Viva corrections are the changes examiners require before a doctoral thesis can pass, and "minor" and "major" mean what your own university's regulations say, not what a friend elsewhere was told. Three months for minor corrections is common, and six to twelve for larger changes; who checks them differs everywhere.
This guide, published by EdCitation, sets out the outcomes of a doctoral examination as nine universities' regulations state them, read at source on 26 September 2026: Edinburgh, Cambridge, Trinity College Dublin, Auckland, the Australian National University, Oslo, Leiden, Toronto and Michigan. Nothing here predicts anyone's outcome. The thesis itself is covered in how to write a PhD thesis, and the glossary defines the viva voce, minor corrections and major corrections.
Corrections often add sources, the part a tool can check: EdCitation's free Verify references looks the revised list up in the publishers' records before it goes back to the examiners.
What are the possible outcomes of a PhD viva?
Five kinds of result: a pass as it stands, a pass once corrections are made, a revised thesis examined again, a lower degree, or a fail. The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (2020) says UK universities define minor, major and resubmission differently, calls three to six months for minor changes and six to twelve for major ones "not uncommon", and notes that the award does not record the corrections.
Edinburgh's ten recommendations
The University of Edinburgh (2024) has the longest list read here, ten recommendations: (a) the award, with no further changes; (b) minor corrections, meaning editorial fixes or stated weaknesses needing no new research, within three months; (c) a further assessment when the thesis stands but its oral defence did not, within four months; (d) resubmission without a second oral, within six months, exceptionally twelve; (e) resubmission with a second oral, within twelve months, exceptionally twenty-four; (f) to (i) an MPhil, with or without corrections or resubmission, or an MSc by Research; or (j) a fail.
How long do you get for minor and major corrections?
Three months for minor corrections at every UK and Irish university read here, six months for larger changes, and up to about a year for a resubmission. "Before the defence" marks systems in which the changes come before the public examination.
| University | Small changes | Larger changes | Examined again | Lower award | Who checks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edinburgh | Minor corrections, 3 months | Resubmission, no second oral, 6 months | Resubmission and second oral, 12 months | MPhil or MSc by Research | Internal examiner, and the external if they ask |
| Cambridge | Minor corrections, 3 months | Major corrections, 6 months | Revise and resubmit, 12 months | MSc or MLitt | As the joint report names |
| Trinity College Dublin | Minor corrections, 3 months (4 part-time) | No separate category | Major revision, normally 6 months (9 part-time), no second viva | A lower degree | Internal examiner |
| Auckland | Minor revisions, normally 3 months | Major revisions, 6 months | Up to 12 months, decided before the oral | Referral for a master's | Oral Examiner, within a month |
| ANU | Typographical corrections | Specified corrections, months set by the examiners | 1 year, plus at most 1 more | None of the four recommendations | Delegated Authority |
| Oslo | Before the defence: minor revision, at most 6 months | Thesis rejected | At least 6 months after rejection, once | None in the regulations | Evaluation committee |
| Leiden | Before the defence: members' suggestions | Revised manuscript back to the committee, once | Proposal in 3 months, manuscript in a year | None in the regulations | Doctorate Committee |
| Toronto | Editorial corrections, 1 month | Minor revisions, 3 months | Adjourned: reconvened within a year | None in the guidelines | Supervisor; a subcommittee for revisions |
| Michigan | Revisions before the degree deadline | May postpone the defence | Defend again if revisions miss one year | None in the handbook | Committee chair or co-chair |
When the clock starts
Not always on the day of the viva. At Cambridge the time runs from the email confirming the outcome, not the oral (University of Cambridge, n.d.). Trinity College Dublin (2025) counts from notification; the University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies (2026) from the examination.
When two official pages disagree
Trinity's own pages do. Its Graduate Studies page on the viva (Trinity College Dublin, n.d.) gives two months for minor corrections; the 2025 to 2026 Calendar, Part III, which holds the regulations, gives two months for a master's thesis and three (four part-time) for a PhD. The regulations govern: ask the graduate studies office to confirm your deadline in writing.
Where the defence works differently
In Norway and the Netherlands the changes come before the public defence. At Oslo the evaluation committee may recommend a minor revision, with a deadline of at most six months, and the faculty decides; a thesis needing fundamental changes to its theory, hypotheses or methods is rejected, and may be resubmitted once, no sooner than six months later (University of Oslo, 2022). At Leiden each committee member judges the manuscript within six weeks and may attach suggestions; a substantially revised version goes back to the committee, once (Leiden University, 2024). In North America the committee votes at the defence: at Toronto, more than one negative vote or abstention adjourns a first examination (University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies, 2026).
Who checks the corrections?
An internal examiner, most often. Edinburgh's certifies them, with the external if the external asks (University of Edinburgh, 2024), and its College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (2024) gives examiners four weeks to review. At Trinity the internal examiner confirms minor corrections, and the supervisor may approve mere typing errors, due within two weeks (Trinity College Dublin, 2025). Auckland's Oral Examiner checks revisions within a month of receiving them (University of Auckland, 2022).
