What Is the Hardest Part of a PhD in India?

The hardest part of a PhD in India is not the same for every scholar — but it is predictable. For most humanities scholars, the hardest part is not the intellectual work of the research itself. It is the combination of the publication requirement, the isolation of independent writing over several years, and the gap between what they were taught in their Master’s programme and what a PhD actually demands. Understanding which part will be hardest for you — and when it will hit — is more useful than a general warning that a PhD is difficult.

The Publication Requirement: Where Most Scholars Lose the Most Time

Ask any humanities PhD scholar in India what kept them up at night, and most will tell you it was the research paper. Most universities in India now require scholars to publish at least one paper in a SCOPUS-indexed or UGC CARE-listed journal before they can submit their thesis. Some universities require two.

This requirement is harder than it sounds for three reasons.

First, the timeline is long. From manuscript preparation to acceptance, the process takes an average of 6 to 18 months — and that assumes the paper is accepted on the first or second attempt. Rejection followed by revision and resubmission to a different journal can add another 6 to 12 months. Scholars who begin this process late — in Year 3 rather than Year 1 or 2 — find themselves unable to submit their thesis even when the thesis itself is complete.

Second, choosing the right journal is a skill that most scholars have not developed. A paper submitted to the wrong journal — wrong scope, wrong audience, wrong methodology expectations — is almost always rejected. The time lost is not just the rejection itself but the months of peer review that preceded it.

Third, writing to international publication standards is genuinely different from writing a thesis chapter. The argument must be tighter, the word count is strictly limited, and the manuscript must conform to the journal’s specific formatting requirements. Scholars who treat the research paper as a shorter version of a thesis chapter almost always receive a rejection — not because the research is poor but because the paper is not structured correctly.

In twelve years of working with humanities PhD scholars across UP, MP, Bihar, and Rajasthan, the Thesis Guide has seen more thesis submissions delayed by the publication bottleneck than by any other single factor. Beginning the paper early — and getting expert support for it — is the single most effective thing a scholar can do to protect their timeline.

RDC: The Gate That Catches Scholars Off Guard

The Research Degree Committee (RDC) presentation is where your research proposal is formally evaluated and approved. It is the gateway between the coursework phase and the thesis writing phase — and it is the part of the PhD that catches the most scholars off guard.

Most scholars treat RDC as an administrative hurdle — a presentation to be got through before the real work begins. This is a mistake. RDC is a formal intellectual evaluation. The committee will probe your research gap, challenge your methodology, and test whether your proposed thesis is original, feasible, and academically rigorous. Scholars who have not done the intellectual work before entering the room — who have not read deeply in their field, have not clearly defined their research problem, and cannot defend their methodological choices — do not pass.

A failed or deferred RDC presentation costs 6 to 12 months. The waiting period between attempts, combined with the time needed for revision and re-preparation, eats directly into the minimum timeline. Scholars who are aiming to complete in three or four years cannot afford this delay.

The scholars who clear RDC on the first attempt — and clear it with confidence — are almost always those who treated synopsis preparation as seriously as thesis writing. A well-argued, detailed synopsis is not just an RDC requirement. It is the blueprint for the entire thesis.

The Writing Phase: Harder Than Expected for Different Reasons

Most scholars expect the thesis writing to be hard because it is long. What they do not expect is that it is hard in ways that have nothing to do with length.

Sustaining an argument across 80,000 to 100,000 words is a different skill from any writing most scholars have done before. A Master’s dissertation is typically 15,000 to 25,000 words. A PhD thesis is three to five times longer — and the argument must be coherent, consistent, and original throughout. Scholars who have never written at this length before often find that their chapters do not connect, their theoretical framework drifts between sections, or their conclusion does not actually follow from their analysis.

The isolation is harder than the writing itself. A PhD thesis is written largely alone. There are no classmates to compare notes with, no weekly seminars with defined reading lists, and no external deadlines except the university’s maximum duration. For working professionals already managing a full professional life, this isolation — combined with the absence of external structure — is genuinely difficult. Many scholars describe Year 2 and Year 3 as the lowest points of their PhD experience, not because the work was hardest then, but because the absence of visible progress felt most acute.

