The list of doctoral degrees awarded by country includes all doctoral degrees worldwide.

Argentina

Czech Republic and Slovakia

The system of Czech and Slovak doctoral degrees has been inherited from Czechoslovakia and is for a large part identical.

Doctoral degrees gained after graduation

These degrees are written before the name and are considered as professional doctorates comparable to the US Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree.

Doctoral degrees gained by thesis, viva voce and rigorous examination

These degrees are written before the name. Doctoral degrees gained after a rigorous examination are popularly called small doctorate (malý doktorát in Czech or Slovakia). Applicants need a master's degree or a post-graduate degree (5 years+) comparable to Master level or higher and have to write a thesis of 50,000-80,000 words and defend this thesis in a viva voce and a rigorous examination in at least 2-3 subjects.

Doctoral degrees gained after post-graduate study

These degrees are written after the name. Doctoral degrees gained after post-graduate study are popularly called great doctorate (velký doktorát in Czech).

Other doctoral degrees

These degrees are written after the name. Both Czech and Slovak orthography state that the 'philosophiae doctor' is abbreviated as 'PhD.' in analogy to all of the other degrees, however, perhaps under influence of international use of 'Ph.D.', this foreign form is used in the Czech Law of the Academic and Scientific Degrees. In fact, Czech lawgivers have enacted an orthographical mistake.

Denmark

The Danish ph.d. degree has no further subdivisions and grants the holder the postposed title of ph.d.. The higher doctor grants the holder the title of dr. or doktor. In the case of a honorary doctorate, h.c. (honoris causa) is added. The higher doctorate is issued in varieies dependent on the field:

Finland

This list is comprehensive list of doctoral decrees granted by Finnish universities, based on the Government decree on university degrees. The English translations are official.

France

Germany

Ireland

Netherlands

The Netherlands does not distinguish between different research doctorates and has one professional doctorate.

Pakistan

South Africa

Sri Lanka

United Kingdom

First doctorates

Graduate-entry degrees in which the candidate must prepare (usually over a period of three or four years full-time, under the supervision of a more experienced researcher) a thesis or other portfolio of publishable research, demonstrating a contribution to knowledge in the chosen field. The Quality Assurance Agency categorises doctorates into three types: "subject specialist doctorates", "doctorates by publication", and "professional and practice-based (or practitioner) doctorates". Doctorates in the last category, such as the EdD, DClinPsych, DBA and EngD, have a greater emphasis on applied research and professional practice, however they still contain a substantial research component.

Subject specialist doctorates

Doctorates by publication

Professional and practice-based (or practitioner) doctorates

Generic titles: Health, Medicine and related subjects: Other subjects:

Higher doctorates

Higher doctorates are awarded to established academics in recognition of a substantial body of original research undertaken over the course of many years. Typically, the candidate will submit a collection of work which has been previously published in a peer-reviewed context and/or as specialist textbooks and pay an examination fee. The university then assembles a committee of academics, both internal and external, who review the work submitted and decide whether the candidate has satisfied the requirements for the award. Higher doctorates can also be awarded as honorary degrees, but these are differentiated from the equivalent degrees earned by presenting a body of work to be reviewed.

Honorary doctorates

All levels of degree - though usually of master's level and above - can be awarded as honorary degrees. However, some universities have a degree which is only awarded honoris causa:

No longer awarded

United States

Research degrees

The National Science Foundation recognizes the following as research degrees:

Professional degrees