[The doctoral regulations of the medical faculties in Germany : What has changed in the last 9 years?]

Background: The doctoral degree regulations at German faculties partially show fundamental differences. Against this background in 2016 the Medical Faculty Association (MFT) published a position paper on teaching scientific competence in medical studies. This study project aims to analyze the quality of doctoral degree regulations in Germany 9 years later.

Methods: In this study 39 current doctoral degree regulations (PromO) from German medical faculties with the right to award doctorates were analyzed along with the supervision agreements, if available. The standard of the statutes was assessed according to the scoring system of Sorg et al.

Results: The mean value of the total score of all doctoral regulations was 68.4 points (SD ± 8.4) and has increased compared to 2016 (57.5 points, SD ± 9.4, p < 0.001). Supervision agreements and cumulative doctorates have been strongly codified since 2016. Methodological training and plagiarism checks have become more mandatory compared to 2016 but are not widespread. The MFT requirement of at least 9 months of research activity was only addressed by 1 medical faculty. Not all doctorates have to be published.

Conclusion: The key points of the MFT position paper have not been fully implemented; however, the quality of doctoral regulations in Germany has improved over the last 9 years.