Receiving the preliminary examination statements and the decision on the permission for a public examination

The stages of the examination process are submission of the dissertation for preliminary examination and appointment of preliminary examiners, receiving the preliminary examination statements, decision permission for public examination, decision on the public examination, publishing the dissertation, organising the public examination event and making dissertation press release, public examination event and the assessment of the doctoral dissertation.

This page includes instructions on receiving the preliminary examination statements and decision permission for public examination.

Please note that you need to be registered as an attending student for the semester during which you defend your doctoral thesis and the dissertation is registered in the study register.
 

Preliminary examination statements 

Instructions when the preliminary examiners have been appointed before August 1, 2026

According to the Degree Regulations of the University of Jyväskylä, section 50 §,

• the preliminary examiners shall, within a month of being designated, either jointly or separately give a substantiated written statement on whether permission should be granted or rejected for the public examination of the dissertation. The preliminary examiner’s proposal for permission cannot be conditional. For a justified reason, the dean of the faculty, or a person designated by the dean, may define a longer period than one month for the preliminary examination.
• the doctoral candidate shall be provided with the opportunity to comment on the preliminary examiners’ statements before a decision on the permission for public examination is taken.
• the doctoral candidate has the right to interrupt the preliminary examination process before the faculty council handles the permission for the public examination.

Please note:

• The candidate must not be in contact with the preliminary examiner during the preliminary examination. Contact with the preliminary examiner must be done through faculty's doctoral studies coordinator. The candidate must inform their supervisor and the faculty's doctoral studies coordinator if the preliminary examiner has been in contact with the candidate during the examination process.
• Rector’s decision on ethical guidelines for studying and the handling of academic misconduct at the University of Jyväskylä (21.8.2023) includes instructions on how to proceed if a doctoral dissertation submitted for examination is suspected of violating good scientific practice (alleged misconduct).
   

Instructions when the preliminary examiners have been appointed on or after August 1, 2026

These guidelines are based on the following: University of Jyväskylä’s Degree Regulations 50§, the Operating practices of the University of Jyväskylä Graduate School (decision of the Vice Rector on March 27, 2026), and the University of Jyväskylä’s Regulations.

The preliminary examiners shall, within a month of being designated, either jointly or separately give a substantiated written statement on whether permission should be granted or rejected for the public examination of the dissertation. 

Preliminary examination period

• For a justified reason, the dean of the faculty, or the vice dean responsible for research with delegated authority, can define a period longer than one month for the preliminary examination.
• A period shorter than one month may be agreed upon for examination with the preliminary examiners.

Preliminary examination statement

• The preliminary examination statement must be written in the language of the dissertation or in English.
• The preliminary examiner’s proposal for permission cannot be conditional.
• The preliminary examiners can, if they wish, present their view on whether the dissertation is among the best in the field.

Please note:

• The candidate must not be in contact with the preliminary examiner during the preliminary examination. Contact with the preliminary examiner must be done through faculty's doctoral studies coordinator. The candidate must inform their supervisor and the faculty's doctoral studies coordinator if the preliminary examiner has been in contact with the candidate during the examination process.
• Rector’s decision on ethical guidelines for studying and the handling of academic misconduct at the University of Jyväskylä (21.8.2023) includes instructions on how to proceed if a doctoral dissertation submitted for examination is suspected of violating good scientific practice (alleged misconduct).

Once the statements have been received: 

• The preliminary examiners send their statements to the faculty's doctoral studies coordinator. The coordinator sends the statements to the candidate and the supervisor-in-charge.
• The doctoral candidate shall be provided with the opportunity to comment on the preliminary examiners’ statements before a decision on the permission for public examination is taken. The doctoral student has seven (7) days from the date of receiving the preliminary examination statements to respond to the statements (in electronic communications, a message is deemed to have been received on the third day after it was sent). Any comment must be submitted to the faculty's doctoral studies coordinator using the HelpJYU form “Contact doctoral education services” no later than 8 days before the Faculty Council meeting (taking public holidays into account) so that the decision on the permission for public examination of the the dissertation can be prepared in time for the agenda.
• If the preliminary examiners’ proposals on granting the permission for a public examination differ (favourable and unfavourable statements) and the doctoral student does not wish to interrupt the examination process, the dean will appoint a third preliminary examiner before deciding on the permission for public examination.
• The doctoral candidate has the right to interrupt the preliminary examination process before the faculty council handles the permission for the public examination. The preliminary examination may be restarted after any revisions have been made to the dissertation manuscript. In this case, the process begins anew from the start. The same or different individuals may be appointed as preliminary examiners compared to the previous preliminary examination process. The new examination process does not take into account the previous preliminary examination or any statements or other materials included in it.
   

