I just received an email from a site user who wanted to know how many online Phd degrees there are in the USA. Great question!

Get Educated profiles 126 accredited online phd programs.

Northcentral University appears to offer the most online doctorates while there are several interesting or unusual doctorate degrees online, like the one in Sports Management Education from the United States Sports Academy a regionally accredited college that specializes in -- you guessed it! -- sports degrees.

Help us gather more data. Suggest a distance learning doctoral program that is not in our data base. We're especially looking for affordable state or public universities that offer online degree programs nationwide.

Vicky Phillips

Most interesting information. Thank you! Are there any PhD programs in USA that are by dissertation (Thesis) only from accredited Universities ? It seems that Jones International has such a program for a research PhD by dissertation only but it is very expensive. Any comments would be most welcome.

Hi NDLovu,

The Get Educated online degree directory lists 113 accredited online doctorate programs BUT these are all in the USA and subject the USA model of education.

I think you will find that none of the online PHD programs in the Get Educated directory are by dissertation only, meaning that no formal course work is required only a research project that leads to the PHD.

The dissertation only doctorate is available from some European and Australian open university degree programs but GetEducated focuses on accredited online colleges in the USA.

In the USA in distance learning the most common practice is that online PHD programs do NOT require a research thesis. Instead, they require more courses and a final practical applied project. The bias is the US is that older non-traditional students tend to enroll in distance doctorates and that these students want to be practitioners rather than academic researchers.

You will need to look toward open universities from countries like South Africa and Australia if you specifically want a distance learning research-only PHD program online.

If you know of properly accredited European open learning doctorates that are research only please let our site users know.

All the Best
Vicky Phillips
GetEducated.com



ndlovu wrote:
Most interesting information. Thank you! Are there any PhD programs in USA that are by dissertation (Thesis) only from accredited Universities ? It seems that Jones International has such a program for a research PhD by dissertation only but it is very expensive. Any comments would be most welcome.

Hi Vicky, Many thanks for your detailed reply. I will certainly share information. I was told by an enrolment adviser at Jones IU that they had a PhD program based on a research thesis only. They seem therefore to have a combination of both models. But as the cost was in the region of $45000 for the program it was off putting to say the least as the researcher does all the work anyway ! Hence my earlier question. Many thanks!

Hi NDLovu,

Thank you for the feedback.
That's interesting, about Jones IU.

They do have online doctorates in business (DBA) and education but both these PhD degrees have a set of mandatory courses that have to be taken related to core theory and then they have a set of mandatory courses that they require distance students to take to learn how to write and to draft a final project (practitioner's thesis).

I think maybe that admission advisor was mistaken that there are no required courses.

Or maybe they meant there is a practitioner's thesis PLUS courses? I don't see how a research-only thesis could be possible unless there is something special about your case in terms of doctoral study. Did you do doctorate study before and get to the point of ABT (all but thesis?)

Perhaps we mean something different by research-only thesis?

Below is the required curriculum for the online doctorate education and the online DBA at JIU Online.

Online PHd Education --

CURRICULUM
3 Doctoral Colloquia Courses – No Cost No Credit
11 Core Content Courses 33 Credits
1 Mandatory Research Course 3 Credits
1 Research Courses 3 Credits
0 Inquiry Course No Credit
1 Comprehensive Written Examination Course 3 Credits
1 Formal Proposal Course 4 Credits
3 Dissertation Courses 12 Credits
0 Dissertation Critique Courses No Credit
14 Dissertation Writing Courses 14 Credits
TOTAL Required for Graduation

72 Credit Hours
3 Doctoral Colloquia Courses – No Cost No Credit
DOC900 Doctoral and Specialist Degrees: Year 1 Colloquium
11 Core Content Courses 33 Credits
EDU790 Current K-12 Education Theories
EDU791 Facilitating a Shared Vision of Learning
EDU795 Public Knowledge and Public Responsibility
EDU796 Ethical Leadership
EDU797 Leadership and the Art of Change Management
EDU798 Leading K-12 Organizations that Foster Learning
EDU799 The Future of K-12 Education and Democracy
EDU800 Collaboration and Learning in Diverse Communities
EDU801 K-12 Education Policy Analysis for School Leaders
EDU802 Understanding and Influencing Society
EDU803 Managing Learning Organization Resources
1 Mandatory Research Course 3 Credits
RES700 Foundations of Doctoral Research Methods
1 Research Courses 3 Credits
RES701 Qualitative Doctoral Research Methods
RES702 Quantitative Doctoral Research Methods
0 Inquiry Course No Credit

