The changing nature of the standard PhD degree (Nature 535, 26–28; 2016) could make the honorary PhD seem increasingly hollow by comparison.

Universities confer honorary doctorates on those who have attained national or international prominence in the arts, sciences or sporting fields. Scholarly skills are rarely considered, although most recipients have sufficient expert knowledge to potentially write a thesis. Recipients often have links with the awarding institute, which benefits from the associated publicity.

By contrast, the standard PhD is awarded in recognition of research expertise. Now that more PhD graduates pursue careers outside academia, programmes are placing greater emphasis on transferable scholarly skills and on developing management, entrepreneurship and teamwork skills. These additional training requirements threaten to stoke academic tensions over the existing gap in scholarship between standard and honorary PhDs.