Doctor (title)
[2] The right to grant a licentia docendi was originally reserved to the church which required the applicant to pass a test, take an Oath of allegiance and pay a fee.
[3] However, while the licentia continued to hold more prestige than the bachelor's degree (Baccalaureus), it was eventually positioned below the magister and the doctorate, which became the only titles with which one could teach.
The PhD entered widespread use in the 19th century at Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin as a degree to be granted to someone who had undertaken original research in the sciences or humanities.
[7][8] The title is also used for lawyers in South America, where they have traditionally earned doctoral degrees,[9][10][11][12] as well as in the former Portuguese territories of Goa in India and Macau in China.
[40] The same writer noted in a letter to the Journal of Higher Education in 1948 that Alfred University had banned the use of the title for faculty (while retaining it for the president and deans) "in a strange move professedly designed to uphold and promote 'democracy' and 'Americanism'".
[44] In 1970, reverse snobbism in the face of the rising number of "discount doctorates" was linked to professors at prestigious universities wanting to be called "mister".
[54] The introduction of further professional doctorates in the US at ISCED level 7, the same as the MD and JD, has led to continuing debate about the use of the title by holders of such degrees, particularly in medical contexts.
[55][56][57] In 2018, a decision by The Globe and Mail newspaper in Canada to update its style guide so as to restrict the use of the title Doctor to medics led to a backlash on Twitter, particularly by women with PhDs, using the #ImmodestWomen hashtag.
In the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Ghana, and other countries whose cultures were recently linked to the UK, the title Dr is generally used both for those who hold doctoral degrees and for registered medical practitioners.
[74] The title of doctor is frequently used by qualified professional medical practitioners in the fields of Allopathic medicine (MBBS) and dentistry (BDS), as well as by other practitioners like Siddha (BSMS), Yoga and Naturopathy (BNYS), Ayurveda (BAMS), Unani medicine (BUMS) and Homeopathy(BHMS), Veterinarians (BVSc) and holders of doctoral degrees, including PhDs and pharmacists with PharmDs.
"; others, however, some being Anglophones who wish to sound modern and Westernised (or were raised in an almost exclusively English-speaking family environment), or some who advocate gender equality, would dispense with the distinction altogether.
There does exist in Filipino an equivalent, gender-neutral term for the professional that carries the more general notion of "healer", traditional (for example, an albuláryo) or otherwise: manggagámot.
[113] Until 1989, The Washington Post used the title for "practitioners of the healing arts (including chiropractors and osteopaths) but not for holders of PhDs or honorary degrees", after which it dropped its use entirely.
[127] Some JD holders in the United States use the title of doctor in professional situations, although ethics board decisions have varied on whether this is permissible or might mislead the public into believing the lawyer was medically qualified or had a PhD.
[130] In 2011, Mother Jones published an article claiming that Michele Bachmann was misrepresenting her qualifications by using the "bogus" title Dr. based on her JD.
The article was later amended to note that the use of the title by lawyers "is a (begrudgingly) accepted practice in some states and not in others", although they maintained that it was rarely used as it "suggests that you're a medical doctor or a Ph.D.—and therefore conveys a false level of expertise".
In many European languages the term doctor is distinct from a medical practitioner, which can be referred to as e.g. läkare in Swedish, Arzt in German, dokter or arts in Dutch, or lääkäri in Finnish.
), who since 2002 do not obtain doctoral degrees (ISCED 8) but instead follow a master's level six-year training (360 ECTS) programme, similar to an American MD or DDS.
It is not mandatory to use it, although it may be added to official documents (e.g. driver's licence, passport), if desired[145] In Finland, the title of tohtori or doktor denotes holder of a research doctorate comparable to a PhD.
[146] The law in France allows the title of Dr to be used professionally by holders of research doctorates, with the field of their speciality being mentioned after the name.
For this reason, 80% of all students in medicine write "doctoral" dissertations, often comparable to a master's thesis in science,[151] alongside their undergraduate studies to obtain a Dr. med.
Few fields retain the 5-6 year system (such as law and medicine) but are called "laurea magistrale a ciclo unico" and are an integrated master's degree.
Finally, the Italian system also introduced a doctorate ("dottorato di ricerca"), which lasts 3 years and is the terminal degree of the educational hierarchy, corresponding to a PhD.
[167][168] In Portugal, up to recent times after the completion of an undergraduate degree – except in architecture and engineering – a person was referred to as doutor (Dr.) – male or doutora (Dra.)
However, custom gives the legislation little strength and most graduates use the Dr. title in its abbreviated form, although use of the full Doutor is normally restricted to those with doctorates.
[170] The social standing of Doctors in Spain is evidenced by the fact that only PhD holders, Grandees and Dukes can take seat and cover their heads in the presence of the King.
[citation needed] However, the Spanish Royal Academy recognises that it is used colloquially to describe physicians, even without doctoral degrees, as well as (in the feminine form, doctora, abbreviated Dra.)
[177] There are no restrictions on the use of the title "Doctor" in the United Kingdom, except where, in commercial advertising, it might imply that the user holds a general medical qualification.
[201] The Committee of Advertising Practice advises, however, that "references to 'DC' or 'doctor of chiropractic' are unlikely to dispel that misleading impression [of being a medical practitioner], when used in conjunction with unqualified references to the prefix 'Dr'", saying that the use of the title by chiropractors may be acceptable in advertising if "clearly and prominently qualified with additional text which makes clear it is a courtesy title and that the practitioner does not hold a general medical qualification".
Informally, the title, in both its full and abbreviated form (i.e. "dr.") is used honorifically to address medical doctors even in more formal environment like in lectored media texts, however officially it is reserved only for the holders of academic degrees.
