Research examinations
New regulations relating to postgraduate research (PGR) examination outcomes came into effect from Michaelmas term 2025. Students whom submitted their research thesis for the first time on or after 12 October 2025 may wish to view details of the changes to Postgraduate Research Examination Outcomes.
The information below provides a summary of key regulations applicable to all research examinations. Further advice is provided in the Notes of Guidance for the Examination of Research Degrees (GSO.20a).
It is your responsibility to read and adhere to the Examination Regulations in full.
When to submit your thesis
Students must have the appropriate student status before they are permitted to submit their thesis: if you are a student for the MSc by Research, MLitt or MPhil, this means having completed your transfer of status; if you are a student for the DPhil, this means having passed both your transfer and confirmation of status.
You can find the details of your final submission deadline on Student Self Service, at My Student Record > Academic Information. This maximum submission date is the date by which you must have submitted your thesis for examination. (It may be different to the expected completion date found on your University Card and Enrolment Certificate.) If you will not be in a position to submit your thesis by this date, you will need to consider submitting an application for an extension.
Appointment of examiners
You should liaise with your supervisor regarding the selection of your proposed examiners. It is usual for supervisors to invite the proposed examiners informally, and confirm their willingness to act, before the submission of the Application for Appointment of Examiners (GSO.3) form.
Once you have decided on appropriate internal and external examiners with your supervisor, you should complete the Application for Appointment of Examiners (GSO.3) form in Student Self Service, and read the accompanying Notes of Guidance (GSO.20a). Once you have completed and submitted your section, the application will be sent to your supervisor, who will propose the examiners’ names to the relevant board, together with details of any special considerations that either yourself or your supervisor wish to make known about potential examiners.
It is strongly recommended that you complete your section of the Application for Appointment of Examiners (GSO.3) form four-to-six weeks prior to submitting your thesis. This is to allow time for your nominated examiners to be approved, and to accept formal invitations issued by the Research Degrees Team. These steps are necessary before your thesis can be made available to your examiners.
If you wish to request that your viva be held by a certain date, you will have the opportunity to do so on the Application for Appointment of Examiners (GSO.3) form. This should not be used to request that a viva happens ‘as soon as possible’, but only where there are specific reasons why the viva must have taken place by a given date. This request is subject to approval by the faculty board; if it is approved, your examiners will be invited on the basis that they conduct the viva before the requested date. In all cases, please bear in mind that there should be at least four full weeks between examiners receiving your thesis and the viva being held.
Detailed guidance on completing all sections of the Application for Appointment of Examiners (GSO.3) form can be found in the guidance document GSO.20a.
Maximum number of terms’ extension permitted
The maximum number of terms’ extension permitted for DPhil students is six terms. Applications for extensions within this limit should be made via Student Self Service. Applications for extensions that would take you beyond six terms of extension will require the full support of your supervisor, college and department/faculty, and a special dispensation from the Examination Regulations granted by the University Education Committee. Such applications should be made through your Graduate Studies Assistant.
The maximum number of terms’ extension permitted for students for the Master of Letters and Master of Science by research is three terms.
Submission of examiners’ copies of your thesis
As of 15 September 2025, the RTDS portal has been retired. Research theses should now be submitted for examination via the 'My Research Degrees' tab in Student Self Service. A guide to this process is linked below, and the Research Degrees Team will answer any additional questions you might have, via [email protected]
The examination copies of all research degree theses must be submitted digitally via the 'My Research Degrees' tab in Student Self Service by 11:59pm on your maximum submission date. Submissions made via any other method will not be accepted. Full guidance on the functionality and instructions on how to submit your thesis via Student Self Service can be found in the Quick Reference Guide for Students.
Please note that your examiners will not be sent a link to download the thesis, until your Application for Appointment of Examiners (GSO.3) form has been approved (see above at ‘Appointment of examiners’), and your examiners have accepted their appointments in response to formal invitations issued by the Research Degrees office.
