Dissertation and Defense

Formatting your Dissertation

Dissertations should be submitted in their final format, in accordance with the Kenneth C. Griffin Handbook for Students, pages 26-33. The Registrar’s Office will review the document for formatting compliance. Formatting errors may prevent the conferral of the degree and the student may need to apply for the next available degree period.

LaTex Dissertation Template
DMS Alumni Dissertations on DASH

Writing Resources

Office for Scholarly Communication (OSC) If your dissertation includes previously published works, it is recommended that authors consult their publishing agreements directly to determine whether and to what extent they may have transferred exclusive rights under copyright. The Office for Scholarly Communication (OSC) and Copyright First Responders are available to help you determine whether you have retained the necessary rights or requires permission.

The best address for inquiries that concern the student’s incorporation of their own, prior published articles/chapters is HL_OSRDS@harvard.edu. We’ve updated our unit name to Open Scholarship and Research Data Services, although our old OSC email address is still active.

General copyright inquiries concerning third party materials – i.e., content that is not the student’s own, previously published work – is still appropriate for the Copyright First Responders. Students should select the appropriate “first responder,” which is listed by school, as Kyle Courtney is the director of the program and may not have the ability to respond as quickly.

Harvard Griffin GSAS Fellowships and Writing Center
Offers individual writing consultations and workshops. They also run the Writing Oasis which provides a space for accountability, productivity, and peer support.

Academic Resource Center
ARC offers individual coaching, Dissertation Writers Accountability Groups, and many other helpful workshops.

iThenticate
A web-based application that enables authors to compare their manuscripts, grant proposals, and other writing against web and scholarly publications to check for similar or duplicate content. This tool is for individual use only and for the similarity checking of an author’s own work. This is not a tool to check the work of others, including undergraduate work submitted as part of a teaching fellow’s section. Only the author or co-author of a document, with an authorized Harvard account, should submit it to the application.

Please also note that use of iThenticate, and interpreting any similarities it highlights, requires judgment and familiarity with the conventions in your field and the academic world. “False positives” may appear—for instance, book titles, common phrases, and even references.

If you have technical or support questions about how to use iThenticate, please review Getting Started with iThenticate and FAQs or contact the HUIT Academic Technology team.
For general consultation and publications support, contact Harvard Library Open Scholarship and Research Data Services.
- Harvard Library offers advanced training and consultation on the use of iThenticate, as well as on publishing. Please contact HL_OSRDS@harvard.edu to if you need a training or a consultation. NOTE: they will not judge what constitutes plagiarism or teach a student how to evaluate the iThenticate report.

HMS OGE PhD Programs Dissertation Guidelines

The dissertation must show original treatment of a fitting subject, contain a scholarly review of the pertinent literature, give evidence of independent research, and be clearly, logically, and carefully written. Students are expected to give a public seminar on their dissertation research.

The Ph.D. dissertation is expected to contain a substantial amount of independent research work of publishable quality. In addition to chapters of research, each dissertation must contain Introduction and Conclusion chapters that present the themes of the dissertation and summarize the accomplishments. In some cases, the student has done all of the work in the dissertation; more often portions of the dissertation result from collaborative research. In all dissertations containing collaborative results, the dissertation should indicate concisely who contributed the work.

For example, a chapter containing multi‐authored, published work must include a complete reference and a brief description of the candidate's and colleagues' contributions. For work that is not published but which resulted from multiple researchers, the contributors must be named, and respective attributions made clearly. This policy allows stylistic flexibility; depending on the amount of collaborative work in the dissertation and the status of publication(s), the attributions can be together at the end of either the Acknowledgments or Introduction sections of the dissertation or before each relevant chapter.

It is permissible for more than one student to include work from the same collaboration or publication as long as the required attributions are clear, justified, and complete.

Individual chapters can be that of published articles as long as there are comprehensive Introduction and Conclusion chapters written by the student. Use of actual reprints as a chapter is not permissible. A word document of the published article must be used in place of a reprint as pages in the dissertation must be consecutively numbered. It is recommended that authors consult their publishing agreements directly to determine whether and to what extent they may have transferred exclusive rights under copyright. The Office for Scholarly Communication (OSC) is available to help the author determine whether they have retained the necessary rights or requires permission. Please note, however, OSC and the Copyright First Responders are not able to assist with the permissions process itself.

