List of doctoral degrees in the US
There are a wide variety of doctoral degrees awarded to students in a number of different categories in the United States. Doctorates are not restricted to being based solely on research or academic coursework.
Historical background
The first research doctorate was the doctor of philosophy, which came to the U.S. from Germany, and is frequently referred to by its initials of Ph.D. As academia evolved in the country a wide variety of other types of doctoral degrees and programs were developed. Some of these included a focus on teaching such as the Doctor of Arts, others were simply a more specific curricula within a specific field such as the Doctor of Engineering or Doctor of Education of which may be identical in requirements, length, coursework and research to the Ph.D.Additionally, there are a number of lower level professional doctorates such as the Doctor of Medicine and the Juris Doctor that do not have a dissertation research component. In contrast to other countries worldwide a doctoral program generally requires the completion of a program of academic coursework in addition to other requirements for all types of doctoral degrees.
Types of doctorate
The United States Department of Education published a Structure of US Education in 2008 that differentiated between associate degrees, bachelor's degrees, first professional degrees, master's degrees, intermediate graduate qualifications and research doctorate degrees. This included doctoral degrees in the first professional degree, intermediate graduate qualification and research doctorate degree categories.The Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics divides U.S. doctorates into three categories for the purposes of its Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System : Doctor's degree-research/scholarship, Doctor's degree-professional practice and Doctor's degree-other. The Doctor's degree-research/scholarship is defined as "A Ph.D. or other doctor's degree that requires advanced work beyond the master's level, including the preparation and defense of a dissertation based on original research, or the planning and execution of an original project demonstrating substantial artistic or scholarly achievement." The Doctor's degree-professional practice is unofficially known as "doctor's degree" in the U.S. that is conferred upon completion of a program providing the knowledge and skills for the recognition, credential, or license required for professional practice but is defined by the department of education as a professional degree that lawyers and physicians complete to practice in their vocations. The degree is awarded after a period of study such that the total time to the degree, including both pre-professional and professional preparation, equals at least six full-time equivalent academic years." The Doctor's degree-other is defined as "A doctor's degree that does not meet the definition of a doctor's degree research/scholarship or a doctor's degree professional practice." The categorization of degrees for IPEDS is left to the awarding institutes.
The National Science Foundation has published an annual census of research doctorates called the Survey of Earned Doctorates since 1957 with sponsorship from the NSF, NASA, the National Institutes of Health, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Education. For the purposes of this survey, a research doctorate is defined as "a doctoral degree that requires completion of an original intellectual contribution in the form of a dissertation or an equivalent culminating project and is not primarily intended as a degree for the practice of a profession." The second point here - that a research doctorate is "not primarily intended as a degree for the practice of a profession" means that not all doctorates containing "an original intellectual contribution in the form of a dissertation or an equivalent culminating project" are regarded as research doctorates by the NSF. The NSF list of research doctorates is recognized internationally as establishing which U.S. doctorates are considered Ph.D.-equivalent, e.g. by the European Research Council.
The Department of Education's 2008 Structure of US Education listed 24 frequently awarded research doctorates titles accepted by the National Science Foundation as representing "degrees equivalent in content and level to the Ph.D". This reflected the 24 doctorates recognized by the NSF in Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities: Summary Report 2005. As of Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities: Summary Report 2006 this was reduced to 18, part of an ongoing program of assessment that saw the number of recognized research degrees reduced from the 52 recognized from 1994 to 1998, falling to 48 from 1999 to 2003 and to 24 in 2004. The number rose to 20 in 2007, with the Doctor of Design and Doctor of Fine Arts being re-recognized after being removed from the 2006 list, before falling again to 18 in 2008 when the Doctor of Music and Doctor of Industrial Technology were dropped. Since then, the list of recognized research degrees has been constant, although most Ed.D. degree programs were determined to have a professional rather than research focus and removed from the survey in 2010–2011; despite this, the Ed.D. remains the second most popular research doctorate in the SED after the Ph.D in 2022..
