Could you get a doctorate based solely on a thesis written in your free time?

Question

I am a very enthusiastic person academically and I love to gather new (sometimes irrelevant but useful) knowledge about my field in my free time. I am now at the point where I would like to start writing a paper on something in my field of interest and based on my own research.

If my paper is credible, contributes to my field and fulfills the standards that apply to any PhD thesis, would I be awarded a doctorate if I applied for the degree and publish the paper?

As an undergraduate, I don't know much about a PhD program. From what I know, it's simply you and your research that counts. I understand that, in the last analysis, it is the contribution to your field that counts. Am I missing anything?

Answer 1

Just write your paper, as long as the writing does not distract you from your undergrad studies. If the paper has merit, you may be able to present it at a colloquium of your university, at a workshop, or even at a conference. If you put some more work into it and are lucky, you might eventually be able to publish it in a journal. Certainly, your paper will open up more questions than it answers. Now you have a research trajectory that you can follow up and that may lead to a PhD thesis, based on but surely not limited to your first paper.

In other words: There is no reason why you should not start to work on your PhD topic already as an undergraduate, but it seems to me that you underestimate the time and work it takes to finish the PhD. And since PhDs require a lot of work, there are PhD programs, which facilitate the process and in which most PhDs are actually produced. In that sense, writing your PhD outside of the designated framework is a bit like digging a well with a spoon. It can be done, but it is not too efficient. On top of that (as others have said already), at many institutions, the written thesis is only one requirement among others to be awarded a title.

Answer 2

If my paper is credible, fruitful to my field and otherwise fulfilling the standards that any PhD thesis should

A research paper is not a thesis. Theses are usually expositions upon some field that the author has contributed to, and frequently contain extensive background that is typically omitted in academic literature. Indeed, many of my colleagues in industry have published research papers without having PhDs.

... would I be awarded a doctorate if I'd publish and wish for it?

In addition, you would need to find a university to endorse your work, which often requires collaborating with faculty.

Although, if your work is truly groundbreaking and you spend a lot of time hanging out at a particular campus, you might qualify for an honorary degree!

Answer 3

All this depends on the field, the country, etc. but in theory, if you already have a master's degree, it is possible to get a PhD based on previous (published) research. But typically not on a single paper. (Over)generalizing and assuming your research is genuinely interesting and meets all the (sometimes arbitrary) requirements of your field, a rough guideline is that you need material corresponding to at least three papers.

You would also need to write some intro/conclusion putting the research in context, make revisions based on your advisors' comments, find a jury and satisfy them. You cannot just show up with a paper and “wish” for a PhD, at least not from a real, reputable university. That's assuming you really manage to make your research publication-worthy (which means not only rigorous but also connected to recent literature and current problems in your field) and find a faculty willing to accommodate you as it's not the “normal” way to get a PhD.

Don't overlook the bit about finding an advisor: It's incredibly important. The PhD is really an apprenticeship under the supervision of a full professor. You don't ask a university or department for a doctorate, there is no process to submit a thesis and have it evaluated on your own, it's all driven by faculty members and you won't even be allowed to defend a thesis if it's not endorsed by one (he or she would also typically help you recruit a jury).

Realistically, a mediocre thesis can be validated if a professor puts his or her mind to it, asks friends to sit in the jury, etc. but even brilliant work is nothing if you don't find an interested academic to move the process along.

Beyond that, others have mentioned extra requirements but the thesis is really the most important thing. In my experience, in Europe (I got my PhD in the Netherlands but I know a little bit about France, Germany, or the UK), it's increasingly common to organise some mandatory courses for PhD candidates but the load is very light, a few short courses about soft skills or methodology with no exam, only pass/fail based on attendance. And there are ways around that if you have a good reason.

But to be perfectly honest, your question suggests you are not very familiar with academia so it seems highly unlikely you would succeed in getting a PhD without proper support. I am not sure why you want one but if it's important to you, it might be a better idea to simply enroll in a PhD program.

Answer 4

An example of someone who did just this was Ludwig Wittgenstein. So yes you could, especially if you are a genius.

Wittgenstein wrote the Tractatus during his free time and it was used as his thesis for his Cambridge PhD.

Wittgenstein came to feel that he could not get to the heart of his most fundamental questions while surrounded by other academics, and so in 1913 he retreated to the village of Skjolden in Norway, where he rented the second floor of a house for the winter. He later saw this as one of the most productive periods of his life, writing Logik (Notes on Logic), the predecessor of much of the Tractatus.

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In the summer of 1918 Wittgenstein took military leave and went to stay in one of his family's Vienna summer houses, Neuwaldegg. It was there in August 1918 that he completed the Tractatus

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he could not initially work at Cambridge as he did not have a degree, so he applied as an advanced undergraduate. Russell noted that his previous residency was sufficient for a PhD, and urged him to offer the Tractatus as his thesis. It was examined in 1929 by Russell and Moore; at the end of the thesis defence, Wittgenstein clapped the two examiners on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, I know you'll never understand it." Moore wrote in the examiner's report: "I myself consider that this is a work of genius; but, even if I am completely mistaken and it is nothing of the sort, it is well above the standard required for the Ph.D. degree." Wittgenstein was appointed as a lecturer and was made a fellow of Trinity College. (Wikipedia)

Answer 5

No, as commenter Zach H points out, doctoral programs also have other requirements, such as courses and sometimes exams.

UPDATE: As commenters have shown, my answer was US-centric and thus incorrect. I'd delete it, but that would delete the helpful comments below.

Answer 6

PhD programs provide funding for, typically, no more than four years. Given that the average time to completion is well in excess of that (it was ten years in the UC Berkeley English department last time I checked), the reality is that the majority of PhD theses are completed during time not spent doing remunerated work, which is another name for "free time". So yes, not only can you do a PhD thesis in your free time, in most cases that's what you'll end up doing even if you enroll in a formal PhD program. Hope that helps...

Answer 7

The front page of every PhD thesis states "Submit as Partial Fulfillment of the Degree". So, a thesis is a must but not all for a PhD degree. The degree requires years of academic training, not as simple as just one thesis, or several published research papers.