Activities of dissertation councils of confessional scientific certification systems

The paper is devoted to the compliance of the confessional dissertation councils’ operation with the rules and practices of the state system of scientific attestation in its current state. The main focus is on the study of the Russian Orthodox, Islamic and Protestant systems of theological academic certification, within which confessional dissertation councils are established and operate, and theological degrees are awarded and recognised. The extensive source base included domestic and foreign regulatory and legal acts, internal regulations of religious organisations, documents and materials on the operation of dissertation councils and on the awarding of theological degrees. The study demonstrated that confessional and secular scientific attestation are conducted according to similar principles, in accordance with comparable requirements. It is revealed both in organisational aspects and in the issues of quality assessment of candidate and doctoral theses. This state of aff airs is related to the general attitude of confessional systems towards the convergence with actual state formats. The similarity is mostly revealed in case of comparing the operation of dissertation councils established on the basis of leading educational and scientific organisations, which have received the right to independently award state academic degrees.