Critical thinking in university studies is the cornerstone for the development of research processes at the doctoral level; it becomes the vector of this action, whose processes in the management of learning will require that the competencies understood are developed by teachers and students, for the achievement of the goals proposed by the actors involved. This is how the research had the purpose of measuring the critical thinking of university doctorate students whose methodology was quantitative, with a population of 150 students, which allowed, in the first place, to establish the reliability and the analysis of the construct of the instrument used (Watson-Glaser test) and whose results showed a reliability of 0.77, KMO of 0.757 with a bilateral significance of 0.000. Likewise, of the five dimensions or factors of the instrument, five have a positive impact on moderate levels (Nagelkerke's pseudo-R square of 0.574) excluding inference. The descriptive analysis established that 11.3% present critical thinking at the advanced level.