The Doctoral Student's Guide
The Guide du Doctorant (Doctoral Student's Guide ) provides a common basis for all doctoral students and professionals in doctoral-accredited establishments to record, deposit, preserve and promote doctoral theses.
Report your thesis in preparation
STEP, the national professional application for reporting theses in preparation, is used by the majority of establishments authorized to award doctorates, to promote doctoral research in progress. The subjects of theses in progress are referenced and distributed via theses.fr.
The STEP application is accessible to doctoral students only if their institution authorizes such access. A certificate of registration for a thesis in preparation is issued to doctoral students either via their STEP account, or via the STEP correspondent at their institution.
For further information, doctoral students are invited to contact the department responsible for reporting theses in preparation, usually the doctoral school or the Service Commun de Documentation.
Regulatory texts
As an official document, the doctoral thesis is governed by a set of official texts.
Texts in force
- Arrêté du 25 mai 2016 fixant le cadre national de la formation et les modalités conduisant à la délivrance du diplôme national de doctorat (updated by thedecree of August 26, 2022)
- Law No. 2013-660 of 22 July 2013 on higher education and research
- Circular no. 2011-0009 of 11 May 2011
- Decree No. 2009-464 of 23 April 2009 on contractual doctoral students in public higher education or research institutions
- Law No. 2006-450 of 18 April 2006 on research programmes
- Guide du droit d'auteur -4th edition (2018) , under the scientific direction of A.Lucas, by E. Bouchet-Le Mappian, S. Chatry and S. Le Cam, University of Nantes, Institute of Research in Private Law and MESRI. Guide and tutorial dealing with the issue of the use and creation of digital resources, available on the portal for digital education in highereducation
- Memorandum of Understanding of 22 July 2016 on the use of books, edited musical works, periodical publications and works of visual arts for the purpose of illustrating teaching and research activities, published in the Official Bulletin No. 35 of 29 September 2016, and its amendment of 26 December 2019.
Texts applicable before 2016
These regulatory texts, cited for the record, were repealed by the order of 25 May 2016 setting the national training framework and the procedures leading to the award of the national doctoral diploma.
- Decree of 7 August 2006 on the methods of deposit, reporting, reproduction, distribution and conservation of theses or works presented in defence with a view to the doctorate
- Order of 7 August 2006 on doctoral training
- Order of 6 January 2005 on the international co-supervision of theses
- Circular of 29 March 2005 on the deposit, reporting, distribution and archiving of theses in electronic form
- Order of 3 September 1998 on the charter of theses
- Order of September 25, 1985, on the Procedures for the Deposit, Notification and Reproduction of Theses or Works Presented for Defense with a View to the Doctoral Degree