Research doctorates
In the United States the doctoral degrees that have been identified by various universities and others as having original research including a dissertation or equivalent have included:| Degree | Abbreviation | Identified by | Notes |
| Doctor of Architecture | D.Arch. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Arts | D.A. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Arts in Teaching | D.A.T. | NSF | As alternative name for Doctor of Arts |
| Doctor of Applied Science | D.A.S. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Business Administration | D.B.A. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Canon Law | J.C.D. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Chemistry | D.Chem. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Church Music | D.C.M. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Criminal Justice | D.C.J. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Criminology | D.Crim. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Comparative/Civil Law | D.C.L. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Design | D.Des. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Design | Dr.DES | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Education | Ed.D. | NSF | Most programs not considered research degrees by NSF from 2010/11 |
| Doctor of Engineering | D.Eng./D.E.Sc./D.E.S | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Environment | D.Env. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Fine Arts | D.F.A. | NSF | Not included in NSF list for 2006 |
| Doctor of Forestry | D.F. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Geological Science | D.G.S. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Health and Safety | D.H.S. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Hebrew Letters/Literature | D.H.L. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Hebrew Studies | D.H.S. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Industrial Technology | D.I.T. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Juridical Science | J.S.D./S.J.D. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Juristic Science | J.S.D. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Library Science | D.L.S. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Medical Science | D.M.Sc | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Missiology | D.Miss | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Music | D.M. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Music Education | D.M.E. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Music Ministry | D.M.M. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Musical Arts | D.M.A. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Modern Languages | D.M.L. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Nursing Science | D.N.Sc. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Philosophy | Ph.D. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Physical Education | D.P.E. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Professional Studies | D.P.S. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Public Administration | D.P.A. | NSF Brewer et al. | - |
| Doctor of Public Health | Dr.P.H. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Recreation | D.Rec./D.R. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Rehabilitation | Rh.D. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Religious Education | D.R.E. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Sacred Music | D.S.M. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Sacred Theology | S.T.D. | NSF | Removed from NSF list from 1999, restored in 2004 |
| Doctor of Science | D.Sc./Sc.D. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Science and Hygiene | D.Sc.H. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Science in Dentistry | D.Sc.D. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Science in Veterinary Medicine | D.Sc.V.M. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of the Science of Law | L.Sc.D. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Social Science | D.S.Sc. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Social Work | D.S.W. | NSF | - |
| Doctor of Theology | Th.D. | NSF | - |
Professional doctorates
In addition to the research doctorate, the US has many professional degrees, formerly referred to as first-professional degrees. These are titled as doctor's degrees and classified as "doctors degree professional practice". While research doctorates require "advanced work beyond the master's level, including the preparation and defense of a dissertation based on original research, or the planning and execution of an original project demonstrating substantial artistic or scholarly achievement", professional doctorates must have a total time to degree of at least six years, and provide "the knowledge and skills for the recognition, credential, or license required for professional practice".| Professional Service | Doctoral Degree in the United States | Abbreviation | First awarded | Original/Founding Degree in the United States |
| Acupuncture | Doctor of Acupuncture | D.Ac. | MAC 1981 | |
| Athletic Training | Doctor of Athletic Training | D.A.T | ||
| Audiology | Doctor of Audiology | Au.D. | 1996 | MA/MS post-WWII |
| Behavioral Health | Doctor of Behavioral Health | D.B.H. | 2010 | |
| Chiropractor | Doctor of Chiropractic | D.C. | 1927 | |
| Clinical Laboratory Science | Doctor of Clinical Laboratory Science | D.C.L.S. | 2018 | |
| Computer Science | Doctor of Computer Science | D.C.Sc. | 1965 | |
| Counseling | Doctor of Professional Counseling | D.P.C. | 1972 | |
| Dentistry | Doctor of Dental Surgery Doctor of Dental Medicine | D.D.S. D.M.D. | See M.D. degree | - |
| Economic Development | Doctor of Economic Development | D.E.D. | 2008 | |
| Health Administration | Doctor of Health Administration | D.H.A. | ||
| Health Science | Doctor of Health Science | D.H.Sc. | 1914 | |
| Law | Juris Doctor Doctor of Law Doctor of Jurisprudence | J.D. | "Graduate of Laws" 1792; LL.B 1840 | - |
| Law and Policy | Doctor of Law and Policy | D.L.P. | 2009 | |
| Management | Doctor of Management | D.M. D.Mgt | 1995 | |
| Medical Physics | Doctor of Medical Physics | D.M.P. | 2010 | |
| Medical Science | Doctor of Medical Science | D.M.S. | 2016, Lincoln Memorial University | |
| Medicine | Doctor of Medicine | M.D. | M.B. 1769 | - |
| Ministry | Doctor of Ministry | D.Min. | ||
| Ministry | Doctor of Practical Theology | D.P.Th. | ||
| Ministry | Doctor of Biblical Studies | D.B.S. | ||
| Ministry | Doctor of Educational Ministry | DEDMIN | ||
| Ministry | Doctor of Religious Science | Dr. rel. sc. | ||
| Ministry | Doctor of Ethics in Medicine | D.M., also in Latin Dr. eth. med. | ||
| Ministry | Doctor of Bible Exposition | D.B.E. | ||
| Ministry | Doctor of Ecclesiastical Philosophy | Dr. eccl. phil. | ||
| Ministry | Professor of Ecclesiastical Sciences and Theology | Prof. eccl. | ||
| Ministry | Doctor of Worship Studies | D.W.S. | ||
| Ministry | Doctor of Transformational Leadership | DTL | ||
| Music | Doctor of Church Music | D.C.M. | ||
| Music | Doctor of Pastoral Music | D.P.M. | ||
| Music | Doctor of Sacred Music | D.S.M. | ||
| Naturopathy | Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine | N.D. or N.M.D | 1901 see Naturopathy | |
| Nursing | Doctor of Nursing Practice Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice | D.N.P. D.N.A.P. | 2005 | |
| Occupational Therapy | Doctor of Occupational Therapy | O.T.D. or D.O.T. | 1998 | |
| Optometry | Doctor of Optometry | O.D. | 1889 | See M.D. degree |
| Osteopathic Medicine | Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine | D.O. | 1892 | See M.D. degree |
| Policy and Law | Doctor of Law and Policy | D.L.P. | - | |
| Pharmacy | Doctor of Pharmacy | Pharm.D. | "Graduate of Pharmacy" 1826; B.S. in Pharmacy 1938 | - |
| Physical Therapy | Doctor of Physical Therapy | D.P.T. | 1992 | |
| Podiatry | Doctor of Podiatric Medicine | D.P.M. | 1915 | D.S.C. 1912; See M.D. degree |
| Psychoanalysis | Doctor of Psychoanalysis | Psya.D. or D.Psa. | ||
| Psychology | Doctor of Psychology | Psy.D. | >1973 | |
| Public Health | Doctor of Public Health | DrPH, Dr.P.H. or D.P.H. | 1911 | |
| Social Worker | Doctor of Social Work | D.S.W. | ||
| Speech-Language Pathology | Doctor of Speech-Language Pathology | S.L.P.D. | ||
| Veterinary medicine | Doctor of Veterinary Medicine | D.V.M./V.M.D. | 1876 | B.V.S. 1871 |