Presentation of theses and abstracts - style and format
Information on special regulations for specific subject areas, and divisional and faculty boards can be found in the relevant Examination Regulations; you should check the specific requirements for your course of study in the relevant regulations. A set of general advice on the format of the thesis can also be found in the General Regulations Governing Research Degrees, and is also included in the Notes of Guidance for Research Examinations (GSO.20a). Theses should be uploaded in PDF format, and should normally be no larger than 100MB.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own, with or without their consent, by incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgement. All published and unpublished material, whether in manuscript, printed or electronic form, is covered under this definition. Plagiarism may be intentional (or reckless), or unintentional. Under the regulations for examinations, intentional or reckless plagiarism is a disciplinary offence (sections 4 and 5).
There are different types of plagiarism and you should familiarise yourself with each of them. You may benefit from taking an online course, which has been developed to provide a useful overview of the issues surrounding plagiarism, and practical ways to avoid it.
If plagiarism is suspected in your thesis, the matter will be referred to the relevant Director of Graduate Studies (DGS). They will thoroughly investigate the claim and may call you for interview. (As part of the investigation, text-matching software such as iThenticate or TurnItIn may be used to scan the thesis, but the thesis will not be saved to any text-matching software databases.) If at this point there is no evidence of a breach of the regulations, no further disciplinary action will be taken, although you may still be required to make changes to your thesis. If it is concluded that a breach of the regulations may have occurred, the DGS will refer the matter to the Proctors’ Office.
Extenuating circumstances
If you have a disability that may affect the writing of your thesis, there are a number of measures that can be put in place to support you. These can be discussed with the Disability Advisory Service and disability advisors within your department/college. These measures might include extensions of time for milestones, assistive technology, use of a proof-reader etc.
By the time you submit your thesis, no further consideration of the disability is appropriate with respect to the written work, and your thesis will be examined under the same academic criteria as those submitted by students without a disability.
The oral examination or viva
It is the responsibility of the internal examiner to make all of the arrangements for the viva examination. Your internal examiner should contact you, within four weeks of receiving your thesis, to arrange a date for your viva. If you have not heard from your examiners four weeks after your thesis was sent to them, please contact the Research Degrees office, who will write to your examiners on your behalf. You must not contact your examiners yourself, except in response to communications from them.
If you wish to request that your viva is held by a certain date, you can do so using the ‘request for time-specific viva’ section of the Appointment of Examiners (GSO.3) form. You must set out the reasons for your request, and you may not request that a viva be held sooner than four full weeks after your thesis is sent to examiners.
Your thesis will only be available to your examiners after they have both confirmed their acceptance of formal invitations to act, sent by the Research Degrees office. Please note that if the GSO.3 form is not completed in good time, or if examiners are unresponsive to formal invitations, this will delay the despatch of your thesis, and therefore the date by which the viva can be held. Where supervisors have informally approached prospective examiners, it can be helpful for them to emphasise the necessity of the formal invitation step.
In exceptional circumstances the board may permit a viva to be held sooner than four full weeks after the examiners receive the thesis. This is at the board’s discretion and is not guaranteed. In order to seek this permission, the internal examiner should write to the appropriate Director of Graduate Studies, outlining the reasons for the necessity of a shortened timeframe.
Candidates (and internal examiners) must attend the viva in academic dress: sub fusc and a gown. For candidates, the gown should be that of your present status (ie Student for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy), the gown and hood of the highest degree held from your own university, or—if you are a University of Oxford graduate—the gown and hood of your highest University of Oxford degree. Special dispensation may be granted in certain circumstances, for example: health reasons, religious orders and members of the armed services. Please contact your Graduate Studies office for further information on how to apply.
Please remember to take a copy of your thesis to the viva, either in physical or digital format.
