Is there the same requirement to obtain the PhD degree in all the departments of surgery of the Spanish universities?

Introduction: The doctorate is the third cycle of official university studies, which, through the defense of the doctoral thesis leads to the acquisition of the title of doctor or PhD from the Anglo-Saxon countries. Royal Decree law 99/2011 regulates doctoral programs, with a wide margin on quality requirements. The objective of this study is to find out if there is this variation in the requirements of the doctorate programs of the different departments of surgery of the Spanish public universities and to establish a quality scale.

Methods: Cross-sectional observational study from 2/22/2021 to 3/3/2021, through a survey sent electronically to the professors of the departments of surgery.

Results: Thirty-five departments of surgery were consulted, obtaining a response in 29 of them (82.9%). The observed variation regarding requirements has been basically in the quality of the research project, in fact in 25 (86.2%) there are no regulations on this. When it is presented in the form of a compendium of articles, these are required to be original in 15 (51.7%). Regarding the position as author, the doctoral student must be the preferred author, at least in 2 articles in 14 (48.4%) of the programs. In 14 departments (48.4%) there are no regulations on the position of the articles and quartiles of journals. When scoring the different programs according to their requirements, the variability is high, ranging between 2 and 19 points. Funding for the development of the doctorate is meager.

Conclusions: There is a wide variability in the requirement of doctoral programs. Homogeneous levels of demand must be defined to promote and protect higher-level doctorates.