The objective of this work is to develop a criterion for predicting the failure strength of the joints bonded by ductile adhesives. To obtain a criterion, first, fracture tests were carried out for T-peel joint and Single-lap joint with widely differing joints geometries. Then using the fracture loads obtained at tests, the finite element analysis were performed, in which the stresses in the adhesive bonds were calculated in great detail. After examining four epoxy adhesives, it is concluded that the fracture of adhesively bonded joint occurs when the maximum of the ratio of the mean to effective stresses exceeds a constant value which can be determined from analysis and test for each adhesive.