I suppose it depends upon what one wishes to pursue as doctoral research will require an investment of 3-5 years. After deciding upon a research problem, we should start looking for supervisors that are experts in the field. Universities are important too, and so are the research grants and the stipend, but they are all secondary to the choice of supervisor in my opinion. Finally, research proposal would depend upon the nature of the doctoral program. It may be a 5 year program involving coursework, a 3 year structured program, 3-4 year unstructured program or an industrial PhD. The proposal will vary accordingly. For example, in a structured PhD or industrial PhD one may not need to elaborate upon the research methodology in great detail as the ongoing project will have its own processes and procedures that a new researcher will be expected to follow. For an unstructured PhD, the proposal ought to highlight every aspect in great detail. It will be wise to reach out to potential supervisors and then seek their counsel in drafting a formal research proposal for the application.

PS : I am still drafting my proposal, so not an expert on the subject !!

Thank you Srikant Manas Kala for the valuable answer with structured thinking.

Best regards

My opinion:

* We are looking for the best topics in the best universities, for example Harvard University, and most universities direct their students and identify the best topics that allow writing in them.

* Find the gaps for the topic you have chosen, by reading the researchers' recommendation through future work.

*What time do you need to write on this topic, after your choice?

*Can you solve the gap before you start writing and discuss it with the experts, if I do?

Thank you Hashem Ismail Alnatsheh for great opinion.

Dear Prof. Ali,

First of all identify the area in which you want to do PhD, For ex. Network security, cloud computing, IoT, Networks, Data mining etc. Make a thorough research survey by reading the research papers published by reputed journals. You will find research gaps which are very helpful to identify problem on which you can start working. Be careful in identifying the research supervisor, because he/she must be a very good human being, otherwise your research life will be painful. Wish you all the best.

Thank you very much Balachandra Muniyal for the great answer with simplest word and practice idea. Hope you the best in scientific research road.

It depends on supervisors‘ interests. The chances that it will become your future interests is big.

In my opinion，hot topics may not be the trends in a specific area. The truth generally falls in the hands of the minority.

The proposal is convincing for your supervisor if he or she trust in you.

Thanks for the answer, supervisor interest is very important but also PhD student must choose the topic especially if he is work in the academic field. Therefore, I think its relative. i agree with your opinion and the trust is required.