Logistics
Overall, students should reserve 3 hours for their defense: 1 hour for the public seminar and up to 2 hours for the private examination. The title, time, date and place of the exam will be posted on the DMS website and will be announced by email to members of the DMS community.

Defenses can be held in-person, hybrid or via zoom. The student's advisor and defense chair must approve of the format.

Please ensure if you are holding your defense on zoom that you are disabling sound notifications when someone joins or leaves. You can learn more about how to change this here.

Defenses can be held on any of the Harvard and Harvard-affiliate campuses (Broad Institute, Ragon Insitute, affiliate Hospitals etc). Students are responsible for booking their defense room(s). It is recommended that students book a separate, smaller room for the private defense if possible.

To book a HMS room (TMEC 227, TMEC 250, Cannon Room etc) please request that dmsphddefense@hms.harvard.edu make this reservation on your behalf. To book a smaller HMS room for the private defense, submit the request online at Room Scheduling.
We recommend making sure that you are familiar with the public seminar room's AV, especially if you plan to hold a hybrid seminar.

If your defense committee members require parking, please contact your department/advisor or program office for parking; DMS cannot provide assistance in this matter.

Public Seminar

The public seminar lasts no longer than 1 hour, which includes time for the advisor’s introduction, the student’s oral presentation and acknowledgements, and time for audience questions and answers. The Defense Committee is required to attend the public seminar; however, it is customary for members of the defense committee to hold their questions until the private oral exam.

Private Examination

A private examination follows the public seminar. Dissertation advisors may be present, but they must not participate in the exam (e.g., answer questions posed by the committee). Initially, the student will be asked to leave the room for a few minutes. During this time, the committee will discuss the merits of the dissertation, any issues with the dissertation, and areas they may want to focus on during the exam. The student is then asked back into the room for the exam. Each member of the defense committee will direct detailed technical questions as well as broader questions on the conclusions, impact, and limitations of the research to the candidate based on their review of the dissertation and presentation of the seminar. The Defense Chair will moderate the discussion between the panel and the student.

At the end of the examination, the student is once again asked to step out of the room for several minutes. The Committee will discuss any corrections needed for the dissertation and whether these corrections need to be reviewed and by whom. Once the committee determines the outcomes, the student will be asked back into the room and the Committee provides the student with any [minor] changes needed to the dissertation. While it is extremely rare for the student to fail at this stage, the committee will provide recommendations to the student on their research, communication skills, and development as a scientist, as well as delineating the required changes to the dissertation.

Forms

The HMS Office for Graduate Education PhD Programs will email the Chair the Record of Final Examination Form prior.
The HMS Office for Graduate Education PhD Program will request all committee members' signatures on the Thesis Acceptance Certificate (TAC) via adobe sign following the defense. HMS OGE will provide the Thesis Acceptance Certificate once all required corrections have been made and reviewed.

The student and the student's dissertation advisor must select at least four examining committee members: an examination chair (who is a member of the dissertation advisory committee), and three examiners.

The student, arranges the date, time, and place of the examination and seminar after contacting the examination committee. At least six weeks before the scheduled date, the student submits the Dissertation Examination Information sheet to the Division of Medical Sciences, along with an abstract and title page (draft is fine).

The Director of Academic Administration of the Division of Medical Sciences, the student’s dissertation advisor and the Program Head will approve the members from a list submitted by the candidate and his or her advisor (the Dissertation Exam Form).

The exam committee should be assembled as follows:

Exam Chair: The chair of the exam committee must be a Division of Medical Sciences faculty member and be a member of the student’s Dissertation Advisory Committee (DAC). None of the members other than the chair may have served on the student’s DAC.

Examiner 1: In addition to the chair, at least one examiner must be a Division of Medical Sciences faculty member.

Examiner 2: To broaden the examination and enhance its significance, one member of the examination committee must be a faculty member from outside Harvard University.

Examiner 3: Faculty member from any academic institution.

