by the Thesis Committee in accordance with criteria for thesis assessment (appendix 3). Conferral of the Degree requires that minimum 51 points be given to a thesis by Members of the Thesis Committee. (September 26, 2014)

5. In order to conduct ballot, Thesis Assessment Commission, comprised of three Committee members, shall be set up. (September 26, 2014)

6. Members of the Thesis Assessment Commission withdraw to a specially designed area with a transparent, sealed box to carry out secret assessment of a thesis behind the closed doors. (September 26, 2014)

7. Receipt of Thesis Assessment ballot papers are confirmed by signatures. (September 26, 2014)

8. Members of the Thesis Assessment Commission enter the results of assessment in the Final Minutes (appendix 4) approved by open ballot by the majority of votes of the Committee members. (September 26, 2014)

9. Following approval of the Final Minutes, Chair of the Thesis Committee announces decision on conferral (denial) of the Academic Degree of the Doctor of Philosophy.

(September 26, 2014)

10. PhD candidate is entitled to:

a) Request copy of the minutes of the session of the Thesis Committee;

b) Challenge the results of thesis assessment within 3 days of the completion of the session if he/she holds that procedure of thesis defense was violated. (September 26, 2014)

11. Decision by the Thesis Committee to deny conferral of the Academic Degree of the Doctor of Philosophy may be challenged by established rule in the court of law within one month of the date of announcement of the decision.

Article 6. Layout of a Diploma and Issuance

1. Diploma certifying conferral of the Academic Degree of the Doctor of Philosophy shall be issued by Tbilisi State Medical University within 2 months of the date of decision made by the Thesis Committee.

2. In instances of loss of the diploma, duplicate of the diploma with new number shall be issued upon request. In instances of change of name and surname new diploma shall not be issued.

Article 7. Final Provisions

Amendments and additions to the Regulations for the Thesis Committee shall be made by decision of the Academic Council of the University based on proposal of the Faculty Council in accordance with the Law of Georgia on Higher education and Statutes of the University.

Appendix 1

List of Documents to Be Submitted to the Thesis Committee of the Faculty

1.      Personal statement;

2.      copy of a document certifying higher education;

3.      list of scientific works with primary sources and xerocopies;

4.     minutes of the preliminary review of a thesis;

5.     report by a supervisor;

6.   document certifying completion of taught courses of a PhD program;

7.   4 copies of bound thesis and e-version thereof. (December 15, 2017)

Appendix 2

Attendance Sheet of the Members of the Thesis Committee

„.........“ ....................20........

Minutes №...........

PhD student _ first name, surname field –

Chair of the Thesis Committee

Appendix 3 (September 26, 2014)

Assessment of a Thesis

„.........“....................20........

minutes №...........

PhD candidate -first name, surname field -

  subject of a thesis: ..............................................................................................................................

                                                                                                                                      Appendix 4 (September 26, 2014)

Final Minutes

...........................20.......

Minutes №...........

PhD candidate – first name, surname Field -

Thesis Committee approved by------- decisive voters.

Session was attended by----- members of the Thesis Committee

----- ballot papers were handed out

Result of secret assessment of a thesis: Thesis was assessed by....... scores.

The Academic Degree of the Doctor of Philosophy in (field) is (not) conferred upon (first name, surname)

Chair of the Thesis Assessment Commission ……

Members of the Commission ....... Chair of the Thesis Committee …….

Appendix 5 (removed). (December 15, 2017)

Appendix 6 (September 26, 2014)

                                                          Recommended Standard Design of the Title Pages of a Thesis (cover page and second page

(I)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Tbilisi State medical University
                                                                                                 first name, surname of a PhD candidate Title of a Thesis
                                                                       Thesis for the Academic Degree of the Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health Tbilisi

(II)

Supervisors: Expert specialists: 1)

Thesis was accomplished at Tbilisi State Medical University

2)

3)

Preliminary review was held at the Sesssion of the Department /Unit of------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ,

Tbilisi State Medical University on (date)

Thesis is displayed in the Library of Tbilisi State Medical University (Vazha Pshavela Ave. #29).

Defense shall take place on month ----------- day----------- year---------- at time--------------------- at address