A few months ago when University of Louisville counseling psychology professor Mark Leach, PhD, read an email from a psychology student on a listserv he belonged to, he noticed that the sender had put "PhD(c)" after her name. He reached out to her right away.
"I contacted her because the "c" stands for candidate, but is not officially recognized and has the potential to mislead the public," Leach recalls.
The PhD(c)—also sometimes written as PhD-c or PhDc—has been popping up more often over the last several years in curricula vitae and email signatures. The designation is meant to indicate that the person has completed all of his or her requirements for a PhD except for the dissertation—akin to "ABD" (all but dissertation) that many also use.
Students say the term's use has become common among their colleagues, leading others to think that it is an appropriate way to highlight one's career path. But many psychologists say it's important to understand how these designations might be perceived outside of their use in casual conversations between psychologist friends and colleagues.
"Within academic circles we understand it, but my concern is that as soon as you send something out in an email, it can go anywhere in the world," Leach says, including into the hands of nonpsychologists and nonacademics.
The concern is that this designation comes off as deceptive and has the potential to mislead others regarding training and experience and undermine the public's trust in psychologists, says Lindsay Childress-Beatty, JD, PhD, of APA's Ethics Office. In fact, APA Ethics Code section 5.01—Avoidance of False or Deceptive Statements—specifically addresses the issue of designations, stating that "Psychologists do not make false, deceptive, or fraudulent statements concerning (1) their training, experience, or competence; (2) their academic degrees; (3) their credentials..."
"Would the general public be able to make the distinction between someone in training using these designations and a psychologist who has completed the degree?" she asks. Probably not. Many consumers don't understand the psychology field and the training and credentials necessary to become a psychologist. "The responsibility falls on psychologists and psychology students to educate them by accurately portraying their degrees and qualifications," Childress-Beatty says.
Using PhD(c) and ABD is also a bad idea because these letters can be confused for other degrees, points out Nabil El-Ghoroury, PhD, of the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students. For example, ABD could easily be mistaken for a doctorate of business administration, he says.
Rather than using PhD(c) and ABD next to one's name, he recommends that students use "advanced graduate student" to describe themselves and include a sentence in their cover letters that explains they have completed all their coursework but are still writing their dissertations.
"That's what a cover letter is for," he says. "But when it comes to your resume, email signature or even an online application, only list the degrees you've earned because we all have a responsibility to be ethical and to protect the public."
