This article tries to evaluate the effects of the reform of the law (D.M. 45/2013) on doctorates in historical disciplines. Comparing data from the MIUR (Ministry of Education, Universities and Research) on PhD programs since the reform (XXIX and XXX cycles) with those relating to pre-reform PhDs since the XIX cycle, enables us to highlight the general trend of change from "nuclear" to "broad" or multidisciplinary doctorates. What emerges is a clear picture of a diminishing number of doctorates in history due to agglomeration, the creation of department-wide doctorates connected to the availability of scholarships and the compression of different forms of knowledge into all-inclusive containers. The combinations of all of these elements proves to be more damaging for doctorates in research area 11 (historical, philosophical, pedagogical and psychological sciences) than in any other area. This appears to be further confirmed by the results of feedback from doctoral students who were interviewed for this research: the loss of shared debate within each specific sector of research and the low impact of multidisciplinary teaching heighten the regret for thematic doctoral research schools. The article concludes with a series of practical proposals, which seek to reverse the progressive trend of history doctorates becoming marginalized within the humanities, which in turn are increasingly losing ground in relation to the fields of science and technology.
Keywords: PhD; History; University; Law Reform