Dissertation only Doctorate - South Africa, Norway, or other?

Greetings, this is my first post. Nice to meet you all.

I would like to know what my options are as far as a low/no cost doctoral program. I am working on a manuscript for a book that focuses on the dialogue between science and faith (primarily the Christian faith), and would like to make this the bulk of my thesis. My BS and MS are in biology, but I thought this type of thesis would be more amenable to a D.Div, D.Min, ThD, or something similar.

I have looked into Salt Lake Bible College since they are free, but they aren't RA. I was also interested in South African universities since they are very inexpensive and have doctoral programs by dissertation only. I also found a "Dr. Philos" from University of Oslo here: Dr. Philos. degree - University of Oslo It appears to be completely free, but my thesis would have to have a large Norwegian component to it (not to mention flying to Norway to complete a trial lecture and defense).

My criteria I am searching for are:

1. Low or no cost
2. More than 95% online
3. Some kind of doctoral degree
4. No coursework but rather dissertation only
5. Legitimate for use on resumes (i.e. RA or equivalent)

I am not concerned about "prestige" and would consider any foreign or domestic university that meets the above criteria.

Thank you.

 

A recent thread discusses that very issue:

http://www.degreeinfo.com/general-distance-learning-discussions/49283-7-countries-study-english-free.html

 

Thank you for your response. I have looked at that thread and it has some very good information.

I am looking for somewhat of a non-traditional route. I have been a co-author on two peer-reviewed and published journal articles, would this qualify (along with forthcoming publications) for something such as the "PhD by publication" below?

PhD by Existing Published or Creative Work PhD - University of Sunderland

 

You're at a point in your thinking where only a clear answer from the school will help you.

 

What countries typically offer a doctorate by publication? The UK, Australia, Norway? Is there a "doctorate by publication of creative writing anyone is aware of?

 

Most of the research only part time doctorates can be considered distance. There are plenty of options from South Africa, Australia and the UK.
The bottom line is cost, if you are not a European citizen nor an Australian citizen, you will find that most European and Australian options are not cheap. Some schools are willing to reduce the fees but to full time students only and not to part time research students.

This leaves you only with South Africa (For cost). The main issue with SA schools would be to be admitted to a PhD. Unlike American schools, SA schools would require you to first submit a dissertation proposal and a CV that shows research potential. You need to find a suitable supervisor and the supervisor should be willing to take you. This can take time and there is no guarantee that you will find someone.
As for a publication PhD, I have done quite few research about this and sent my publications to many schools (I have about 40 publications). The issue is that the school needs to have someone that understand the research and a decision has to be made by a committee. I have been declined by few schools mainly because of lack of supervisors, not able to understand the research, etc.

You cannot assume that because you have few publications you can be admitted to a school for publication PhD. Unlike a traditional PhD, here you are doing the reverse, you have already a product (publications) and now you are looking for someone that is willing to help you to put them together as a dissertation. I was told that this type of programs rarely accept people that are not staff of the University and that are so easy to access. As you need to have at least 4 publications that can work together as a dissertation, it is not very likely that 2 publications as a co author might cut it, most examples given to me were from established professors with a large number of publications that can select the best 4 to 6 that are related to put in a form of a dissertation.