D.Litt stands for Doctor of Letters — sometimes written Doctor of Literature — and D.Sc stands for Doctor of Science. Both are higher doctorates: degrees awarded above a PhD, not instead of it, in recognition of a substantial published body of original work built over many years after the doctorate.
They are not taught programmes. There is no syllabus, no coursework and no examination. A candidate submits published work already in the public record, and a panel of external experts assesses whether that body of work represents a distinguished and sustained contribution to the field.
There is also an honorary version, conferred without any such assessment, and there is a fraudulent version sold for money. Telling the three apart is what most people arriving on this page actually need, so we will get to it.
How a higher doctorate differs from a PhD
The distinction is easiest to see side by side.
PhD | D.Litt / D.Sc (earned) | |
What it is | A research training degree | Recognition of a career body of work |
Duration | Typically 3–6 years | No fixed duration; often 8–15 years of work after the PhD |
Coursework | Yes, in the first year | None |
Supervisor | Yes | No |
What you submit | A thesis written for the degree | Published work that already exists |
Prerequisite | A master’s degree | Usually a PhD, plus years of subsequent output |
Assessment | Thesis examination and viva | External expert review of the published corpus |
Purpose | Qualifies you to do research | Recognises that you have done it, at distinction |
The one-line version: a PhD is how you become a researcher. A D.Litt or D.Sc is a statement, decades later, that your research mattered.
D.Litt or D.Sc — which applies to which field
D.Litt (Doctor of Letters) covers the humanities and social sciences — literature, languages, history, philosophy, education, sociology, political science, economics in some universities, and the arts.
D.Sc (Doctor of Science) covers the natural and applied sciences — physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, engineering, medicine and allied disciplines.
Some universities also award LL.D (Doctor of Laws) in law and D.Mus or equivalents in music, on the same higher-doctorate basis. Which titles a university awards, and in which faculties, varies. There is no single national list.
How the earned higher doctorate is actually awarded
The process differs between universities, but the shape is consistent.
Eligibility. Typically a PhD from a recognised university, followed by a substantial period — often a decade or more — of continued research and publication. Some universities also require that the candidate be an alumnus, or hold a position at the institution, or have a formal association with it.
The submission. A body of published work: peer-reviewed papers, monographs, books, patents, edited volumes. Not a new thesis written for the occasion. The work must already exist in the public record and must be substantially the candidate’s own.
External assessment. The university appoints a panel of subject experts, usually from outside the institution and frequently from outside the country, who judge whether the corpus constitutes a distinguished and original contribution to the discipline.
Conferment. If the panel is satisfied and the academic council approves, the degree is conferred at convocation.
The rejection rate is meaningful and that is the point. A higher doctorate that everyone who applies receives is not a higher doctorate.
The part nobody tells you: what it gets you
Very little, professionally, and that is by design.
It is not a job qualification. No academic post in India requires a D.Litt. A PhD, publications and NET where applicable are what recruitment and promotion committees assess. A higher doctorate may sit favourably alongside those, but it does not substitute for them.
It does not increase your salary under any standard pay structure.
It is not a route to anything. There is nothing after it.
What it is is recognition — from your discipline, assessed by your peers, that the work you spent a career on was significant. For an academic near the end of a serious career, that means a great deal. For anyone at any earlier stage, it is not a goal to work towards; it is something that may happen if the work is good enough.
If you are twenty-five and researching how to get a D.Litt, the answer is: publish excellent work for twenty years and let someone else raise it.
Honorary doctorates are a different thing entirely
This is where most of the confusion lives, and a great deal of the misrepresentation.
An honorary doctorate — properly written honoris causa, and often styled D.Litt (h.c.) — is conferred by a university on someone it wishes to honour: a public figure, an artist, a philanthropist, a sportsperson, a scientist. It requires no submission, no assessment and no prior qualification. It is a gesture of recognition, and a legitimate and long-standing one.
What it is not is an academic qualification. The recipient of an honorary doctorate has not been assessed for a degree and, by strict academic convention, does not use the title “Dr” on the strength of it — though this convention is followed inconsistently in practice.