Decision on the permission for public examination

These guidelines are based on the following: University of Jyväskylä’s Degree Regulations 50§, the Operating practices of the University of Jyväskylä Graduate School (decision of the Vice Rector on March 27, 2026), and the University of Jyväskylä’s Regulations.

Faculty Council Decision the permission for public examination:

• Once the doctoral candidate has approved the preliminary examination statements or submitted a response to them — but no later than the end of the 7-day deadline — the Faculty Council can decide on the permission for public examination.
• The faculty council decides on the permission for public examination based on all given statements and the doctoral student’s possible response. Any response must be submitted to the the faculty's doctoral studies coordinator using the HelpJYU form no later than 8 days before the Faculty Council meeting (taking public holidays into account) so that the decision on the permission for public examination can be prepared for the agenda.
  • Check the meeting schedule for your faculty’s faculty council:  
    • Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
    • Faculty of Information Technology
    • Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics
    • Faculty of Education and Psychology
    • Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences
    • Faculty of Mathematics and Science
• The examination process of the doctoral dissertation complies with what is said about the disqualification of officials in the Administrative Procedure Act (434/2003, Section 27). In the dissertation examination process, the absence of grounds for disqualification means that none of the persons (preliminary examiner, opponent, a member or presenting official of the faculty council, a member of the assessment board) participating in the process is in a relationship with the doctoral candidate that would cause the person’s impartiality to be questioned. Please also notice JYU instructions on Disqualification and conflicts of interest at JYU (Intranet Uno).  
• The faculty’s doctoral studies coordinator informs the doctoral candidate and their supervisor-in-charge of the Faculty Council’s decision.
• If the candidate is not granted the permission for a public examination of the dissertation, the preliminary examination procedure ends. The preliminary examination may be restarted after any revisions have been made to the dissertation manuscript. In this case, the process begins anew from the start. The same or different individuals may be appointed as preliminary examiners compared to the previous preliminary examination process. The new examination process does not take into account the previous preliminary examination or any statements or other materials included in it.
   

Revising the dissertation manuscript after the preliminary examination 

Note: These instructions apply to those dissertations, where decision on the public examination event has been made on or after August 1, 2026.
 

What kinds of changes can be made to a dissertation after the preliminary examination?

• The faculty council decides whether to grant the permission for public examination for a dissertation that has been submitted for preliminary examination and reviewed by the preliminary examiners. The dissertation manuscript that has undergone preliminary examination and has been granted the permission for public examination must be essentially the same in content as the dissertation that will later be published, archived, and evaluated at the public examination.
• After the preliminary examination, only changes suggested by the preliminary examiners may be made to the dissertation; no other significant changes, such as adding, removing, or replacing articles, are permitted. Technical revisions, such as editing the language, abstract, and summary, are allowed (for instructions on technical formatting of the thesis, see Publishing dissertations in JYU Dissertations).
• Once permission for the public examination has been granted, the doctoral candidate must ensure that 1) the final, revised, and proofread dissertation material is submitted to the publishing services no later than one month before the public examination date, and 2) dissertation will be publicly available either in the JYX publication archive, or some other form, at least five days before the public examination. For more detailed instructions on these matters, see Publishing dissertations in JYU Dissertations.
   

Summary of changes made to the dissertation after the preliminary examination

• Well in advance of the public examination, the doctoral candidate must prepare a summary of the changes made to the dissertation after the preliminary examination (excluding technical revisions). The summary must be submitted to the faculty's doctoral education coordinator at latest 7 days before the public defense via HelpJYU service portal.
  • The purpose of the summary is to describe the essential changes made following the preliminary examination. The summary provides those involved in the evaluation with information on how the dissertation may have changed from the manuscript reviewed during the preliminary examination.
  • Please note that the opponent, the assessment board, and the Faculty Council will receive a complete archival version of the dissertation for evaluation, which also includes any unpublished manuscripts that may have been omitted from the publicly available (JYX) version of the dissertation. The summary of changes must describe the changes made to this archival version used for the evaluation.
  • The summary must include the name of the author (your name), the title of the dissertation, and a brief description of the essential changes made after the preliminary examination and the reasons for them, such as significant changes made based on the preliminary examiners’ comments, chapters that have been supplemented or clarified, significant changes to analyses, tables, or figures, and changes to the versions of or publication status of article publications.
  • The summary does not need to describe technical editions, such as corrections of spelling errors or language style, layout changes, or other minor technical corrections.
  • The summary is a public document (to be disclosed upon request) that is permanently retained. Only information and reasoning relevant to the handling of the matter should be included in the summary.
• Please note that the preliminary examination statements and the candidate’s summary on how the dissertation has changed since the preliminary examination will be shared with the following parties at later stages of the examination process:
  • the opponent(s) and the assessment board prior to the public examination
  • the Faculty Council when the Faculty Council makes the final decision on the approval and assessment of the doctoral dissertation