Yes, sometimes. Here's how:

> I see a lot of gurus and "experts" out there that have a
> "Dr." in front of their name or a PhD at the end and I would
> like to find out if they really do have a PhD. Is it possible to verify
> through a 3rd party that they do in fact have a PhD?

Oh yeah. I can speak to this one. :)

The way I usually check is to start out on http://scholar.google.com

In an accredited university (like University of North Texas), you do have to publish a thesis for most Masters' plans and you most definately have to publish a dissertation for your PhD. You can't walk in, gladhand them, and stroll out with a PhD unless you're the president or, perhaps an actor or a very prominent social or political figure. These dissertations are archived at the university, and are accessible (you can verify them.) If it's a recent one, you can verify this online.

A real working academic will have a number of papers (if you go to the MATERIA MEDICA (index of medical papers published in journals) for the 1980's, for instance, you will find my name listed as an author of a paper in the Texas Journal of Epidemiology. Prominent thinkers are usually cited by other papers -- and they always will have cited other scholars for their papers. Ask a librarian how to track this down... there's some interesting and obscure techniques.

PhDs are pretty odd and noteable people, so it's actually easy to confirm whether someone has a real degree by hunting up papers. Also look up conference presentations.

Two other things I check are language usage. By the time you've gotten this far, you have learned how to write a coherent sentence and a coherent (if wordy and scholarly) paragraph in your native language or in a secondary language if you're studying abroad.) Incoherence and misspellings are signs of a fraud. The department won't let you in if you're quasi-literate because you have to write so many things (a 50+ page dissertation propsal, research designs, updates, academic presentations, lesson plans, and the dissertation itself... and class papers as well.)

A quick check on the university: find its website. If it has a ".com" or anything but a ".edu" after it (and it's an American university), then you can suspect degree mill.

Class reunions will often mention attendees... another source.

> What about a Bachelor or Masters degree? Is there any way to find out if
> someone has a Bachelor or Masters degree or not?

In America, a master's degree often has some publication associated with it (or even conference presentations.) This is not as true with older Masters' degrees; a query of an alumni association may produce results.

Bachelors' degrees are very hard to track. College contact (check with a college librarian and ask her how to find the data) or alumni activities may give a few hints, but an absence of them means nothing.

I wish there was some cut-and-dried test of scholarship that you could use, but truth is there isn't. Others have also brought up the issue of someone having a degree (like a Master's in religion) and letting you infer that it's a degree in another field or gives you expertise in that field.

There's a lot more to this (checking to see if their publications are also legitimate and not a self-published sort of thing... knowing when self-pub is acceptable and when it is simply a case of Howling Ego.) Rather than bore everyone with details, if you have specific questions, I'll be happy to give you details on what I know.