Doctorate is not necessarily a PhD

On January 9, 2025, a press release issued by the “Presidency Communications” at the Presidency announced the nomination of three persons as ministers-designate.

They were Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, John Abdulai Jinapor and Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine.

The release provided a brief profile of the three ministers-designate, and something caught me off guard upon reading the profile of Dr Ayine. It was said that among his educational achievements, he held a “Ph.D. in law from Stanford University.”

However, as an avid reader of biographies, I immediately recognised that the claim that Dr Ayine “holds a Ph.D. in law” contradicted the long-known publicly available information regarding Dr Ayine’s academic qualifications.

Dr Ayine’s doctorate degree
The long-known publicly available information, which has not been disputed and is consistent with Stanford Law School’s academic degree offerings, is that Dr Ayine holds a JSD, and not a PhD.

A JSD refers to “Doctor of the Science of Law” (i.e., “Juridicae Scientiae Doctor” in Latin). A JSD is alternatively known as SJD, which refers to “Doctor of Juridical Science” (i.e., “Scientiae Juridicae Doctor” in Latin).

A PhD, on the other hand, refers to “Doctor of Philosophy” (i.e., “philosophiae doctor” in Latin). A PhD is also known as DPhil (i.e., “doctor in philosophia” in Latin).

While the JSD or SJD is regarded as equivalent to a PhD, the two are not necessarily the same, especially given that there are also law programmes that award a PhD in law, distinct from the JSD.

Doctorate degree types
There are several other types of doctorate degrees besides JSD and PhD. Some are: Doctor of Education (EdD), Doctor of Business Administration (DBA), Doctor of Psychology (PsyD), Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD), Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), Juris Doctor (JD), Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM), etc. Medical practitioners holding an MB ChB degree (i.e., Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree) carry the title “Doctor”, the MB ChB being considered equivalent to Doctor of Medicine (MD).

Imprecise communication
Given that government communications automatically become part of the official records and would constitute historical records of reference, okaying imprecise communications means that contradictory and confusing information may soon be floating in the public domain.

If this happens, future researchers and end-users may face conflicting information, all of which may be coming from trusted sources, without knowing which one to use.

Indeed, most media houses that carried the story of the ministers-designate above reproduced the incorrect information that Dr Ayine holds a PhD in law. Refreshingly, the Daily Graphic, later on January 9, 2025, published a story online titled “Who is Dominic Ayine: Attorney-General and Minister for Justice-designate”, in which it was correctly stated that Dr Ayine “earned a Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) degree from Stanford Law School”.

This may suggest that the writer of the said Daily Graphic story may have reviewed the press release from the “Presidency Communications” and considered the bit on Dr Ayine’s doctorate inaccurate.

Trust issues
The foregoing raises a very important question as to what level of confidence or trust the public may place in a government communication from the highest level that has a factual inaccuracy. That is, if a segment of a press release contains factually inaccurate information, what should the public do with the press release?

Should they assume that some other segments contain inaccuracies as well, in which case they must first fact-check the entire document before consuming or working with its contents?

Recommendations
Considering that public confidence and trust in government communications is important to carry the citizens along, every effort must be made to vet press releases for accuracy before they are published.

What is being advocated here is not perfection (as no one is perfect), but rather that efforts be made to prevent misinformation and disinformation.

Talking about “doctorates”, to reset Ghana in a holistic way as promised, we must all consider executing our duties with the proverbial surgical precision, even though not all of us may be medical doctors.

The writer is a scientist at the University of Cape Coast. Email: iagorsor@ucc.edu.gh.