This study focuses on the changes that doctoral education has experienced in the last decades and discusses the role of doctoral supervisors. The figure of doctoral supervisor continues to be a subject of much debate; therefore, the aim of this study is to provide a universal, global, and common definition that clearly establishes the roles and functions of doctoral supervisors. Employing a multi-method approach, the study utilized the perspectives of linguistic relativism and prototype theory to understand how linguistic and label diversity may influence the perception and approach to supervisory tasks. We examine a corpus of 55 different labels to refer to “doctoral supervisor.” Data was collected from 116 countries, encompassing 47 different languages and 55 distinct labels from Europe, Africa, America, Asia, and Oceania, forming a unique corpus of information. The results reveal a total of 18 functions to be fulfilled by the doctoral supervisor. Additionally, the findings underscore the significance of linguistic influence in conceptualizing the functions associated with the supervisor in various cultural contexts and highlight the necessity for redefining the role of the thesis supervisor. The results hold potential benefits for doctoral schools and supervisors, serving as guidelines for standardizing the functions of the doctoral supervisor.

本研究重点关注过去几十年来博士教育经历的变化，并讨论博士生导师的角色。博士生导师的形象仍然是一个备受争议的话题；因此，本研究的目的是提供一个普遍的、全球性的、共同的定义，明确确立博士生导师的角色和职能。该研究采用多种方法，利用语言相对主义和原型理论的视角来理解语言和标签多样性如何影响监督任务的感知和方法。我们检查了包含 55 个不同标签的语料库来指代“博士生导师”。数据采集​​自116个国家，涵盖欧洲、非洲、美洲、亚洲和大洋洲的47种不同语言和55个不同标签，形成了独特的信息语料库。结果揭示了博士生导师总共需要履行的18项职能。此外，研究结果强调了语言影响在不同文化背景下概念化导师相关职能的重要性，并强调了重新定义论文导师角色的必要性。研究结果对博士生院校和导师具有潜在的裨益，可为规范博士生导师的职能提供指导。