1 Comprehensive Written Examination Course 3 Credits
EDU850 Comprehensive Examination, School of Education
1 Formal Proposal Course 4 Credits
EDU851 Formal Proposal, School of Education
3 Dissertation Courses 12 Credits
EDU890 Dissertation 1, School of Education
EDU891 Dissertation 2, School of Education
EDU892 Dissertation 3, School of Education
0 Dissertation Critique Courses No Credit

14 Dissertation Writing Courses 14 Credits
DOC910 Foundations of Doctoral Writing
DOC911 Foundations of Doctoral Research
DOC912 Structure of the Literature Review
DOC913 Developing the Research Question
DOC914 Structure of the Research Methodology
DOC915 First Draft of the Literature Review
DOC916 First Draft of the Methodology Chapter
DOC917 Second Draft of the Literature Review
DOC918 Second Draft of the Methodology Chapter
DOC919 First Draft of the Introduction
DOC920 Final Draft of the Literature Review
DOC921 Final Draft of the Methodology Chapter
DOC922 Final Draft of the Introduction
DOC923 Dissertation Chapter 3:3 Final

Online PHD Business Required Courses

CURRICULUM
1 Orientation Course - no cost No Credit
8 Business Foundations Courses 24 Credits
4 Research Courses 12 Credits
1 Comprehensive Written Examination Course 3 Credits
1 Formal Proposal Course 4 Credits
4 Dissertation Courses 16 Credits
0 Dissertation Critique Courses No Credit
13 Dissertation Writing Courses 13 Credits
TOTAL Required for Graduation

72 Credit Hours
1 Orientation Course - no cost No Credit
DOC900 Doctoral and Specialist Programs: Year 1 Colloquium
8 Business Foundations Courses 24 Credits
BA710 Foundations of Management Science
BA711 International Business Management
BA712 Organizational Development
BA713 Leadership and Organizations
BA714 Sustainability and Innovation in the Business Enterprise
BA715 Organizational Measurement and Assessment I
BA716 Organizational Measurement and Assessment II
BA717 Strategic Management
4 Research Courses 12 Credits
RES700 Foundations of Doctoral Research Methods
RES701 Qualitative Doctoral Research Methods
RES702 Quantitative Doctoral Research Methods
RES703 Advanced Quantitative Doctoral Research Methods
1 Comprehensive Written Examination Course 3 Credits
BA730 Comprehensive Examination
1 Formal Proposal Course 4 Credits
BA731 Formal Proposal – School of Business
4 Dissertation Courses 16 Credits
BA820 DBA Project: Data Gathering
BA821 DBA Project: Analysis
BA822 DBA Project: Results
BA823 DBA Project: Final Defense
0 Dissertation Critique Courses No Credit

13 Dissertation Writing Courses 13 Credits
DOC910 Foundations of Doctoral Writing
DOC911 Foundations of Doctoral Research
DOC912 Structure of the Literature Review
DOC913 Developing the Research Question
DOC914 Structure of the Research Methodology
DOC915 First Draft of the Literature Review
DOC916 First Draft of the Methodology Chapter
DOC917 Second Draft of the Literature Review
DOC918 Second Draft of the Methodology Chapter
DOC919 First Draft of the Introduction
DOC920 Final Draft of the Literature Review
DOC921 Final Draft of the Methodology Chapter
DOC922 Final Draft of the Introduction

Maybe we are defining the research-only thesis doctorate differently?
If you do find a non-course research thesis-only doctorate in the USA let us know.
I am sorry if I misconstrued your question.

Mostly a doctorate in the USE will require 60-72 credits of formal coursework beyond the masters degree -- then a practitioner's project or pracitioners thesis as they are sometimes called.

All the Best
Vicky Phillips


ndlovu wrote:
Hi Vicky, Many thanks for your detailed reply. I will certainly share information. I was told by an enrolment adviser at Jones IU that they had a PhD program based on a research thesis only. They seem therefore to have a combination of both models. But as the cost was in the region of $45000 for the program it was off putting to say the least as the researcher does all the work anyway ! Hence my earlier question. Many thanks!

I've been researching a number of different degree programs, and found one PhD program in the field of "Technology Management" from Indiana State University: technology.indstate.edu/consortphd/

It's actually a program run by a consortium of schools, including ISU:
- Bowling Green State University
- East Carolina University
- Indiana State University
- North Carolina A&T

I'm still reading, but it would require 2 on-campus sessions of 5 days during what they term their "residency" year, although they can be scheduled to include weekends.

It sounds interesting so far, but I may have to call them for some details about the coursework.