Supplementary guidelines for the PhD in Behavioral Analysis

The supplementary guidelines for the doctoral program in health sciences are given on the basis of regulations on the degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) at OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University of 28 August 2012 (hereafter referred to as the PhD regulations) and the university's common regulations for the PhD degree approved by the study committee at OsloMet, 16.10.2012. The guidelines have been adopted by the Faculty of Health Sciences 23.10.2012.

Scope

PhD candidates who have been admitted to the doctoral program in behavioral analysis at the Faculty of Health Sciences, OsloMet, are obliged to familiarize themselves with the content of the PhD regulations and regulations for the PhD programs at OsloMet, including the supplementary guidelines for doctoral study in behavioral analysis.

Responsibility for the PhD program 

The Faculty of Health Sciences has the academic and administrative responsibility for the doctoral program in behavioral analysis. All individual cases related to the doctoral program must be addressed to the PhD administration at the faculty, which will prepare cases for the faculty's doctoral committee.

Terms of admission

Conditions for admission are regulated by § 2-1 in the PhD regulations. To be admitted to the doctoral program, the applicant must have completed a bachelor's degree (180 credits / ECTS) + master's degree (120 credits / ECTS) or equivalent education. Documentation for the education that is to form the basis for the admission must be a certified copy of the original diploma.

Application for admission and formalities in connection with admission

An application for admission to the doctoral program is sent to the PhD administration at the Faculty of Health Sciences. The application form must be completed and enclosed with all necessary documentation. Requirements for the content of the application and processing of applications for admission are described in the PhD regulations §§ 2.1 - 2.4 and «Guidelines for processing applications for admission to PhD programs» in the university's common regulations for the PhD degree. Incomplete applications will not be processed.

Decisions on admission are based on an overall assessment of the application. The doctoral degree committee at the Faculty of Health Sciences at OsloMet decides on applications for admission.

Admission to the doctoral program in health sciences is continuous. Admission is formalized, in accordance with the § 2-6 of the PhD regulations, in the form of a written agreement between the PhD candidate, supervisor(s) and the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Applicants with a background from the Research Program in Health Sciences (Forskerlinje) who have completed the training component before applying for admissions to the PhD program, are exempt from the rule that 20 credits must be taken after admissions and exempt from the rule of the 2 years age limit on courses at the date of admission. Other applicants who have completed parts of the training component at OsloMet 12 months prior to admissions may also be exempted from the main regulation. Applicants may nevertheless, be required to complete new courses if it is academically justified in relation to the learning objectives for the PhD and the project's theme and/or method. The assessment of this will be done in connection with admissions.

Supervisors and guidance

The main supervisor shall have the main academic responsibility for the PhD candidate and shall, as a general rule, be employed at OsloMet. In addition, the PhD candidates must, as a general rule, have a co-supervisor from OsloMet or from another institution. In the case of an external main supervisor, a co-supervisor shall be appointed at OsloMet. It is the faculty's doctoral degree committee that approve supervisors.

The PhD candidate and supervisor (s) must each submit annual progress reports that are assessed and approved by the doctoral degree committee at the faculty. Supervision of the dissertation shall ensure that the project is in accordance with research ethics frameworks and contributes to developing the research question and quality in the methods used.

In each semester, on the first supervision meeting, the candidate and the supervisor shall make a timetable and outline for upcoming meetings. The supervision hours include preparation, conversation with the PhD candidate and follow-up work. Requirements for supervisors, supervision obligations and rights are regulated by the PhD regulations §§ 3-1 to 3-3 as well as the university's common regulations for the PhD degree.

Structure of the doctoral program 

The doctoral program is a full-time program that runs over three years or over four years with 25% compulsory work.

The research education is divided into two parts and consists of a training part of 30 credits in addition to the research part (dissertation) of 150 credits.

The training part in behavioral analysis shall support the PhD candidate's research and competence development. It consists of courses that provide theoretical and methodological training for the completion of the dissertation. Compulsory and optional topics are specified in the program plan.

The doctoral degree committee decided in 2017 that generic courses cannot be included as part of the training component. The training component must be professionally and methodologically applicable for the candidate's PhD project. All courses in the training component must be at a PhD course level and approved by the doctoral degree/PhD committee.

Guidelines for article-based dissertations

The guidelines are indicative for article-based dissertations. For all joint projects, the PhD candidate must submit signed declarations of collaboration in which the PhD candidate's independent contribution is described.

The dissertation must consist of a summary (Norwegian: kappe) and articles. The dissertation must consist of at least three articles. At least one of the dissertation's articles must be considered for publication upon submission. The summary must be academically updated and normally comprise 40-70 pages. The PhD candidate must be the sole author of this.

Before the candidate applies to apply for the degree, the supervisor must make an overall assessment of the number of articles on the basis of various factors such as author order, publication channels, etc. If the supervisor (s) is of the opinion that more than 3 articles are needed to ensure the quality of the dissertation more may be required. The PhD candidate must, as a general rule, be the first author of at least two of the articles included in the dissertation. Where the PhD candidate is not the first author, he or she should have made a significant contribution to data collection, interpretation of results and article writing.

An article that has previously been submitted and / or assessed as part of a doctoral dissertation, can be accepted for assessment as long as the dissertation is accompanied by a statement describing the candidate's independent contribution to the work on the article. This only applies if other requirements for the dissertation are satisfactory as described in regulations and guidelines.

Submission of dissertation and assessment 

When submitting the dissertation, the PhD candidate must submit "Application for presentation to the doctoral examination at the Faculty of Health Sciences, OsloMet - metropolitan university" with the necessary attachments as described in the PhD regulations § 6-1. This must be addressed to the PhD administration at the faculty.

The supervisor (s) must submit a proposal of  an adjudicating committee. The proposal must be justified and show how the committee as a whole covers the research field of the dissertation. The proposal is formulated on a separate form and sent to the faculty's PhD administration. Before this, the proposed members must have been requested and have agreed to sit on the adjudicating committee. Furthermore, each member must sign a declaration of impartiality which must be attached to the form with the proposal. It is the faculties' doctoral degree committee that appoints the adjudicating committee and approves recommendations from the adjudicating committees.

Assessment of the degree PhD in behavioral analysis is regulated by the PhD regulations §§ 6-1 to 6-8 as well as «Guidelines for assessment of the degree philosophiae doctor (PhD)» in the university’s joint regulations for the degree PhD. 

PhD in behavioral analysis is awarded on the basis of:

• approved training part
• approved scientific dissertation
• approved trial lecture on a given topic
• approved public defense of dissertation (disputation)

The dissertation is printed in at least 70 copies in the faculty's standard format. The candidate should contact the PhD advisor at the Faculty for assistance. The dissertation must be publicly available no later than 14 days before the public defense.
 
Contact phd-hv@oslomet.no if you have questions.