Introduction:

For a doctoral student it is necessary and mandatory to conduct research that leads them to move the frontier of knowledge. In this context, how does critical thinking contribute to generating new knowledge? Many authors attempt to explain and define critical thinking.

Objective:

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the most relevant critical thinking models and to develop a model for this personal attribute in doctoral education.

Materials and methods:

Seminal works and the most significant models of critical thinking were reviewed in the current literature.

Results:

A critical thinking model in doctoral education was developed as an integration of the most important contributions of all authors.

Conclusions:

We argue that there is not a unique definition for this concept and that critical thinking may be understood as a process rather than as a tool, attribute or skill.

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