ph d or phd on business card

Should I Write Ph.D. or PhD? (Complete Guide)

As some of you are probably aware, the kind of English used on my side of the pond (England) is sometimes a bit different to the English used in the land of burgers and Trump.

Some words are spelt differently. But others just have a few bits of grammar difference.

Today, I want to look at the difference between Ph.D. and PhD. We’ll look at which one is correct, what it stands for, and why it’s a bit odd that it stands for that.

Should I Write Ph.D. Or PhD?

It is correct to write both Ph.D. and PhD. Which one is best to use depends on where you are in the world. In Great Britain, they tend to use Ph.D. In the United States of America, they prefer to use Ph.D.

What Does Ph.D. Or PhD Stand For?

Let’s try to understand what Ph.D. stands for.

It stands for two things. And it doesn’t stand for one or the other, it stands for both of them at the same time.

The first thing is “Doctor of Philosophy” and the second is “Philosophiae Doctor”. As the eagle-eyed among you may have noticed, “Philosophiae” is not English. It’s in Latin.

This goes back to the days when the only people who needed university were high thinkers and philosophers.

Why Americans And Brits Disagree On Ph.D. Or PhD

This could help us to understand why Brits prefer PhD but Americans prefer Ph.D.

Perhaps, according to the Brits, it stands for “Philosophiae Doctor”. But, according to the Americans, it stands for “Doctor or Philosophy”.

After all, the Brits do have a habit of trying to sound smarter. But, whichever one you use, people on both sides should know what you’re saying.

Why Ph.D. Or PhD Is A Bit Strange

Now, I want you all to understand how strange it is to call anyone with a PhD a “doctor of Philosophy”.

Let’s say someone gets a Ph.D. in history.

Well, first of all, is she really a doctor? If you break your leg, she’s not the first person you’ll go to for help.

But not only that, she studied history, not philosophy. So, she’s called a doctor of philosophy despite not being a doctor and not having studied history.

Yet, for some reason, we still call her a “Doctor of philosophy”.

Where Does The Word “Doctor” Come From?

When most of us hear the word “Doctor”, we think of someone who makes us better when we’re sick. And there may be a few of you who think of a skinny man who travels through time in a Police Box.

But originally, “Doctor” was Latin for teacher. Through time, you were able to get a “PhD” in more things than just philosophy.

And, if you wanted to become what we think of as a “Doctor”, you would need to have a “doctorate” in medicine.

Technically, “Doctor” would be the wrong word. But it’s become so common, it’s managed to “common” itself enough to become the right word.

How To Get A Ph.D. Or PhD

Now I’m afraid you can’t just walk into a university and walk out with a PhD. There are steps you need to take before you get there.

First of all, you will need to do a Bachelor’s degree. This is the degree you do when you first enter university. There are some jobs where a bachelors is enough.

Let’s be honest here, most of the time you spend doing a bachelor is just having fun.

If you want to, you can then progress onto doing a master’s degree. This is a bit more high level, and you tend to need to work for it.

Once you have your bachelors you may decide to go on to get a PhD. If you go for this, you will be officially able to call yourself an intellectual.

What Kind Of Word Is Ph.D. Or PhD?

There are three ideas for what kind of word Ph.D. is. I’ll tell you all of them and let you make up your own mind.

A PhD is something you have. You work towards it, and once you’ve handed in all of your papers, you get a PhD.

A PhD is also something you are. If you have a PhD, you might say “I’m a PhD.”

It can also be a title, similar to “Sir” or “OBE”.

If your name is James Smith, and you are PhD, your name and title could be, Mr James Smith PhD.

How To Address Someone With A Ph.D. Or PhD

Talking of this man called James Smith, there are several ways to address and introduce him.

• If you have a Ph.D., you are allowed to call yourself “Doctor” even if you don’t have a PhD in medicine. Therefore, if he wants, James could be called Dr Smith.
• Maybe he doesn’t want to be confused for a medical doctor but still wants to show off his Ph.D. In that case, we can call him James Smith PhD.
• But, like many with a Ph.D., he may not want to mention it unless it’s important. If he’s one of these people, we should just call him Mr Smith.

Ph.D. Or PhD Vs Doctorate

Asking “What’s the difference between a PhD and a doctorate?” is a bit like asking what the difference is between an apple and a fruit.

Just like an apple is a kind of fruit, a PhD is a kind of doctorate. However, it’s not the only doctorate there is.

Here are some forms of doctorate you may want to know.

Doctor of philosophy. But now also means Doctor of something there isn’t a doctorate for.

Doctorate in business.

Doctorate in engineering.

Doctorate in education

Doctor of medicine.

If you were wondering whether you should write “PhD” or “Ph.D.”, you can write either, both are grammatically correct, and both are very common terms that mean the same thing.

The only slight difference is that “PhD” is more common in England and “Ph.D.” is more common in America. This is perhaps because the British believe it stands for “philosophiae doctor” but Americans see it as “Doctor of Philosophy”.

But, no matter whether you use “PhD” or “Ph.D.”, to have one, you neither need to be a doctor nor study philosophy. All you need to do is stay in university for long enough to be able to get yourself a PhD. Then, you can become a PhD, and your title will be PhD.

