Graduate School of EconomicsWaseda University

The policy of the conferral of a doctoral degree of the Graduate School of Economics, in accordance with the GSE’s Diploma Policy, is to have students “acquire in-depth expertise and analytical methods in economics and/or econometrics at a level that enables them to write a doctoral dissertation with high academic value that is recognized both domestically and internationally, develop the research skills expected of independent researchers or the superior techniques demanded of highly skilled professionals, and are capable of contributing to society using their research skills and techniques while collaborating with diverse people” and to have students “be able to conduct research with strict ethics and a robust sense of responsibility.” Evaluations for the conferral of diplomas are conducted with the examination criteria of combining novelty with logical consistency, having obtained excellent research results in each major field of study, and being able contribute to the development of the relevant fields and to society. The GSE Steering Committee determines whether a candidate has passed or failed.

1. After the submission of a doctoral thesis and an Application for Conferral of a Doctoral Degree, the GSE Steering Committee establishes an Examination Committee.
2. The Examination Committee comprises one Main Examiner and two or more Sub-Examiners. Of the Sub-Examiners, the Steering Committee ensures that at least one will be an Examination Committee member from outside GSE, including such a member not affiliated with Waseda University.
3. The appointment of members to the Examination Committee is determined by the GSE Steering Committee after deliberations.
4. After appointments to the Examination Committee have been determined, Examination Committee members who are affiliated with the GSE are hand-delivered a Letters of Appointment containing words to the effect of requesting that the members will “carefully read and consider the relevant doctoral thesis, evaluating its academic significance in a fair and impartial manner.” Additionally, Examination Committee members not affiliated with the GSE are sent Letters of Appointment that include the aforementioned language; they then submit signed Consent Forms.
5. After the Examination Committee has been established, the interim reporting session and public presentation of the doctoral thesis is held promptly. In general, the period from the submission of the doctoral thesis until the holding of the public presentation of the thesis shall be no longer than five weeks.
6. At the public presentation, Examination Committee members conduct their examination through oral questioning, in accordance with the Examination Standards provided below.
7. The public presentation and the oral examination shall be open to attendance by other faculty members and students of Waseda University and other institutions, in addition to the Examination Committee members.
8. In general, a dean, head-of-department, or other faculty member with an administrative role will moderate the public presentation and oral examination.
9. The Main Examiner will write an Examination Report with the results of the oral evaluation to be submitted to the GSE Steering Committee.
10. The GSE Steering Committee will judge whether the concerned thesis is worthy of the conferral of a degree and will vote on whether the candidate has passed or failed.

Doctoral theses will be evaluated with the following criteria considered. However, it will be left to each specialized field of study, based on its characteristics, to add to or modify the criteria.

1. The research question must have high academic value within the field of economics.
2. The academic importance and placement within the wider field of the research that was conducted must be apparent.
3. The research findings must combine novelty, originality, and logical consistency.
4. The research findings must be such that they will lead to developments in academia and contributions to society.
5. The principal section of the thesis has been published, or is at a level at which it could be published, in an international scholarly journal of some degree of standing.

In order to obtain a curriculum doctorate from the Graduate School of Economics, the following requirements must be fulfilled.

1. Has been enrolled in the Doctoral Program for at least three years
2. Has completed the prescribed amount of research guidance (based on the judgment of the student’s supervisor)
3. Has passed the assessment of his or her Doctoral Dissertation and examinations

Of those who have dropped out of the GSE without submitting a doctoral dissertation, only those who fulfilled 1. and 2. above (those who have withdrawn due to completion of research guidance) are permitted to submit a doctoral dissertation and undergo assessment and examination with the approval of the Steering Committee of the Graduate School of Economics. Please note that this is only limited to those who submit their dissertation within three years of the exact date of withdrawal from the program. If such a person passes the assessment and examinations, he or she will be conferred with a Curriculum Doctorate as his or her doctoral degree.

*For information on application for a dissertation doctor, refer to the article “Dissertation Doctor”.

In general, the application flow is as follow:

Interim Reporting Session→ Public Reporting Session→ (For reference) Voting→(For reference) Conferment of  Doctorate

Sample schedule (For details, please contact the GSE Office)

(1) Interim reporting session
It is necessary to obtain permission to submit the Doctoral Dissertation. Therefore applicants are required to report at the interim reporting session. The application for this session reaches acceptance at any time, and it is held within two months from submission. Please submit the documents which are shown on the list to the Graduate School of Economics Office.
List of Documents to be Submitted.

(2) Public reporting session
Please prepare the documents which are shown on the list and submit them to the Graduate School of Economics Office.
List of Documents to be Submitted (Curriculum Doctorate)

(3) Receipt of application for a doctorate
When submission requirements are confirmed and approval is granted by the Graduate School of Economics Steering Committee, a notification regarding receipt of papers will be sent to the student.

(４) Public reporting session and Oral examination
For papers that are submitted to the actual review and that are approved by the Graduate School of Economics Steering Committee, a notification of receipt of the dissertation will be sent to the student. This final review consists of an oral examination given to the student applying for a doctorate. After the oral examination, a final judgment is made by the Graduate School of Economics Steering Committee regarding whether to grant the student a doctorate, and a notification of the results is then sent to the student.

