Excellent news! Relax and enjoy your success. Congratulations and best wishes for the future.

Slowmo,

I'll agree with others: the time varies a lot. In my case, my supervisor identified and contacted the most suitable academic who could be my external at the beginning of this academic session, and I had my viva 5 weeks after I submitted my thesis. I remember having this awkward situation of meeting my external at a conference just a week before the viva and both of us avoided each other - a point he jokingly made reference to after the viva was over.

Thanks guys for your kind messages. It's gradually sinking in. And, to be honest I am more than thrilled and pleased with the outcome.

I submitted my thesis on 10 May 2011 and my viva voce examination took place yesterday. Lasting just over 1 hour, I passed with minor corrections. I find the support on this site very incredible. I'll hang around here for the forseeable future to give whatever support I can to others.(up)

My viva voce examination took place today and lasted just over one hour. I PASSED WITH MINOR CORRECTIONS. I am sooooooooo relieved with the outcome. The support on this forum/website is second to none and I hope to stay around here for the foreseeable future to support others undergoing the same process. Once again thanks everyone and best wishes to others awaiting their vivas.

Did I miss something out of JJJ's response? I'm assuming this is North American (USA & Canada) PhDs you're describing and certainly not UK PhD style

Hi guys, just to let you know -- my viva finally holds this week. I'll keep you posted to let you know how it goes. I'll do my best to defend my work, but at this stage it's a matter of 'Que Sera, Sera' (whatever would be would be).

I'm preparing for mine too which takes place this week. It's natural to fret given that your getting the PhD stands or falls with your examiners' verdict. This said, I'll suggest the following:
1) Take courage in the strength of your work (This should help you overcome your worries).
2) Understand its weakness and be ready to explain how you intend to deal with it.
3) If you have the time, make a list of all typos and factual errors e.g. calculations, etc. (Be prepared to hand these over to the examiners just before the viva takes off --except they ask you not to bother. It shows your awareness, rather than ignorance, of these errors and that you're not waiting for them to point them out to you).
4) For this waiting period, I'll go over and over the thesis. Familiarising yourself with your methodology chapter (and if you have the time going through sections of raw data --I'm assuming your in the social sciences) should juggle your memory concerning how you went about the analysis of your data.
5) Finally, eat well, relax well (i.e. generally look after your health) and when you've put in your very best, take it that 'what will be will be'.

I'm preparing fro mine which takes place this week. It's natural to fret given that your getting the PhD stands or falls with your examiners' verdict. This said, I'll suggest the following:
1) Take courage in the strength of your work (This should help you overcome your worries)
2) Understand the weakness and be ready to explain how you intend to deal with it
3) Make a list of all typos and factual errors e.g. calculations, etc. (Be prepared to hand these over to the examiners just before the viva takes off --except they ask you not to bother. It shows your awareness, rather than ignorance, of these errors and that you're not waiting for them to point them out to you).
4) For this waiting period, I'll personally spend more time preparing for the viva rather than on publication.
5) Finally, eat well, relax well (i.e. generally look after your health) and when you've put in your very best, take it that 'what will be will be'.

Just curious to know! Why would you want a failed PhD with a view to obtaining an MPhil? I'm unsure of MPhil by publication. However, a small number of UK universities (e.g. The University of Birmingham, Queen's University, Belfast, Sterling University, etc) offer PhD by Publication. Some of these unis (e.g. Birmingham) only allow their academic (i.e. teaching and research) staff into this route. Use google search engine and I'm sure you'll get more than enough info on this subject. Hope this helps.

I really don't think it's worth publishing in such journals, except if you simply wanted another line on your CV or hoping to work in some parts of the developing world where it really doesn't matter. Personally, I'll take a look at the journal ranking in my discipline or sub-discipline (I know some would dispute the ranking criteria), seek the opinion of established academics in my field regarding which journals they consider to be of high impact and then try to submit to such journals. In the academia, particularly in the developed world, academic departments are more keen on candidates who publish in high impact journals and whose publications in such high impact academic journals can count, in the UK, for example, for the RAE ranking.

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I recently submitted my thesis and my viva is scheduled to hold in the next few days. However, I've just returned home tonight from a 3-Day Conference attended by my external and internal examiners. I specifically sat in on some of the sessions they chaired or in which they presented. Throughout these sessions, I had strong feelings my external was indirectly attacking my work. Clearly, he aggressively attacked the works of authors of some of the key texts and theories heavily utilised or relied upon in my thesis. In places, I took it that he was passing coded messages to me because whenever he says certain things (which I personally considered VERY UNPLEASANT), my internal endlessly giggled and shook his head. Evidently, the body-language between the duo (widely known to be age-long pals) seems to say it all to the point that I'm beginning to think may be they've both agreed this is a failed PhD. From tomorrow, I'll be checking my thesis for some of the hints I felt my external was dropping and try to tackle these head on at the viva. So, in this respect, it's advantageous that if my external was indirectly attacking my work, it leaves me with a few days to get myself ready to deal with his objections at the viva itself. Also, having seen the aggressive side of him, I wish he isn't going to do that to me. But, if he does, it won't shock me, and I'll hope to be able to develop thick skin to withstand it. Any advise would be highly appreciated.

Pineapple29, I'll like to join others in saying a BIG congratulations to you. You worried so much over this, as I am currently about mine which comes shortly, but your mind must be at rest now. Enjoy your weekend, and best wishes for the future.

Hi guys, I thought I should keep everyone (especially those who responded) posted. I finally put all my chapters together, edited it thoroughly, handed copies to my sups who quickly read through and gave me a critical feedback. I subsequently made corrections in line with sup's comments and finally submitted, albeit after the deadline. I'm pleased with the work as submitted, but you never can tell until the examiners give it a thumb up. I'm now awaiting my viva which holds in less than a month's time. I'll let you know how it goes as well. Thanks to everyone, once again.

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Thanks for these responses. Yes, it's a fully funded PhD. Reason for wanting me to submit is simply because it's my 4th Year and this May is the submission deadline for Summer (July) graduation (that is if all things go well). I really don't think it's the examiners (who have been notified) who are demanding this submission. It's just my main supervisor who's saying I've read the chapters separately and they're fine. What scared me was when he said if the draft is not handed in early to make room for his own reading (which he would do within a week or so) and for me to make corrections as necessary, then I should just collate the whole thesis and submit without him (them) reading the entire work. This raises two questions. Shouldn't they read the full thesis and see if it coheres and ascertain it's been well structured, etc, etc? And what if there are substantial corrections to be made which cannot be completed before the early May deadline? As suggested, am meeting them both very shortly when I would hand them the entire draft as my first full draft. When he gets (or they get) back to me with their comments/corrections, the extent of the corrections, I suppose would help in deciding whether or not I should proceed to submit. In the maintime any further suggestions are welcomed and I'll surely keep everyone posted.