Approved in College
Board Meeting dated
28-03-2011
Guidelines for PhD Admission, Supervision and Completion College of Engineering The proposed guidelines are set to clarify any ambiguities that may arise from admission, supervision to completion PhD students in the College of Engineering. The conditions for the Doctoral Programs are given in Postgraduate Academic Regulations Fall 2008 (section 11: pp 27‐29). Besides the conditions mentioned in section 11, the following internal guidelines should be considered as well: 1. Before applying for PhD, if possible, the candidate should contact the Department S(he) is applying for in order to check the availability of a suitable topic, potential supervisor and availability of resources and work space. 2. All applications should be vet by the Department’s Postgraduate Studies and Research Committee and prepare a shortlist of potential candidates for interview. The Department should establish a set of criteria for selection of potential doctoral candidates in each discipline. 3. The interview must be conducted with the candidate in person if the candidate is residing in Oman or nearby country, whereas telephonic interview is to be conducted for overseas candidates in the presence of all interview committee members with speakers on. On‐line or net‐conferencing interview is also accepted. 4. Before accepting the candidate, the Department represented by the HoD should ensure that the student has been allocated a potential supervisor, a tentative topic suitable for Ph.D. dissertation and is of interest to both the candidate and supervisor, and required resources to conduct research. The Department should check for the options of a joint collaboration or a joint‐badging with other academic institution as stated in section 3.3.2 (pp 08‐11) of Postgraduate Academic Regulations Fall 2008. 5. Supervision of PhD students should be conducted in accordance with the rules indicated in section 11.6 (pp 29) of the Postgraduate Academic Regulations Fall 2008, which state that “Whereas any faculty member with a PhD or equivalent can serve as co‐ supervisor for a doctoral study, to be a supervisor a faculty member must also have previously supervised a masters/doctoral study or co‐ supervised a doctoral study and be active in research as evidenced by having at least five papers published in specialized journals within the seven years prior to the start of the doctoral study. Clinicians with consultant or senior consultant status who are not faculty but have PhD or equivalent and appropriate research activity may co‐supervise a doctoral research thesis. Further, where the doctoral study is laboratory or field based with running expenses, the supervisor should secure the funding needed”. During the first semester of registration, a thesis committee should be formed consisting of the main supervisor, co‐supervisor and a committee member. It should be noted that the Co‐supervisor should be from the same specialization as of the main supervisor. The thesis committee should be approved by the HoD. 6. After admission of the candidate, he/she should undertakes a Preliminary Oral Examination as stated in section 11.5 (pp 29) of the Postgraduate Academic Regulations. This examination should be conducted after the first College Seminar but before the end of the first year of registration. It is highly recommended to have a Department Seminar before the College seminar so that the candidate can prepare well for his (her) proposal defense. The Preliminary Oral Examination will be undertaken by the thesis committee with one external member from the department or college (who is familiar with the proposed research topic) nominated by the HoD. Prior to the examination, the student should submit a concise thesis proposal report which contains the following sections: 1) Introduction, 2) objectives and novelty of proposed topic, 3) brief literature review, 4) expected outcomes, 5) work plan for whole duration of study, and 6) Conclusion and Remarks. The examination panel will evaluate the student’s research proposal and will assess student’s readiness to engage on the proposed research topic. Failure to this might lead to a second attempt within four months; failure in the repeat will result in withdrawal from the program. The results of the examination must be presented to the Departmental board for endorsement. A College internal form must be filled to clearly document the candidate’s readiness for research work (PHD‐1) 7. Continuous monitoring of the student’s progress should be undertaken by the Thesis Committee. At the end of each year the student in consultation with the supervisor should submit a progress report to the Departmental Board for endorsement. The HoD as well as the ADPSR should be kept aware of any obstacles that face the student during the course of his/her study. 8. The student must give two seminars (one each before the proposal and final defense) during his/her course of study as per the statement indicated in section 6.1 (pp 17). It is necessary for the PhD candidate that seminars are to be preferably presented in public in order to receive constructive feedback as well as giving other PhD students the opportunity to attend and participate in the discussion. 9. The Thesis Examination procedure is given in section 6.2 (pp 17‐19) of Postgraduate Academic Regulations Fall 2008. However, two internal forms for “External Assessor/Reviewer Report (PHD‐2)” and “Final Oral Examination Report (PHD‐3)” must be filled and submitted to ADPSR office for record. 10. The Graduation requirements are given in section 11.7 (pp 29). For student to graduate, he/she must have an accepted paper for publication in a journal of international repute and a conference contribution or a paper in a local journal. The International Journal should have a high impact factor and ranked among the top journals in the “ISI Web of Knowledge: Journal Citation Reports (JCR) Ranking”. The HoD should ensure that a high standard journal has been selected. The procedure for selecting the journal is stated in Annex‐1. ANNEX - 1
The following procedure gives an outline for selecting the Journal: SQU home → Libraries → Main Library → E‐Resources → Databases → scroll down to “JCR Web Science” → Journal Cita on Reports → click on “Search for a specific journal” then click on Submit → type in journal name in space provided then click on “Search” (*) → record “Impact Factor” and “5‐Year Impact Factor” of this journal → click on highlighted journal name → scroll down and click on “Journal Ranking → note down Category Name, Total Journals in Category, and Journal Rank in Category. Divide “Journal Rank in Category” by “Total Journals in Category.” Resulting number will tell you the tertile (third) to which this journal belongs: 0 < Number < 0.33: 1st tertile 0.33 < Number < 0.67: 0.67 < Number < 1.0 3rd tertile 2nd tertile (*) If your journal name returns blank, click on “View list of full journal titles,” scroll down until you find the journal name, copy it and then go back to “Search for a specific journal” with the journal’s name.