GRADUATION with ORPHEUS LABEL

Graduation Requirements with ORPHEUS Label – May 5, 2025 Institute Board

(For students starting their PhD in Fall Semester 2025-2026 and later)

Minimum publication requirements for PhD thesis defense proposal / graduation procedures:

1. A research article related to the thesis published or accepted in journals indexed in SCI, SCI-Expanded, SSCI, or AHCI. The PhD student has to be the first author.
2. An article related to the thesis published, accepted, or submitted for publication in journals indexed in SCI, SCI-Expanded, SSCI, or AHCI.
3. An article related to the thesis published or accepted in indexed journals.

Explanations:

• The condition in item 1 must be fulfilled as stipulated in the Hacettepe University Graduate Education-Teaching and Examination Regulations (Official Gazette dated 26.11.2016, No. 29900).
• The article type mentioned in items 2 and 3 may be a research article, systematic review, or meta-analysis.
• If the publication in item 1 is in a Q1 category journal, the publication requirement is considered fulfilled.
• If the publication in item 1 is in a Q2 category journal, any one of the conditions in item 2 or 3 must be fulfilled.
• If the publication in item 1 is in Q3 or Q4 category journals, both conditions in items 2 and 3 must be fulfilled.
• If the publication in item 2 is in Q1 or Q2 category journals, fulfilling item 3 is not required.
• Publications in predatory or questionable journals are strictly prohibited.
• The relation of the research articles to the dissertation is evaluated by similarity in at least two of the following: research topic, sample group, method, or results sections.
• Students who meet the necessary conditions and successfully pass the dissertation defense examination proceed with graduation procedures under the ORPHEUS label in accordance with regulations.

According to the decision taken in the Institute Board meeting dated May 5, 2025, the scientific publication requirements for graduation in doctoral programs have been updated:

• The publication requirements in effect at the time of registration of doctoral students remain valid.
• Students registering from Fall Semester 2025-2026 onwards must meet the conditions set out in the decision dated May 5, 2025.
• Registered students may submit written preferences regarding the application of the May 5, 2025 publication requirements in their dissertation defense proposal/graduation procedures. These requests will be evaluated in writing and applied if approved by the Institute.

Additional notes

(No changes; available at //saglikbilimleri.hacettepe.edu.tr/tr/orpheus_etiketi_ile_mezuniyet-504)

• The Q quartiles of journals indexed in SCI, SCI-Expanded, or SSCI must be declared based on the 'Rank by Journal Impact Factor' for the publication year, as per the Web of Science 'Journal Citation Reports.' The quartile of the year of publication is considered.
• Responsibility for confirming that publications meet the ORPHEUS label criteria lies with the Dissertation Defense Committees. Approval following label verification is given by the Health Sciences Institute Administrative Board.
• A patent application related to the thesis that has reached the examination stage may be accepted as equivalent to an article published in a journal outside the Q1 category.
• The Higher Education Council's decision dated December 30, 2021, numbered 2021.18, on predatory/questionable journals (Decision No. 2021.18.643) is valid.

Graduation Requirements with ORPHEUS Label – July 5, 2022 Institute Board (Students who started their PhD in the 2022-2023 Fall Semester and later)

Q quartiles of journals in SCI, SCI-Exp or SSCI should be declared only by 'Rank by Journal Impact Factor' for the year to which the article belongs, using Web of Science 'Journal Citation Reports'. 

Publication requirements to take the PhD thesis defense exam:

1. An article related to the thesis should be published or accepted in journals within the scope of SCI, SCI-Expanded, SSCI, or AHCI. The PhD student has to be the first author.
2. An article related to the thesis should be published or accepted in journals that are included in indexes other than SCI, SCI-Expanded, SSCI or AHCI and that are not considered predatory as announced by the Turkish Interuniversity Board on January 25, 2022 (national and/or international journals that do not charge fees in the application and evaluation processes) article. The PhD student has to be the first author.
3. An article related to the thesis should be published or accepted in journals that are included in indexes other than SCI, SCI-Expanded, SSCI or AHCI and that are not considered predatory as announced by the Turkish Interuniversity Board on January 25, 2022 (national and/or international journals that do not charge fees in the revision and re-evaluation processes) article. The PhD student has to be the first author.

* The Thesis Defense Juries are responsible for determining if publications meet the criteria for the ORPHEUS label. Approval for the label is granted by the Board of Directors of the Institute of Health Sciences.

** If a publication has been published or accepted in journals in the Q1 category according to WEB of Science, it can be accepted in place of three publications. If it has been published or accepted in Q2 category journals, it can be accepted in place of two publications.

*** A patent application related to the thesis that has reached the examination stage can be considered equivalent to an article published outside the Q1 category related to the thesis.

**** In order to assess the suitability of your publications for graduation with the ORPHEUS Label, you must complete and submit the "Publication Review and Evaluation Form" to the thesis defence exam jury along with the relevant publications.

Graduation Requirements with ORPHEUS Label

(Students who started their PhD before 2022-2023 Fall Semester)

• Publication requirements to take the doctoral thesis defence exam:

1. An article related to the thesis should be published or accepted in journals within the scope of SCI, SCI-Expanded, SSCI, or AHCI. The PhD student has to be the first author.
2. An article related to the thesis that has been published or accepted in journals included in the indexes (*) to be determined by the Institute Board for a two-year period.
3. An article related to the thesis should be submitted for evaluation in journals that are included in the indexes determined by the Institute Board for a two-year period. The Thesis Monitoring Committee will review the article submitted for evaluation for publication.

* Indexes accepted by the Institute Board:

1.  Academic Resource Index
2.  AERA
3.  Australian Education Index
4.  Assos
5.  British Education Index
6.  Cosmos
7.  Cochrane Library (By Wiley Online)
8.  Current Index T Statistics
9.  DOAJ
10.  EBSCI/Academic Search Complete
11.  Education Full Text
12.  Embase (Elsevier)
13.  Emerging Sources Citatin Index (ESCI)
14.  ERA
15.  ERIC
16.  Genamics Journal Seek
17.  Google Scholar
18.  HINARY (By WHO)
19.  Idealonline
20.  Index Copernicus
21.  International Scientific Indexing
22.  Journal Factor
23.  PubMed
24.  ProQuest
25.  Research Bible
26.  Scopus
27.  Scientific Indexing Services
28.  SHERPA/RME
29.  Sobiad
30.  ULAKBİM
31.  TÜBİTAK
32.  TÜRK TIP DİZİNİ
33.  Türk Eğitim İndeksi
34.  WorldCat

** If a publication, where the PhD student is the first author, has been published or accepted in a Q1 category journal according to WEB of Science, it can be accepted in place of three publications. If it has been published or accepted in a Q2 category journal, it can be accepted in place of two publications.

*** A patent application related to the thesis that has reached the examination stage can be considered equivalent to an article published outside the Q1 category related to the thesis.

**** In order to assess the suitability of your publications for graduation with the ORPHEUS Label, you must complete and submit the "Publication Review and Evaluation Form" to the thesis defense exam jury along with the relevant publications.