Academic English at doctoral level is a barrier for many humanities scholars. The majority of scholars the Thesis Guide works with are more comfortable in Hindi or a regional language than in formal academic English. Writing a chapter that is not just grammatically correct but rhetorically appropriate — with the right register, citation practice, and argumentative structure — is a skill that takes time to develop. Scholars who do not get feedback on their writing early often only discover these issues when their supervisor returns a chapter with extensive revision comments.

What Is Surprisingly Not the Hardest Part

Several aspects of a PhD that scholars expect to find difficult turn out to be manageable once they are inside the process.

The viva-voce is not usually the hardest part. By the time a scholar reaches the viva, they have spent years with their research. The external examiner is evaluating the thesis, not ambushing the scholar. Scholars who are well-prepared and know their thesis thoroughly almost always pass — often with minor corrections.

The research itself is usually not the hardest part — particularly for humanities scholars who chose a topic aligned with their existing professional knowledge. A college teacher researching pedagogy, a librarian researching information systems, a literature lecturer researching postcolonial fiction — these scholars have years of embedded knowledge that makes the primary research more accessible than they expected.

Coursework is structured and manageable. The first year is hard in the sense that it is new, but it provides external deadlines, defined syllabi, and regular feedback. Most scholars find it more manageable than the open-ended phases that follow.

How to Prepare for the Hard Parts Before They Arrive

The scholars who navigate the hardest parts of a PhD most effectively are those who prepare for them in advance — not those who are most naturally talented or most committed.

• Begin the literature review in Month 1, before coursework ends. It feeds everything: the RDC synopsis, the research paper, and Chapter 2 of the thesis.
• Treat RDC preparation as a serious intellectual exercise, not an administrative task. Write a detailed, argued synopsis. Practise presenting it. Anticipate the committee’s questions.
• Begin the research paper in Year 1 or early Year 2. Do not wait until the thesis is done.
• Write on a fixed weekly schedule. Consistency matters more than inspiration.
• Get expert support for the writing tasks that are hardest — particularly the research paper and the doctoral-level thesis chapters.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the hardest subject to do a PhD in India?

Within humanities and social sciences, the difficulty is less about subject and more about the availability of primary sources, supervisor expertise, and your own prior engagement with the field. Subjects with limited SCOPUS-indexed journals in India — such as some areas of regional literature or niche historical topics — can make the publication requirement harder to fulfil simply because fewer suitable journals exist.

Is the first year of a PhD the hardest?

For most scholars, no. Year 1 is structured by coursework and carries external deadlines. The hardest period for most humanities scholars is the transition to independent thesis writing in Year 2, when external structure disappears and the scale of the task becomes real.

Which PhD is most difficult in India?

Difficulty is more determined by the scholar’s circumstances — part-time versus full-time, supervisor quality, access to primary sources — than by subject. That said, PhDs requiring extensive primary archival research or fieldwork in multiple locations tend to take longer and present more logistical challenges than those using secondary sources or survey data.

Is doing a PhD stressful?

Yes — particularly during the publication and writing phases. The stress is mostly structural: long timelines, unclear progress signals, and high stakes for each milestone. Scholars who have a clear plan, a responsive supervisor, and expert support for the hardest phases consistently report lower stress levels than those navigating the same milestones alone.

Is PhD worth it in India?

For working professionals in humanities and social sciences, a PhD frequently leads directly to promotion, pay scale advancement, or eligibility for positions previously out of reach. The return on a completed PhD is tangible in the Indian academic and government employment context. The question of worth depends almost entirely on whether it is completed — an incomplete PhD has no professional return at all.

Need Help With the Hard Parts?

The hardest parts of a PhD are predictable. So is the support that makes them manageable.

The Thesis Guide has helped over 140 humanities and social science scholars in India complete their degrees, with 200+ SCOPUS and UGC CARE publications to our credit. If you are approaching RDC, struggling with your research paper, or finding thesis writing harder than expected, request a free consultation. We will assess exactly where you are and tell you what needs to happen next.