> There isn't.

My coworkers holding such degrees would beg to differ.

> And if you are trying to snarkily describe an MS, then most MS programs are too short.

It wasn’t snarky, it was a listing of common points between the two. I don’t see what distinguishes this from a MS.

A year still isn’t enough time to write a doctoral-level thesis, so if the I-PhD is supposed to represent a “longer MS” then it’s still insufficient.