Remote vivas
With the permission of the relevant board (given through the Director of Graduate Studies), vivas may be held with one or more party attending remotely via video call. One potential reason for this may be that an examiner is based outside of the UK, and would be travelling to the UK for the sole purpose of attending the viva. All parties must agree to the viva being held in this format; further guidance can be found in Annex D of the Policy and Guidance on Research Degrees. In cases where the viva is held remotely, there is no requirement for the candidate or internal examiner to attend in academic dress.
Viva adjustments
If you wish to request specific, practical adjustments to the viva process owing to illness, disability or personal circumstance, you can make an application using the Adjustments to Assessment Arrangements form. Adjustments can be requested at any point, from offer of a place to arrangement of your final viva. The form and related guidance can be found here. Please contact your Graduate Studies office if you require more information.
Minor corrections
Your examiners may request that you complete minor corrections before they recommend award of the degree. Your examiners will provide you with a list of the required corrections; if you have not received the list of corrections two weeks after your viva, contact your Graduate Studies office. After having made the requested corrections, you should return your thesis to your internal examiner for review: this can be done directly via email.
The University expects that these minor corrections will be completed to the satisfaction of your examiner within two months of being issued. If you fail to complete your corrections within the time allowed, your name will be removed from the Graduate Register and a reinstatement application will be required.
For students submitting their thesis for the first time before 12 October 2025, the period allowed for the completion of minor corrections is one month. If additional time is needed, you may apply for an extension of one month by submitting a copy of the Extension of Time for Completion of Minor or Major Corrections (GSO.18) form. (NB this extension is not available to students who submitted their thesis for the first time on or after 12 October 2025.)
Major corrections
Examiners have the option to recommend that you make major corrections to your thesis. You will be provided with details of the requested corrections as part of the examiners’ report, accompanying your result letter. Major corrections should be completed and submitted within six months of receiving your result letter, and should be submitted via the My Research Degrees tab in Student Self Service, in the same manner as the original submission. Examiners may also request that you submit a separate document outlining changes made to the thesis in response to their requested corrections.
Students who first submitted their thesis prior to 12 October 2025 may exceptionally request an extension of up to three months by submitting a copy of the Extension of Time for Completion of Minor or Major Corrections (GSO.18) form.
Referrals
Examiners are able to recommend that students are granted an extended period of time to substantially revise their thesis. There are various types of referral, some of which offer the student a choice between resubmitting for the DPhil or for a lower award as appropriate.
Candidates whose thesis is referred will be required to provide at resubmission a separate report indicating the specific changes made to the revised thesis. This report should act as a guide for examiners as to how the candidate has addressed their comments, and will direct examiners to the appropriate sections of the thesis.
Correction timelines
The outcome types, time limits for changes and report lengths are summarised in the tables below.
For students who submitted their thesis for the first time on or after 12 October 2025:
Outcome | Time limit | Report of changes with resubmission |
Minor corrections | two months | N/A |
Major corrections | six months | N/A |
Referral back | one year | MPLS – 2,000 words |
For students who submitted their thesis for the first time before 12 October 2025:
Outcome | Time limit | Report of changes with resubmission |
Minor corrections | one month (with possible one month extension) | N/A |
Major corrections | six months (with possible three month extension) | N/A |
Referral back | six terms | MPLS – 2,000 words |
In all cases, the time limit applies from the date on which you receive the list of corrections/revisions required. For minor corrections, this should be supplied by your examiners to you directly within the two weeks after your viva. For major corrections and referrals, the list of revisions will form part of your examiners’ joint report, which will be sent to you alongside your result letter.
Examiners do not have the option of recommending an outcome of ‘outright fail’ on the first attempt for DPhil, MLitt or MSc(Res) examinations.
Post-outcome suspension
If you are unable to work on your post-viva corrections and complete them in the time permitted because of exceptional personal circumstances, you may be eligible to request a post-outcome suspension of status. This option is available if you submitted your thesis for the first time on or after 12 October 2025 and your viva outcome is major corrections or reference back.
