PhD is an internationally recognized postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and higher education institutions to a candidate who has written a thesis based on comprehensive and original researches in a field. In PhD process, there are many skills that a student should gain or be made to gain. Therefore, a PhD candidate should firstly have the knowledge, skills, perspective and understanding to conduct a study. PhD candidates are in a very important position in constructing future of their country through their Professional field. Therefore, it is considered important to examine the academic skills of PhD candidates, which are closely related to their success. There is no other study in the literature comparing PhD candidates from different countries in terms of academic skills. The purpose of this study is to comparatively examine Turkish and American PhD candidates' self-assessments related to some of their basic academic skills. Answers to following questions have been sought in line with this purpose of the study 1. Regarding fields of Turkish and American PhD candidates; how are their self-assessments of the academic skills on 1.1. Preparing presentations, homework and projects, 1.2. Understanding resources in foreign languages, 1.3. Determining topic of thesis and resources 1.4. Having comprehensive knowledge of the field, 1.5. Participating in scientific activities, 1.6. Writing resources (article, paper, book, book chapter, etc.)? 2. How are the beliefs of Turkish and American PhD candidates to be "a good scientist, academician or researcher" in line with the academic skills they have? Basic qualitative research, one of the qualitative research designs, was used in the research. The study group consists of a total of 32 PhD students, 16 from Turkey and 16 from the USA. 12 of the American participants in the study were male as 4 of them were female. On the other hand, 13 of the Turkish participants were male and 3 of them were female. The participant group was determined through criterion sampling, one of the purposeful sampling methods. It is hence determined the first criterion is that participants would be only Ph.D candidates who are at the phase of thesis writing and the second criterion is that participants from Turkey would be Turkish citizens and participants from the USA would be American citizens. Two options were offered for American participants: face-to-face interviews and written forms. All of the American participants preferred to fill in the form and send it over the internet. Turkish doctoral candidates' preferences to participate in the research have been different. Accordingly, the data were collected from Turkish doctoral candidates through face-to-face interviews, online interviews and filling written forms. Semi-structured interview form was used as data collection tool in the study. The obtained data was analyzed through content analysis. Analyses conducted by the researcher to enhance validity and reliability in data analysis were submitted to an examination of a specialist who had experience in qualitative studies together with all the documentation. The general results obtained in the research are as follows: Preparing presentations, homework and projects: According to the results of the study, it has been determined that the self-assessments of the participants in both groups, especially the American PhD candidates, on their skills in preparing presentation and project are generally highly positive. Understanding resources in foreign languages: Among the academic skills considered within the scope of the research, the skill that the participants evaluated themselves adversely and at the lowest level has been the ability to understand resources in foreign languages. It has been determined that both Turkish and American participants have problems in reading, writing, listening foreign scientific resources and speaking foreign language. Determining topic of thesis and resources: It has been determined that although there are some problems according to the self-assessments of the participants in both groups, they generally consider themselves at a good level in determining the topic of thesis and resources. Having comprehensive knowledge of the field: It has been determined that the participants in both groups mostly consider themselves highly competent in terms of having comprehensive knowledge of the field. Participating in scientific activities and writing resources: It has been determined that the participants in both groups evaluated themselves at a good level, despite not very high, in terms of the skills in participating scientific activities and publishing resources. It has been determined that the total number of publications of Turkish PhD candidates, especially in the form of notice, texts and book chapters, is higher than the number of publications by American candidates.