Swedish biomedical PhD examination: an international forum and a proposed procedure for Europe

In 538 randomly selected Swedish biomedical PhDs from 2008, 50% of the external examiners came from abroad, most commonly USA and UK. The sex distribution between candidates was equal, while 17% of the external examiners were women. Twice as many women candidates as men had women examiners. Swedish PhDs are based on work published in international peer-reviewed journals; the median number of works per thesis was 4. The Swedish thesis examination system offers a model for international cross-fertilisation.