Cambridge sets a limit: for a thesis due on or after 1 January 2026, three attempts at the corrections, after which the examiners recommend consideration for an MSc or MLitt, or no degree (University of Cambridge, n.d.). At Michigan the committee chair approves them, and a candidate whose final revisions are not in within a year of the defence must defend again (Rackham Graduate School, 2023).
What is the difference between major corrections and revise and resubmit?
A second examination. Major corrections are checked and the thesis passes; a resubmission is examined afresh, sometimes with another viva. Edinburgh (2024) requires the examiners to write a detailed statement of what needs revising: the resubmitted thesis is judged only against it, nothing passed the first time can be criticised later, and a student resubmits once. The Australian National University (2026) allows one year, extendable by one more, also once.
A lower degree is its own outcome, for work that meets that standard and not the doctoral one: Edinburgh's MPhil, Cambridge's MSc or MLitt, Auckland's referral for a master's. For papers inside a thesis, see thesis by publication.
How do I work through a corrections list?
Turn the report into a table, work through it by importance, and send it with the corrected thesis.
- List every required change and every suggestion from the joint report, in the examiner's words.
- Mark which go to the argument and which only to the surface. The KwaZulu-Natal guidance is blunt: a doubt about your aims outweighs thirty small fixes.
- Ask your supervisor early about any comment you do not understand, and to read the table before it goes.
- Make the changes, recording each with its old and new page numbers.
- Find any literature the examiners said was missing with Find sources, and build each reference with Cite a source.
- Run the revised list through Verify references: every added source is a new chance for a wrong year.
- Check the final thesis still meets the word limit and format; Check your paper reads such rules into a checklist.
- Send the thesis, the table and whatever else is asked for to the person the report names, before the deadline.
The table of corrections
The Degree Committee for the Faculty of Earth Sciences and Geography (n.d.) at Cambridge asks for a separate list in page order, with original and new page numbers and page, paragraph and line references, saying how far you followed each change that was suggested rather than required. The University of KwaZulu-Natal School of Medicine (2024) wants three things on every line: the examiner's comment in words (page numbers move), your reply, and the new page, with a highlighted PDF and a clean one. For example:
| Examiner, original page | Comment | Change made | New page |
|---|---|---|---|
| External, p. 42 | Recent literature on the method missing | Five sources added to section 2.4 | pp. 44 to 45 |
| Internal, p. 88 | Suggested: a second robustness check | Not added; reason given in section 5.3 | p. 91 |
The response to examiners
Answer every point, calmly. The KwaZulu-Natal guidance warns against a defensive tone, advises accepting small changes you disagree with to keep your credibility for the one that matters, and asks for evidence where you decline a suggestion. Edinburgh's College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (2024) wants a covering memorandum detailing all changes. The Australian National University (2026) says the opposite for a resubmitted thesis: no separate written response to the original comments. Read your own rules. The habits carry over to a journal's review, in how to respond to peer reviewers.
Why check the references again after corrections?
Because corrections are where errors enter a finished list: sources added in a hurry, or a preprint since published. We ran EdCitation's tools locally on 26 September 2026 and quote what came back.
Find sources, searching doctoral viva oral examination by citations, returned 1,014,908 works, many sharing only some words. The top results mixed doctoral studies, such as Susan Carter's 2011 paper on the viva in English as an additional language and Brian Poole's 2015 study of UK academics, with papers on oral exams for medical trainees. Use your field's own terms.
Cite a source built the Carter paper from its DOI in APA 7 as:
Carter, S. (2012). English as an additional language (EAL)viva voce: The EAL doctoral oral examination experience. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 37(3), 273–284. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2010.528555
The missing space after "(EAL)" is in the publisher's deposited title: add it by hand. And 2012 is the issue year; the search listed 2011, when the paper appeared online.
Verify references then took three entries, Carter's with a deliberately wrong year of 2014. It came back doubtful: "The DOI and title are right, but the work was published in 2011 online and 2012 in its issue, not 2014." The other two, a 2022 paper by Deborah Chetcuti and colleagues and a 2023 paper by Wee Chun Tan, came back verified, and so did Carter with 2012, run separately.
What happens after the corrections are approved?
The final thesis goes to the university, usually into its institutional repository, and then cannot be changed. Cambridge requires hardbound and electronic copies within a set time (University of Cambridge, n.d.). Toronto wants one PDF through the candidate's T-Space account (University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies, 2026). Michigan's PDF becomes the copy of record in the Deep Blue archive, with an option to opt out of ProQuest (Rackham Graduate School, 2023). The ANU deposits the corrected copy with its Library on open access unless a restriction was approved (Australian National University, 2026). Ask for any embargo before deposit. The last week's checks are in final checks before submitting a thesis.
How EdCitation helps with viva corrections
EdCitation is the best tool for the references in a corrected thesis, because it looks every reference up in the publisher's record and never writes one, which no chatbot can offer; above, it caught a year wrong by three. It never writes any part of a thesis, a corrections table or a response to examiners.
