CNN & Degree Nomenclature

Several posts on this forum have suggested the correct method for utilizing doctoral nomenclature is either:

John Doe, MD

or

Dr. John Doe

but never

Dr. John Doe MD

CNN, tonight, listed an MD as: Dr. John Doe, MD. Where does one find a standard for such usage?

 

What I have noticed is that if one is not a medical doctor, he or she is listed thusly, Dr. John Doe, Ph.D. or whatever one's doctorate is in besides medicine.

 

For what it's worth, I found the following in the Chicago manual of style, 15th ed. (2003):

"When an academic degree or professional designation follows a name, such titles [Dr.] are always omitted.

Andre Beauvois, PhD was appointed principal.
It is my please to introduce Jennifer James, MD. Dr. James has shown . . ." (563)

Likewise, the older Webster's standard American style manual, 1985:

"When an abbreviation for an academic degree, professional certification, or association membership follows a name, it is usually preceded by a comma. No courtesy title should precede the name.

Dr. John Smith or John Smith, M.D. but not Dr. John Smith, M.D." (107)

Interestingly enough, the Chicago editors now recommend degree abbreviations without the punctuation (e.g., PhD rather than Ph.D.), unless necessary for stylistic consistency. (563)

Of course, these recommendations apply only to American usage.

marilynd

 

For the past 17 years, I have been surrounded by doctors of both the medical and academic type.

Dr. John Doe, MD or Dr. John Doe, PhD are both incorrect.

Dr. John Doe is fine
John Doe, PhD is fine
John Doe, MD is fine

...unless, of course, you do not really possess the degree, then there is always the Universal Life Church

Tony Pina
Northeastern Illinois University

 

Then CNN was incorrect in listing the good doctor as Dr. John Doe, MD. But why did you have to bring up the Universal Life Church, Tony? Are their Ph.D.'s not valid or something?

 

Yes, CNN was incorrect. The Universal Life Church is a well-known operation that will award its "ordination" free of charge with no qualifications (other than the ability to fill out an online form). An "official" ordination certificate will set you back $5.

In its (appropriately named) online store, ULC sells doctorates for $25-100. The academic requirement for obtaining a ULC doctorate is a valid credit card or a check that clears.

Needless to say, it is a worthless credential, but dishonest people have used ULC doctorates as if they were valid.

Tony

 

Rev Dr Quigley or Rev Quigley, PhD

The Rev Dr Quigley (my bulldog) is very unhappy that someone may think his degree is not legitimate. I assured him him that his degree was just as valid as one from, say, SRU. He understood, and was happy, especially when I gave him a piece of pepperoni. Then he went back to sleep.

 

Here is the Famous Dr Quigley (If the pic works)

 

I took my English Cocker Spaniel to the vet two weeks ago, both the shingle and the business card read: Dr. Jane Doe, DVM. I almost questioned her regarding the listing, but was afraid my dog would be euthanized instead of getting his rabies shot.

 

===

probably a phony anyway... the name "Jane Doe" is very suspicious!

 

I can see it now- "Get a real PhD or MBA or DBA without the hassle of tests, homework, or the hassle of filling out a form. Traditional schools claim that accreditation, and the attendant filling out of forms, is an important measure of a school. However, we feel that measuring the inputs, such as filled out forms, is not a true measure of a school. The real measure is the outputs, such as the number of diplomas sent, web pages developed, and deposit receipts collected. So remember, if a school asks you to fill out a form, it isn't as cutting edge as it should be for this modern day and age."

 

The name was changed to protect the innocent........

 

LOL!

 

Dr. Pina, I know you were still at NIU when you posted this, but I'll go ahead and comment anyway hehehe...
"Dr. John Doe is fine". However, the nomenclature does not provide an idea of the type of degree that qualifies the use of Dr. Could something like Dr. John Doe (PhD) or Dr. John Doe (EdD) also work?... to provide a clearer picture?

Maybe the use of Dr. should be discontinued since there are many degrees, including practitioner, that qualifies one to be called a Dr (doctor). John Doe, PhD or James Onion, DBA, should be the new way forward, instead of Dr. James Onion, for example.

Also, would making a case for this change (from the use of Dr. John Doe to John Doe, MD or EdD or even PsyD) make a good article for publication in professional magazine or the like? Just wondering....

 

I think ideally a doctor wouldn't use his or her title outside of a professional context where the qualification is understood. Aside from self-aggrandizement, there really isn't much reason to choose the "Dr." salutation box on one's hotel reservation form, for example. A holder of a Ph.D. in physics who is speaking publicly about music history based on his amateur interest shouldn't utilize his doctorate title because it has no relation to the subject he is speaking on. Of course, this isn't to say that others shouldn't voluntarily choose to call someone doctor out of respect for their accomplishments.

Why? There is little practical difference between a DBA or Ed.D. and their counterpart Ph.D.s.

 

You'd be surprise at how many people use Dr. indiscriminately at places that they shouldn't. In some parts of the world, being called Dr. is a very big deal and it attracts respect. I know some PhD holders who frown when they hear a JD holder, for example, being referred to as Dr.

In the real world, folks think that a non-PhD doctorate is PhD lite. In fact, outside the U.S, practitioner doctorates are not regarded highly, it is commonly referred to as "doctorate by course-work only," which does not qualify a holder for to become a doctoral lever researcher. There is an article that was posted recently in this forum that talked about how academics in South Africa are beginning to see an MBA as nothing more than a honors bachelor degree - which means DBAs are nothing more than MBAs.

Also, do you know that many don't even know that DBA is not database administrator? Aside from that, are you aware that very few practitioner doctorates are similar in weight to a PhD, when attempting to use it to pursue a faculty position at a traditional research institution? DBAs that are similar to PhD must contain sufficient research-oriented courses and must culminate in a quantitative dissertation (not qualitative).

The reality is that majority of DBA or EdD programs that are offered by low-tier schools are practitioner-focused and not research-intensive as PhD programs. Online schools even discriminate against hiring DBA holders for doctoral-level teaching, for the fact that it is practitioner-oriented, and not sufficiently research-focused; Northcentral University, an online-only school, even rejects DBAs in favor of PhDs.

My point is that instead of using Dr. when it comes to written form, specificity should be required to avoid misinterpretation by the public or a situation where the doctorate holder is given undeserved respect that society reserves for doctoral scholarship.

 

Wow, it's been seven years since I participated in this post! Well, here goes...

I agree that using one's degree title at the end of one's name tends to be the superior approach. There is far less ambiguity that way (e.g. people mistaking someone for a medical doctor).

I can see someone writing an article to make a case for this.

 

Many of the people at my university refer to me as "Doctor." I usually invite my Ph.D. students to address me as "Tony," since my goal is for them to transition from students to colleagues/peers. When I am at my physician's or dentist's office, I refer to them as "Dr." and they call me "Tony," for the same reasons as you specify above. It is all about professional context.

 

Much of my conclusions are drawn from discussing with full time lecturers in oversea schools (in developing countries); the following article sideswipes my point, however.

Gill, T. G & Hoppe, U. (2009). The Business Professional Doctorate as an Informing Channel: A Survey and Analysis. International Journal of Doctoral Studies 4(2009). Retrieved from http://ijds.org/Volume4/IJDSv4p027-057Gill267.pdf