You may also like: DSc Degree vs. PhD Degree – What’s the Difference? 9 Correct Ways to Write PhD Title on a Business Card

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Business card for Ph.D. student - what should be included?

I'm a Ph.D. student considering getting business cards printed to facilitate follow-ups after conferences, etc. I am barely in touch with industry but I'm in a field where business cards are common.

My university has a set layout, but we have quite some freedom on what to include. There are some questions on whether we actually need a business card as a graduate student, but here I'm more interested on what to include on them.

I'm thinking at least:

• E-mail (as it is the primary form of communication for academics)
• Post address of university
• Personal page

I'm hesitant to include:

• Room number (we occasionally switch; updated room number is found on personal page)
• Telephone (same as above; could include cell number)

Not including telephone may be a bit harsh, but I'm curious whether you have some input in these matters. What should be included and what is less important?

• 15 Name, institution and email sound like they'd be sufficient –  Landric Commented Sep 16, 2015 at 11:06
• 5 What field are you in? Do people use business cards in that field? I've been in theoretical computer science for over 15 years and haven't seen a single business card in the whole time. The answer may well be "Don't bother getting them at all: nobody uses them." –  David Richerby Commented Sep 16, 2015 at 12:52
• 2 In my field I have received several business cards at conferences too and could unfortunately not exchange. Also, I probably would be more proactive in handing them out in case the parties desire to follow up. –  user4507 Commented Sep 16, 2015 at 13:57
• 1 @O.R.Mapper Sure. It's just that before asking "What should go on my business card?", one should ask "Do I need one at all?" It wasn't clear from the question that the asker had considered that but, from their later comment, it's now clear that they have. –  David Richerby Commented Sep 16, 2015 at 15:58
• 1 Possible dupe: academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9857/… –  eykanal Commented Sep 16, 2015 at 17:15

4 Answers 4

My experience of business cards in academia is that they are mostly just an easier way to share contact information than scribbling it on a napkin.

As such, the only things that are really important are institution, name, title (because everybody will expect it), and sets of preferred contact information.

As such, if you want people calling you, put down your phone number; if you don't want people calling you, don't put it down. Likewise for all of the other standard aspects. You probably should have a web page that you want people to visit.

As for social media sites like LinkedIn: I'm rather dubious about them, simply because there are potentially so many. I think one wouldn't be a problem, but the extrapolator in my mind goes to a ridiculous image of somebody handing me a card with their LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, ResearchGate, Facebook, etc. Don't be that person, or else if I meet you at a conference and you hand me your card, I may have a difficult time avoiding laughter.

• 1 no linkedin no please! –  Herman Toothrot Commented Sep 16, 2015 at 11:23
• 6 Social networks within academia seem largely to be a huge failure... –  Moriarty Commented Sep 16, 2015 at 11:30
• 2 @Moriarty Not always --- one of my communities seems to get a lot of value out of Twitter. –  jakebeal Commented Sep 16, 2015 at 12:03
• Oh, well, not everybody expects the title (in fact, I removed it from my business card). Out of curiosity I had a look at emails from around twenty European and Asian colleagues and only a few of them, mostly from Germany, reported their title in the email signature. –  Massimo Ortolano Commented Sep 16, 2015 at 16:00
• 3 I'd refine this suggestion: don't put links to any social-media or stuff, just put in your site . And in your site , you may link whatever you wish (and you may also change idea later!). Please use a qrcode : if I see an URL and I have to manually type it by hand, I'll hate you dearly. –  o0'. Commented Sep 17, 2015 at 8:13

The point of a business card is to provide contact details. Even though some people might consider it to be outdated, it still has uses; for instance during the poster sessions some people hang envelopes to which you can drop your card for more information or a pdf of the poster.

As such the absolute essentials are your name and department/university, as well as different ways of contacting you. Mine includes:

• telephone number
• postal address

To that list you could add a homepage iff you have one that is in connection with work . I think it's rather annoying to find someone's personal homepage with blog posts about irrelevant stuff or wedding photos, when I was trying to reach their slides or publications.

Regarding your comment about phone numbers, I'd say if someone who receives the card today won't be able to reach you from that number in a year or so, then there's no reason to include it. Again, the idea is to give people different ways of contacting you.

Don't be too alarmed about empty space on your card, it's actually quite useful to scribble down your cell number, Skype username or small notes when you are exchanging cards.

Finally, my card has a QR-code in the back that encodes the same information on the card into an electronic business card. So if someone has a smart phone, they can convert the physical card to a contact on their phone/tablet by scanning it.

Hope this helps

As you will be giving the card to people that you want to remember you.

I would include a photo , name, email address and short list of your research interests . If you have a useful webpage about your research include it as well.

There is nothing worse than having lots of cards you have been given and not being able to remember why you were interested in the person.

• +1 for adding research interests and a personal photo on the visit card... –  enthu Commented Sep 16, 2015 at 16:30

A business card should include some basic information that people can remember you by, as well as your preferred methods of being contacted.

I would recommend:

• Degree Program
• College/Department
• Mailing Address
• Phone number

For example:

• 8 You can't separate "PhD" from "student" in that way. What is the year supposed to mean, expected graduation? –  Ben Voigt Commented Sep 16, 2015 at 17:54

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