As an exception to the number of years that a student must be enrolled in the Doctoral Program, it is sufficient for only students who are recognized by the Graduate School of Economics Steering Committee as having produced outstanding research performance* to be enrolled for a total of 3 or more years in the Master’s Program and the Doctoral Program. If a student submits his/her doctoral dissertation, and it is decided by the Graduate School of Economics Steering Committee based on the results of a review of his/her doctoral dissertation that the student will be granted a doctorate, the date of completion of the program will be the last day of the nearest semester (March 15 or September 15).

*The “outstanding research performance” in the Early Completion System will be applied when the students meet the section No.1 in “Standards for Submitting Doctoral Dissertations in the Doctoral Program”.

In general, submissions of doctoral dissertation are accepted starting in the third year during which students are enrolled in the program. If you are a student eligible for the early completion of the program, please refer to “Early Completion System”.

1. If a paper that is part of your doctoral dissertation has already been published in a journal or elsewhere, submit written consent documents that prove that you have obtained permission to include the paper in your dissertation from the concerned publisher or academic society. (However, submission of written consent is not required if a paper appeared in Waseda Seiji Keizaigaku Zasshi, which is published by the Waseda University Society of Political Science and Economics.)
2. If including a jointly written paper in your doctoral dissertation, submit a written consent of agreement (designated form) that proves that you have obtained permission from the co-author(s).
3. If applying in the form of a book, the Graduate School of Economics will not be concerned even when coordination with the publisher becomes necessary due to revisions based on requests for corrections after the academic assessment.

In principle, the dissertation applying for a curriculum doctorate must fulfill the following requirements.

・A minimum of 3 points is required.
・The applicants themselves complete the prescribed form and submits it with evidence before the Public Reporting Session.

（Note1）
Evidence may be submitted only with a link address if it is publicly available on the Internet. However, for those that are updated regularly, such as peer-reviewed journal rankings, it is desirable to submit the images on the date of access.

（Note2）
The paper(s) must have been prepared and presented while enrolled in the doctoral program of the Graduate School of Economics, or within 10 years retroactively from the time of submission of the application for curriculum doctorate.

（Note3）
For items 1-5, papers with nearly identical content cannot be counted as duplicates, even if they have different titles.

（Note4）
For items 1-5, 0.5 points/paper will be awarded for single-authored papers.

（Note5）
For items 1 to 5, the treatment of co-authored theses is as follows. As stipulated in Article 4-4 of the “Regulations Concerning Procedures for Examination of Theses for Doctoral Degrees, etc.,” when a joint thesis is used as part of the dissertation for a doctoral degree, permission must be obtained from the coauthor and the prescribed consent form must be submitted to certify this. In addition, except in cases where the co-author submits a letter of consent pledging that the paper will not be included in his/her dissertation, the number of points for a thesis co-authored with a student of the University (including those who have completed a master’s course or doctoral course within five years) shall be divided by the number of co-authors (excluding those who are not students such as academic advisors).

（Note6）
For item 1, JER stands for THE JAPANESE ECONOMIC REVIEW, a peer-reviewed journal in Scimago, RePEc, or Scopus (most recent or one year ago) that is ranked higher than JER or, in the case of a journal in another field, ranked higher in that field than JER’s quantile point in economics The journal shall be.

（Note7）
The peer-reviewed journals in Item 2 include “Waseda Journal of Economics” and “Waseda Journal of Political Economy”.

（Note8）
For items 3 and 4, the peer-reviewed journal should be in the top 10% of peer-reviewed journals in either Scimago, RePEc, or Scopus (most recent or one year ago), or A* in the index created by the ABDC[1].

[1] ABDC stands for Australian Business Deans Council.
https://abdc.edu.au/research/abdc-journal-quality-list/

1. Submission standards

The standards for submitting a dissertation for students applying for a dissertation doctor shall be the same as those for submitting a doctoral dissertation for a curriculum doctorate.

2. Required Documents

Please prepare the documents which are shown on the list and submit them to the Graduate School of Economics Office.
List of Documents to be Submitted (Dissertation Doctor)

3. Review method

With the exception of the addition of confirmation of the learning specified in Article 16, Item 1, of the Degree Rules as indicated below, the review method is the same as that that for a doctoral dissertation submitted when applying for a curriculum doctorate.

<A. Confirmation of Learning>

1. Confirmation of the learning specified in Article 16, Item 1, of the Degree Rules is carried out by the committee for confirming scholarly attainment, in the form of questions regarding relevant subjects and a foreign language.
2.  The types, scope, etc., of relevant subjects are decided on by the Graduate School of Economics Steering Committee on a case-by-case basis. However, the number of subjects is 2 or less.
3.  Students will be examined on 1 foreign language, which is decided on a case-by-case basis by the Graduate School of Economics Steering Committee, making allowance for the applicant’s request and the research field pertaining to the doctoral dissertation.
4. The foreign language examination may be substituted by examination questions relating to scholarly attainment, such as the introduction of literature and the translation of the relevant foreign language.
5. If the applicant is a supervisor at a university and oversees or has overseen the foreign language or relevant courses subject to the confirmation of learning, he/she may be exempt from questions pertaining to the applicable course or foreign language based on submitting documents that prove that he/she is or has taught the applicable course or foreign language.

<B. Judgment of Dissertations>

Judgment will take place as described in (9. Flow of the Review of a Doctoral Dissertation for a Curriculum Doctorate).

4. Screening Fees

Screening fees for those who apply for a doctoral degree of a dissertation doctor are shown below. These are applied to the screening of dissertations received by Waseda University after April 1, 2010.