The dissertation advisor is not eligible to be an examiner or the chair, but usually attends the exam ex officio.
All proposed examiners must be the rank of assistant professor or higher at an academic institution.
At least two committee members must be Harvard faculty members. (This can be determined by searching the Harvard Directory)
Past collaborators and co-authors are usually not appropriate to be examiners. It is the student’s responsibility to indicate any possible relationship of this kind. Faculty members who have collaborated with the student or the student’s advisor on the student’s area of research within the past five years may not serve on the exam committee. Faculty with whom the student has done a regular laboratory rotation in the process of selecting the dissertation laboratory are eligible if there are no other collaborations. Students may therefore petition DMS to approve examiners whose collaboration with the student or advisor was not directly related to the dissertation research.
Emeritus Faculty may not serve on a student's examining committee unless that student has been under the supervision of that faculty member, e.g. the dissertation advisory committee.
If the student’s non-Harvard examiner is a former Harvard professor, then the following requirements must be met before s/he is eligible to serve on the committee as an external examiner:
- the faculty member should have served in their post-Harvard position for at least one year
- the faculty member should have not participated directly with the student in any other capacity (e.g. as a program advisor, dissertation advisory committee member, qualifying exam committee member) during her/his time at Harvard.
An alternate examiner may be requested by the student, the dissertation advisor, the program, or the Division. If an alternate examiner is selected, the alternate must be available to attend the seminar and defense and must receive and read a copy of the dissertation.
All exceptions to these rules must be approved by the Executive Director of Division of Medical Sciences.

Students must distribute an electronic copy of the dissertation to the members of the dissertation examination committee not less than 14 days before the examination. Should the dissertation be delivered late to the readers, the examination will be rescheduled unless other arrangements are agreed upon with the chair of the exam and examiners.

The examination committee chair does not function as a voting examiner but may participate in the questioning of the candidate. They are responsible for:

contacting all readers not less than 72 hours before the examination to determine whether they find the dissertation generally acceptable. If one or more reader feel that there are substantive deficiencies that must be remedied to make the dissertation acceptable, the chair must contact or meet with the readers, the dissertation advisor, and the candidate to discuss the situation and decide whether to proceed with the examination. The Director of Graduate Studies of the Division of Medical Sciences and the chair of the student’s Ph.D. program should be contacted immediately and kept apprised of the committee’s decisions.
making sure that corrections to the dissertation are clearly defined and are carried out and approved in a timely fashion. A specific deadline for completion of corrections must be given to the student.
returning Record of Final Exam to the Division of Medical Sciences immediately following the examination. Notifying DMS whether the student has passed their dissertation defense examination and is thus eligible for the Ph.D. If the defense is not successful, the chair of the exam must provide a thorough report to DMS and the student’s program head detailing the areas of substantial deficiency of the dissertation.

Thesis Acceptance Certificate and Record of Final Examination

The examination committee chair is provided with two forms that should be completed following the examination.

The Thesis Acceptance Certificate must be signed by all readers via Adobe Sign if the candidate passes the examination. An electronic copy of the certificate is emailed to the student once they receive a clear pass. The student must then digitally attached the certificate to the first page of the final dissertation and submit it electronically to the registrar’s office online
The Record of Final Ph.D. Examination indicates the outcome of the examination and is completed by the examination committee chair. It should be submitted to dmsphddefense@hms.harvard.edu, where it will be filed as the official record of the examination. If there are revisions to the dissertation that require approval of the examiners before the dissertation is formally accepted, an itemized list of the corrections should be given to the student and noted in the Record of Final Examination Form. In addition, the chair should request that corrections be submitted within a reasonable period, normally one month unless corrections are extensive.

November 2026

November 2026 Checklist

A DAC Report stating that you have permission to write your dissertation must be on file with OGE. Students are expected to defend within 6 months of being given permission to write.
Packet Meeting with OGE: Students must sign up for a packet meeting through this Calendly link: https://calendly.com/dms-4/packet-meeting-1. In this meeting we will go over the steps, forms, and guidelines for finishing up your degree
August 3, 2026	Online Degree Application deadline for November Degrees. Apply through your "My Program" on my.Harvard.edu. Detailed instructions on how to apply can be found in the Knowledge Center. The application has been open since March 19th.
Six weeks before defense date	Forms Due to the OGE Office Dissertation Examination Information Sheet Dissertation Abstract & Title Page: must be emailed as one document (see sample). OGE Graduate survey Please email forms to ogephd_defense@hms.harvard.edu
Two weeks before the defense date	Deliver dissertation to the examination committee (electronically). Student must copy ogephd_defense@hms.harvard.edu OGE will check dissertation is in compliance with GSAS Dissertation Formatting requirements. OGE will prepare electronic forms to send to committee on defense date.
August 25, 2026	Dissertation defense must not be later than this date.
September 2, 2026 by 11:59 p.m. ET	Online submission of Final Dissertation due to the Registrar’s Office Submit your dissertation to ProQuest ETD (under your Program name). If submitted BY September 2, registration, tuition and student health fee for the fall term and tuition will be cancelled. Student Health Insurance Plan will be retroactively cancelled back to the last day of the prior term of coverage (July 31), and the student will be billed for any medical costs incurred during this period. MD/PhD students must have their dissertations submitted two weeks prior to beginning clinic, regardless of the ProQuest deadline above. Please inquire with kelly_nicolas@hms.harvard.edu if you have questions.
September 3, 2026 by 11:59 p.m. ET	If submitted on September 3 only, student’s health fees remain ON the student account and student retains HUHS/Blue Cross Blue Shield health coverage through January 31 (requires advisor’s prior approval).
November 10, 2026	Degree conferral date