You can apply for post-outcome suspension of status for a minimum of 4 weeks and a maximum of 52 weeks using the post-outcome suspension application form.
In addition, if you are unable to work on corrections after your viva and complete them in the time permitted because you are about to have or adopt a child, you can apply for a post-outcome suspension of status of up to 52 weeks to cover a period of parental leave using the post-outcome suspension for parental leave application form. Any period of post-outcome suspension of status for parental leave is additional to any period of post-outcome suspension of status granted for other reasons.
If you submitted your thesis for the first time before 12 October 2025, you are not able to request post-outcome suspension of status but you may be able to request an extension of time (see above).
Re-submitting a thesis
If you are resubmitting your thesis, you are required to pay the resubmission fee (the current fee amounts can be found here) when you apply for the appointment of examiners. This fee does not apply to students submitting their thesis for review of major corrections. The resubmission fee should be paid via the Research Degrees section of the University's online shop; this will need to be completed before the Research Degrees office is able to officially log your submission and send your thesis to your examiners.
The revised thesis, and the required report indicating the specific changes made, must be submitted via the My Research Degrees tab in Student Self Service.
A new Application for Appointment of Examiners (GSO.3) form is also required for a resubmission. You may apply for the same examiners as conducted your original examination, or new examiners if preferred. The report made by the examiners for the original examination will be sent to any new examiners, to ensure that they are aware of the context for the revisions that you have made. If you wish to make a case for the original report not to be shared, you should apply to the Proctors’ Office. You will need to apply in writing via your Graduate Studies Assistant, stating your reasons, before or at the same time as making the new application for appointment of examiners.
Leave to supplicate
When your examiners are satisfied that your thesis merits award of the degree in question, they will make their recommendation to the relevant board. Once the result has been approved, you will receive a letter informing you that you have been granted leave to supplicate. This denotes the date upon which you have officially completed all of the relevant requirements for award of the degree, and are free to request to have it conferred at a degree ceremony (or in absentia).
You will also receive information about booking a graduation ceremony (via your college), and the requirement to deposit the final version of your thesis with the Oxford Research Archive.
Deposit of a Library Copy of the Thesis
All candidates for the degrees of DPhil, MLitt, MSc by Research and DClinPsych must submit a digital version of their finalised thesis, as approved by their examiners, to the Oxford Research Archive (ORA). This should be done after you have been granted leave to supplicate, and a minimum of five working days prior to your graduation date. You will not be able to have your degree conferred (either by attending a degree ceremony or in absentia) without having first made this mandatory deposit.
Information regarding the deposit process will be sent with your leave to supplicate letter, and can also be found on the Oxford Research Archive website. Deposit of a copy with the archive is optional for candidates for the degrees of MPhil, Master of Studies in Legal Research (MSt) and Bachelor of Philosophy (BPhil) in Philosophy.
If deposits remain outstanding, shortly before your degree ceremony you will receive emails reminding you to complete this process at least five working days in advance of your ceremony. If the deposit is not completed by this time, your name may be removed from the ceremony list.
Dispensation from Consultation of Thesis
If you have concerns about the thesis being made publicly available, you can apply for dispensation from consultation (for the whole, or sections, of your thesis) using form GSO.3c. Information on this process, and on common reasons for applying, can be found on the Bodleian website.
Candidates who are granted dispensation from consultation on the whole thesis on a permanent basis, should—in addition to the final digital copy of their thesis deposited with the Oxford Research Archive—submit a hard-bound copy of the final thesis for deposit. This deposit should be made at the North Proscholium in the Bodleian Library. More information on this process is available on the Bodleian LibGuide. (This also applies to students who have already been granted dispensation from consultation, and who have not yet had the opportunity to submit a hard copy of their thesis.)
Students whose thesis (or part thereof) is in a non-standard format, which cannot be submitted electronically (eg a 3D artwork or artefact) should also deposit a physical copy with the relevant University library.
Latest student news