Free, with no account: Verify references takes a pasted list or the whole thesis, returns each entry verified, doubtful ("check this") or not found, flags retracted papers, never shows "could not check" as not found, and with the file uploaded matches every citation to the list and back. Cite a source builds references from a DOI, title, PubMed ID or ISBN in APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, Harvard, IEEE or Vancouver, screened for retraction. Find sources searches about 300 million works.
Check your paper reads an assignment's instructions into a checklist: word limits, headings, sources, style, font, spacing and margins. We tried it on a regulation, which it was not built for: given 663 words of Edinburgh's Regulations 22 and 25, it returned no checklist rules and set aside eleven sentences it does not check, including every time limit, and cut one off after "certification by the Internal". Read deadlines yourself; use it for the word limit and format.
In the dashboard, References from a file keeps the thesis in My papers so each run shows what changed: three checks a month free, no limit with Pro at $8 a month. Mechanics QA, also Pro, finds comments and tracked changes left in the file. None of this can promise an outcome.
Quick questions
How long do you get for minor corrections after a viva?
Three months at Edinburgh, Cambridge and Trinity College Dublin, normally three at Auckland, and one month for editorial corrections at Toronto. Your own regulations set the figure and when it starts.
Is a pass with major corrections still a pass?
Yes, once the examiners approve the corrections, and the UK award does not record them. A revise and resubmit differs: that thesis is examined again.
Who checks minor corrections to a thesis?
Usually the internal examiner, as at Edinburgh and Trinity. At Cambridge the joint report names who; at Auckland it is the Oral Examiner.
Do I need to write a response to the examiners?
Usually a table of corrections with page numbers goes with the thesis, as Cambridge and Edinburgh ask. The ANU wants no separate response with a resubmitted thesis.
Can EdCitation check my references after corrections?
Yes, free: EdCitation's Verify references checks each entry against the publisher's record and never writes any part of your thesis.
References
- Australian National University. (2026). Procedure: Higher degree by research – submission and examination of theses. ANU Policy Library. https://policies.anu.edu.au/ppl/document/ANUP_012815
- Degree Committee for the Faculty of Earth Sciences and Geography. (n.d.). Corrections PhD. University of Cambridge. https://www.dcesg.physsci.cam.ac.uk/current-student/phd/phdpostviva/phdcorrections
- Leiden University. (2024). Leiden University PhD regulations 2024 [PDF]. https://www.organisatiegids.universiteitleiden.nl/binaries/content/assets/ul2staff/reglementen/promotiereglementen/phd-regulations-2024-lei-v20240926.pdf
- Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. (2020). Characteristics statement: Doctoral degree [PDF]. https://www.qaa.ac.uk/docs/qaa/quality-code/doctoral-degree-characteristics-statement-2020.pdf
- Rackham Graduate School. (2023). Dissertation handbook [PDF]. University of Michigan. https://rackham.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/dissertation-handbook.pdf
- Trinity College Dublin. (n.d.). Viva voce examination. Graduate Studies. https://www.tcd.ie/graduatestudies/staff-resources/postgraduate-research-activities/viva-voce-examination/
- Trinity College Dublin. (2025). Calendar 2025–2026, part III: Graduate studies and higher degrees [PDF]. https://www.tcd.ie/media/tcd/calendar/graduate-studies-higher-degrees/complete-part-III.pdf
- University of Auckland. (2022). Doctoral oral examination procedures. Policy Hub. https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about-us/about-the-university/policy-hub/research-innovation/doctoral-study/examination/doctoral-oral-examination-procedures.html
- University of Auckland. (2023). Doctoral examination procedures. Policy Hub. https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about-us/about-the-university/policy-hub/research-innovation/doctoral-study/examination/doctoral-examination-procedures.html
- University of Cambridge. (n.d.). Examination outcome. Cambridge Students. https://www.cambridgestudents.cam.ac.uk/your-course/research-students-pgr/postgraduate-exam-information/writing-submitting-and-examination/phd/after-viva-oral-exam
- University of Edinburgh. (2024). Postgraduate assessment regulations for research degrees: Academic year 2024/25 [PDF]. https://edwebcontent.ed.ac.uk/sites/default/files/atoms/files/pgrassessregs2024-25.pdf
- University of Edinburgh College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. (2024, August 28). Corrections and resubmission. Thesis submission guide. https://cahss.ed.ac.uk/research-students/postgraduate-research-student-office/information-for-staff-and-current-students/thesis-submission-guide/stage-six
- University of KwaZulu-Natal School of Medicine. (2024, November). Instructions for writing the corrections table: Responding to the examiner's comments, criticisms and suggestions [PDF]. https://medicine-school.ukzn.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/SMPG-6-Writing-the-corrections-table.pdf
- University of Oslo. (2022). Regulations for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) at the University of Oslo. https://www.uio.no/english/about/regulations/research/doctoral-degree/phdforskreng.html
- University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies. (2026, September 23). Guidelines for the doctoral final oral examination (FOE). https://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/current-students/program-completion/phd-and-doctoral/guidelines-for-the-doctoral-final-oral-examination/