February 2026

A DAC Report stating that you have the permission to write your dissertation must be on file with DMS. Students are expected to defend within 6 months of being given permission to write.
Packet Meeting with OGE: Students must sign up for a packet meeting through this Calendly link: https://calendly.com/dms-4/packet-meeting-1. In this meeting we will go over the steps, forms and guidelines for finishing up your degree
December 1, 2025	Online Degree Application deadline for February Degrees. Apply through your "My Program" on my.Harvard.edu. Detailed instructions on how to apply can be found in the Knowledge Center. The application opens on October 1, 2025
Six weeks before defense date	Forms Due to the OGE Office Dissertation Examination Information Sheet Dissertation Abstract & Title Page: must be emailed as one document (see sample). OGE Graduate survey Please email forms to ogephd_defense@hms.harvard.edu
Two weeks before the defense date	Deliver dissertation to the examination committee (electronically). Student must copy ogephd_defense@hms.harvard.edu OGE will check dissertation is in compliance with GSAS Dissertation Formatting requirements. OGE will prepare electronic forms to send to committee on defense date.
January 6, 2026	Dissertation defense must not be later than this date.
January 13, 2026 by 11:59 p.m. ET	Online submission of Final Dissertation due to the Registrar’s Office Submit your dissertation to ProQuest ETD (under your Program name). MD/PhD students must have their dissertations submitted two weeks prior to beginning clinic, regardless of the ProQuest deadline above. Please inquire with kelly_nicolas@hms.harvard.edu if you have questions.
February 10, 2026	Degree conferral date

May 2026

A DAC Report stating that you have permission to write your dissertation must be on file with OGE. Students are expected to defend within 6 months of being given permission to write.
Packet Meeting with OGE: Students must sign up for a packet meeting through this Calendly link: https://calendly.com/dms-4/packet-meeting-1. In this meeting we will go over the steps, forms and guidelines for finishing up your degree
March 18, 2026	Online Degree Application deadline for May Degrees. Apply through your "My Program" on my.Harvard.edu. Detailed instructions on how to apply can be found in the Knowledge Center. The application opens on February 11, 2026
Six weeks before defense date	Forms Due to the OGE Office Dissertation Examination Information Sheet Dissertation Abstract & Title Page: must be emailed as one document (see sample). OGE Graduate Survey Please email forms to ogephd_defense@hms.harvard.edu
Two weeks before the defense date	Deliver dissertation to the examination committee (electronically). Student must copy ogephd_defense@hms.harvard.edu OGE will check dissertation is in compliance with GSAS Dissertation Formatting requirements. OGE will prepare electronic forms to send to committee on defense date.
May 6, 2026	Dissertation defense must not be later than this date.
May 13, 2026 by 11:59 p.m. ET	Online submission of Final Dissertation due to the Registrar’s Office Submit your dissertation to ProQuest ETD (under your Program name). MD/PhD students must have their dissertations submitted two weeks prior to beginning clinic, regardless of the ProQuest deadline above. Please inquire with kelly_nicolas@hms.harvard.edu if you have questions.
May 28, 2026	Degree conferral date

2025-2026

Stipend

If a student defends their dissertation before the 15th of the month, the stipend will be terminated at the end of that month. If the student defends on or after the 15th, the next month’s stipend will be the final month the student is paid.

