by Felicia Nuradi Utorodewo
(Educational Practitioner and Indonesian Language Trainer)
In my teaching experience, an exciting question often arises: “Was there a convention or history regarding writing the abbreviations dr. (Doctor) and Dr. (Doctorate)? Why is the title doctor written with a lowercase letter, while the title doctor is written with an uppercase letter?”
If we search for the answer online, we won’t find any explanation or reasoning behind this rule. Articles on the internet only cite EYD V (2022), which states that the abbreviation for a doctorate is written in capital letters, while the acronym for a doctor is written in lowercase.
In fact, this discussion began in the 1970s when educational and linguistic experts gathered to discuss the issue of degrees and the continuation of education at higher levels, both domestically and abroad. This issue arose in relation to the equivalence of degrees for individuals wishing to study abroad.
At that time, there were several degrees, such as doctor, dentist, doktorandus/doktoranda, and engineer. These titles were used for individuals who had completed their undergraduate education and were ready to work in their respective professions. The doktorandus/doktoranda degree was explicitly given to graduates from several fields of study, such as humanities (culture, history, language, and literature), law, psychology, sociology, anthropology, social sciences, and economics. There was no distinction among graduates in these fields; all were given the title doktorandus/doktoranda. This title was more commonly used before the New Order era.
The degrees doctorandus, doctor, and doctorate derive from Latin and share the same root: “doctor.” It means” ‘teacher’ or ‘one who ‘imparts knowledge.’ The dokterandus title is given to male graduates, and the doktoranda title is given to female graduates. For the field of medicine, the title awarded is doctor, without distinction between male and female. Similarly, in engineering, the title awarded is engineer, and there is also no distinction based on gender.
However, apart from the field of medicine, there are three fields of study where S-1 graduates (bachelor’s degree) cannot directly work as professionals: pharmacy, law, and psychology. Graduates in these fields cannot practice until they complete a master’s degree in a specific area. Pharmacy graduates must choose between pharmacology or formulation technology. Law graduates must specialize in fields such as attorney or notary. Psychology graduates must choose between clinical psychology or child development. Medicine is different because S-1 graduates in medicine can practice as general practitioners.
An S-1 graduate wishing to obtain a doctorate must first complete a master’s degree. Those who have received the titles doctorandus/doktoranda, doctor, or engineer are entitled to continue their studies to obtain a doctorate. The doctorate is the highest academic degree in the educational world. In Western education, a doctorate is equivalent to a Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy), a degree that encompasses all fields of study. The use of the doctorate title indicates that an individual is an expert and has a comprehensive understanding of their knowledge.
Epistemologically, the position of a doctorate is the highest academic status, while the titles doctor, doctorandus, and engineer represent the initial positions in someone. Therefore, the educational and linguistic experts who convened in the 1970s agreed that the doctor as an S-1 academic title is abbreviated with a lowercase letter. In contrast, the doctorate, the highest academic degree (S-3), is abbreviated with an uppercase letter. We continue to uphold this agreement today, using the abbreviation dr. for doctor and Dr. for doctorate.
