Requirements for scientific publications for postgraduate students, doctoral candidates and applicants for academic titles in Kyrgyzstan are set at two levels – state and university. Both levels are periodically updated, so checking current information before starting publication work is of practical importance.
Two levels of requirements for scientific publications
Publication requirements in Kyrgyzstan are set at both the national level and the level of the individual university. The baseline standards are established by the Higher Attestation Commission under the Ministry of Science, Higher Education and Innovation of the Kyrgyz Republic (the HAC). The current “Regulation on the Procedure for Awarding Academic Degrees” was approved as Annex 3 to Resolution No. 637 of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic dated 6 October 2025.
Alongside this, each university, through its academic council and dissertation council, is entitled to set additional organisational requirements – deadlines for submitting documents, the procedure for allocating dissertation topics, and other internal procedures. The final set of conditions for a given candidate is therefore made up of a combination of state standards and the university’s own internal rules.
How many publications are needed to defend a dissertation this year?
The current Regulation sets the following minimum number of publications: for a Candidate of Sciences dissertation – at least five, including one article in journals indexed by Scopus and/or Web of Science, together with publications from the HAC’s List of peer-reviewed journals; for a Doctor of Sciences dissertation – at least fifteen, including two articles in Scopus and/or Web of Science; for a Doctor of Sciences dissertation defended in the form of a scientific report – at least twelve articles in Scopus and/or Web of Science and a sole-authored monograph.
Besides these numerical requirements, the document also sets substantive ones. For example, using text generated by artificial intelligence in a dissertation without correctly formatted references is treated as plagiarism, and the dissertation is rejected without the right to a repeat defence. Clarifications of this kind show that the regulatory framework continues to be updated, and it is not advisable to rely on an earlier edition of the document.
University requirements often add to the state minimum
In addition to publications required for a dissertation defence, a university may set separate requirements for the conferring of academic titles – associate professor, professor, and senior research fellow. These criteria are set out in the “Regulation on the Procedure for Conferring Academic Titles” – Annex 4 to the same Resolution No. 637 of the Cabinet of Ministers dated 6 October 2025. For example, the title of associate professor requires at least two teaching and methodological works and four articles in journals indexed by Scopus and/or Web of Science; the requirements for the title of professor are higher and vary depending on the candidate’s academic degree and position.
When preparing for a dissertation defence or for an academic title application, it is worth clarifying the following points with your university:
- additional number of publications beyond the state minimum
- deadlines for submitting documents to the dissertation or academic council
- the procedure for reimbursing the cost of publishing an article
- requirements for how author and affiliation details are presented
Where can current university requirements be checked?
To avoid relying on rules that are no longer current, it is worth following this sequence of steps:
- Review the current edition of the Regulation on the Procedure for Awarding Academic Degrees on the HAC’s official website.
- Check your chosen journal against the current version of the List of peer-reviewed scientific journals, as the HAC periodically approves a new edition of it – the current list dates from 2026.
- Clarify internal requirements on your university’s website or with the postgraduate and doctoral studies office.
- Contact the academic secretary of the dissertation council for clarification of the current criteria.
- Check the official text of resolutions and decrees in the Ministry of Justice’s Centralised Data Bank of Legal Information.
The regulatory framework governing scientific publications in Kyrgyzstan continues to evolve – in 2026, a draft State Programme for the Development of Science, Higher Education, Intellectual Property and Innovation for 2026–2030 was put out for public discussion, and it may introduce further changes. Before starting publication work, it is therefore advisable to check primary sources – the HAC’s official website, the Centralised Data Bank of Legal Information and your own university – rather than earlier editions of the regulatory acts.
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