Students are encouraged to speak to their advisors directly about how they should be paid as they complete their graduate work. If an advisor wishes to pay the student for an additional month, beyond what has been explained above, the advisor must notify David Jablon via email as early as possible. David can be reached at dmsaccounting@hms.harvard.edu. For administrative reasons, a stipend cannot be issued to a student after their graduation/degree conferral date.

Registration & Health Insurance

Please review the HUSHP graduating students website: https://hushp.harvard.edu/graduating-students

November Degree:
Health Insurance – Coverage ends on July 31
Registration – Previous spring semester.
Students who are uncertain whether they will finish in time for a November degree are encouraged to register for the fall term to avoid late registration fees if they miss the degree deadlines. If they then do finish in time their registration for the term will be cancelled.

November Degree with fall term health insurance:
To receive health insurance through the fall semester, you need to do the following:

Have your advisor agree to pay for health insurance through the fall semester and contact David Jablon (dmsaccounting@hms.harvard.edu) to notify him.
Submit your dissertation online to the registrar through the registrar’s website ON September 3, 2025, ONLY

February Degree:
Health Insurance – Coverage ends on January 31
Registration – Register for the previous fall semester
Students who are uncertain whether they will finish in time for a February degree are encouraged to register for the spring term to avoid late registration fees if they miss the degree deadlines. If they then do finish in time their registration for the term will be cancelled.

May Degree:
Health Insurance – Coverage ends on July 31
Registration – Register for the spring semester

Thesis Acceptance Certificate

Following the examination, the candidate must, with the help of the dissertation advisor, make any necessary corrections to the dissertation. If corrections require review, those revisions should be approved by the examination committee chair or by a faculty member designated by the committee chair, who will then notify the Division of Medical Sciences in writing that all revisions are complete.

If no corrections are required or once the corrections are complete, the HMS Office for Graduate Education Phd Programs will email the student an electronic copy of your Thesis Acceptance Certificate (TAC). Please attach this TAC to your dissertation right before your title page with a blank page immediately following the TAC. No page number should be assigned to this page.

Submission

Before submitting your dissertation, review your final copy and make sure it abides by all of the formatting requirements set by Harvard Griffin GSAS. Students can embargo their dissertation for six months, one year, two years, or more. Embargo periods over two years require a signed approval of delayed release form.

The dissertation must be submitted electronically through ProQuest ETD to the FAS Registrar’s Office for approval in order to receive the degree. Dissertations must be received by 11:59 PM on the deadline date for the given degree period. No extensions to this deadline are provided. Any supplemental material or copyright permissions should be included in the submission. Please see the Harvard Griffin GSAS website for more information on dissertation submission or the tutorial on the homepage of the ProQuest ETD submission tool for additional information.

Review the instructions for submitting your dissertation.

Tips:

Harvard asks students to enter their dissertation committee members as it appears on their signature page. You should enter your defense committee members and exclude your advisor.

After Submission

Once the dissertation is submitted, you will receive an initial email stating that the dissertation has been received. The Registrar’s Office will review the document for formatting compliance, and you will then receive a second email once your dissertation has been approved. Any required changes or corrections will be communicated to you and must be resolved before the degree can be conferred. You will have up to one week past the submission deadline to submit any corrections requested by the Registrar’s Office.

Formatting your Dissertation

Writing Resources

HMS OGE PhD Programs Dissertation Guidelines

Private Examination

November 2026

February 2026

May 2026

2025-2026

Stipend

Registration & Health Insurance

Change of Subject Request Form (BBS Students Only)

Thesis Acceptance Certificate

Submission

After Submission

Electronic diploma

HUIT policies on what happens to Harvard accounts and online access after leaving the University

Contact

Kelly Nicolas

Dissertation and Defense

Writing the Dissertation expand_more

Formatting your Dissertation

Writing Resources

HMS OGE PhD Programs Dissertation Guidelines

Defense Format expand_more

Private Examination

Defense Committee expand_more

Defense Deadlines and Forms expand_more

November 2026

February 2026

May 2026

Stipend, Registration and Health Insurance expand_more

2025-2026

Stipend

Registration & Health Insurance

International Students expand_more

BBS Subject Area Change expand_more

Change of Subject Request Form (BBS Students Only)

Dissertation Submission expand_more

Thesis Acceptance Certificate

Submission

After Submission

Diploma expand_more

Electronic diploma

Email and Online Access expand_more

HUIT policies on what happens to Harvard accounts and online access after leaving the University

Contact

Kelly Nicolas