A PhD dissertation may be submitted as soon as it is ready for examination, at any point in the year, and preferably well ahead of final cut-off dates. An intention to submit form should have reached the Tygerberg Doctoral Office six months earlier. Inclusion in a particular graduation series can unfortunately not be guaranteed. A candidate may realistically be included in the relevant graduation series, assuming that the examiners were appointed six months earlier, that the dissertation is received positively and reports returned punctually by all three examiners, that the oral report is scheduled about eight weeks after submission, and that the supervisor report is submitted directly thereafter. It is preferable to submit a dissertation for examination not in the last week or two, but by at least four to six weeks prior to the final cut-off date.

The period directly after submission is ideal for preparing and submitting an article for publication in an indexed journal; or to kickstart the patenting process where relevant.

• At least six months prior to submission, candidates should submit the Intention to Submit form - signed by a supervisor and an HoD other than the supervisor - to tyg-phd@sun.ac.za.

• Notice of intention to submit dissertation for e​xa​mination​
  
  

• Academic environments nominate examiners by six months prior to submission. The nomination form should include a cell number and be accompanied by external examiners' CV and identity document. No dissertation may be submitted to examiners if they have not been recommended by the Committee for Postgraduate Research (CPR). Take note that the SU Senate may refuse to approve examiners and results at the same meeting.​
  A PhD examiner should hold a doctoral degree. More information about eligibility for PhD examination is available in this document. As far as possible, one internal SU examiner and two external examiners should be nominated for each doctoral candidate.
  

• Nomination of examiners form
  ​
  

• Format dissertations according to the following guidelines:
  

1. There is no need to include the SU crest on your dissertation
2. Do include your student number on any one of the initial pages
3. The title on the dissertation must match the latest, Senate-approved title exactly
4. Dissertation formatting requirements
   
5. Guidelines for the document formatting of an SU doctoral dissertation​​
6. Format of an FMHS dissertation
   
   

• Submit for examination by sending a single mail with the following three documents attached (and not linked), all in PDF format, to medphd@sun.ac.za, copying the supervisor/s
  1. Latest version of the ​Dissertation release form signed by the supervisors and the HoD
     
  2. Final, approved dissertation in PDF, incorporating the declaration​
     
  3. Separately, the Turnitin report on the very final version of dissertation (compressed​ as necessary)​
     
  
  
  Produce a Turnitin report using the Postgraduate Office Turnitin Sandbox
  

1. Avoid uploading your articles or dissertation to the Turnitin repository
   
2. You may exclude matches smaller than three words or 1%
3. Should your own published articles be included in an online repository,
   you may exclude these from the report
4. Aim for a Turnitin similarity score of no higher than 15%​​