The abbreviation to look for is (h.c.) or the phrase honoris causa. A legitimate university states it clearly on the citation. Where that marker is quietly dropped and an honorary award is presented as an earned degree, that is a misrepresentation, whoever is doing it.
How to tell a real higher doctorate from one that was sold
There is an organised trade in fake doctorates in India, and it is aimed at people who want the title for a business card, a wedding biodata or a professional profile. If you have been approached, or if you are checking on an award someone else holds, these are the tests.
Was money asked for? No legitimate university charges for an honorary doctorate. There is an application or processing fee for an earned higher doctorate at some institutions, but it is nominal and published. A fee running to tens of thousands of rupees, or any request for a “donation” tied to the award, means you are being sold something worthless.
Is the awarding body a recognised university? Check it on the UGC list of universities, and check the UGC list of fake universities. Method in [How to check a UGC approved university → Book 5 post 2]. “International University of…”, “World Institute of…” and similarly grand names with no verifiable campus are the standard pattern.
Was there an assessment? An earned higher doctorate involves a submission and an external expert panel. If the process was an application form and a ceremony, it was not an earned degree.
Was it conferred at a convocation of that university? Legitimate awards are made at the institution’s own convocation, appear in its records and are listed in its annual report. Awards handed out at a hotel banquet by an organisation that is not a university are not degrees.
Is the citation specific? A real citation names the work. A fake one uses phrases like “outstanding contribution to society” with no particulars.
Can you find it on the university’s own website? If the institution will not list its own award, ask why.
So what should you actually be looking at?
If you are early or mid-career and want the doctoral qualification that genuinely changes what you can do, that is the PhD. It is the research qualification that academic and research employment is built on, and it is the one with a defined admission route.
We have set that out in full in [PhD Admission in India: eligibility, entrance and the current rules → Post 27].
Frequently asked questions
What is the full form of D.Litt?
D.Litt stands for Doctor of Letters, sometimes written as Doctor of Literature. It is a higher doctorate awarded above the PhD in the humanities and social sciences, recognising a substantial body of published original work built over many years after the doctorate.
What is the full form of D.Sc?
D.Sc stands for Doctor of Science. It is a higher doctorate awarded above the PhD in the natural and applied sciences, conferred on the basis of an assessed body of published research rather than through coursework or a submitted thesis.
Is D.Litt higher than a PhD?
Yes, in the sense that it sits above the PhD in academic hierarchy and normally requires a PhD plus many further years of published work. It is not a more advanced version of the same thing — a PhD is a research training degree, while a higher doctorate recognises a career contribution.
Can I do a D.Litt directly after a master’s degree?
No. Higher doctorates normally require a PhD followed by a substantial period of continued research and publication, often a decade or more. Any institution offering a D.Litt directly after a master’s, or without an assessed body of published work, is not awarding a genuine higher doctorate.
How long does a D.Litt take?
There is no fixed duration, because it is not a taught programme. Candidates typically apply after ten to fifteen years of published research following their PhD. The assessment process itself, once the work is submitted, generally takes several months to over a year depending on the university.
Is an honorary doctorate the same as a D.Litt?
No. An honorary doctorate is conferred as a mark of recognition without assessment, submission or prior qualification, and is properly denoted honoris causa or (h.c.). An earned D.Litt requires a body of published work assessed by external experts. They are different things and should not be presented interchangeably.
Can I use the title “Dr” with an honorary doctorate?
By academic convention, no — the honorific is reserved for earned doctorates, and honorary recipients are ordinarily styled with the award noted as honoris causa. This convention is applied inconsistently in practice. Presenting an honorary award as an earned qualification, particularly on professional credentials, is a misrepresentation.
Are doctorates that ask for a fee genuine?
No. No legitimate university sells an honorary doctorate, and any organisation asking for a substantial payment or donation in exchange for a doctoral title is not awarding a recognised qualification. Verify the awarding body against the UGC list of universities and the UGC list of fake universities before engaging.
In summary
An earned D.Litt or D.Sc is one of the most demanding recognitions in Indian academia and one of the least useful things you can chase. It arrives because of the work. If someone is offering you one, and particularly if they are pricing it, that is not what it is.