Candidate of Sciences

A Candidate of Sciences[a] is a PhD-equivalent academic research degree in many post-Soviet and Eastern European countries, including Russia, Czechia, Slovakia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan.

[5] Academic distinctions and ranks were viewed as survivals of capitalist inequality and hence were to be permanently eliminated.

[6] Both of these prerequisites are post-bachelors (Bakalavr) degrees, bachelor's being four years of full-time study.

The Candidate of Sciences degree requires a minimum of three years of full-time study during which the individual must conduct and publish advanced original research into a topic that is deemed significant or has practical economic or military potential.

An analogous situation may be found in American institutions where, after comprehensive examinations, a faculty may decide to award another Masters degree instead of continuing with the dissertation.

In exceptional cases, the Candidate of Sciences degree may be awarded on the basis of published scholarly works without writing a thesis.

In experimental sciences the dissertation is based on an independent research project conducted under the supervision of a professor, the results of which must be published in at least three papers in peer-review scientific journals.

A necessary prerequisite is taking courses in philosophy and foreign language, and passing a qualifying examination called "candidate minimum".

In the Soviet Union, the candidate minimum included exams in the specialty field of the "dissertant", in a foreign language of his/her choice and in scientific communism.

The summary of the dissertation must be published before public defense in the form of "autoreferat" in about 150–200 copies, and distributed to major research organizations and libraries.

If the defense is successful (66.6% majority of votes by the secret ballot voting by the members of the council), it is recommended and later must be approved by the central statewide board called Higher Attestation Commission or "Vysshaya attestacionnaya komissiya" or VAK (or by similar authority in other applicable countries).

Only for a short period of time between 1951 and 1958 the communist government tried to replace the title of "doktor" with "kandydat nauk" to follow the Soviet model.

At least one paper should be in one of the journals listed by the Higher Assessment Commission (VAK) of the Russian Ministry of Science.

[citation needed] Some specialties permit the award of the candidate degree for several variants of branches of science, depending on the dominant subject area of the dissertation; e. g., specialty 02.00.04 (physical chemistry)[11] can be awarded the degree of candidate of physico-mathematical, technical, or chemical sciences.