dissertation embargo means

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Understanding Embargoes

What is an Embargo?

In academia, an "embargo" is a restriction placed on a thesis or dissertation that allows only the title, abstract and citation information to be released to the public, while the full text of the work is kept hidden for a limited period of time. Embargoes typically last from one to five years following the publication of a thesis or dissertation via a university's Institutional Repository or some other publishing service (e.g. ProQuest). 

Some colleges and universities encourage all authors to embargo their work, while others (such as Florida Tech ) discourage embargoes except when they are absolutely needed.

Reasons not to Embargo

• The more accessible your thesis or dissertation is, the more likely it is to be cited.
• Making your thesis or dissertation accessible allows it to be scrutinized by others in the field, prompting collegiality.
• If you are worried about copyright infringement and/or plagiarism, then you should get your idea out there as soon as possible so that it is documented and accessible. That way, you have proof that the idea originated from you and that the alleged infringer had access to your work. While copyright protection is automatic, people who are concerned about copyright infringement can also register copyright in it with the U.S. Copyright Office. ProQuest will do this for you for an additional fee, or you can do it yourself at http://copyright.gov/eco/. Registration provides statutory damages and attorney's fees in the event of an infringement.
• Having theses or dissertations available helps future scholars about the process of scholarship.
• You do not intend to pursue a tenure-track position.

Why Embargo a Thesis or Dissertation?

Most theses and dissertations are  not  embargoed but are made publicly available following their formal defense as part of completing a master's or doctoral degree. Some reason to embargo a thesis or dissertation include:

• The author wants to patent something described in the work.
• The author wants to publish the work in whole or in part  in the future  and is concerned that making the work public will interfere with this.
• The author has  previously  published the work in whole or in part, and the publisher is restricting the public release of the work in some way. 
• The dissertation includes data covered by a nondisclosure agreement for a specified period of time, including personal information, company secrets, or intellectual property.

What are Florida Tech's Embargo Guidelines?

The standard embargo options for theses and dissertations at Florida tech include: Six months, One year, and Two years. If needed, you can also specifiy a different desired embargo timeframe. All requested embargos require a justification. The standard options for embargo justification are publishing process and patent filing process, However, if needed, you can specify a different justification.

Image o f Embarg o Options section of Electronic Theses and Dissertation (ETD) Access Form

Select access Option 1 or Option 2

Option 1: Immediate worldwide access - The thesis will be freely available on the Internet to all users. (Recommended)

Option 2: Embargoed access – Graduate students and their faculty advisor may request to embargo the release of their thesis or dissertation for up to 2 years (or longer by special request). The Embargoed Access Option is recommended if, for example, you plan to submit patent application or publication (although most publishers will not automatically dismiss papers derived from online theses). The thesis will not be available to anyone outside Florida Tech for (choose only one time period and indicate your justification):

Should I Embargo My Thesis or Dissertation?

Always  discuss the pros and cons of embargoing your thesis or dissertation with your advisor  prior  to submitting your work. Below are links to recent articles that address this question:

• Dissertation Reviews: Embargo Your Dissertation, or Not?
• Indiana University: Should I embargo my dissertation?
• Daily Nous: Should PhD Students Embargo Their Dissertations?
• ScienceBlog: Why I Placed A Digital Embargo On My Dissertation, And Maybe You Should Too
• Chronicle of Higher Education: Embargoes Can Go Only So Far to Help New Ph.D.'s Get Published, Experts Say

How Do I Get Access to an Embargoed Thesis or Dissertation?

If you learn about a thesis or dissertation that you want to read but it currently is embargoed, your best bet is to contact the author. Additionally, if you try to access a document that is embargoed, you will be directed to a form where you can request access.

If you are having difficulty finding contact information for the author, try contacting your library or the university library at which the author earned his or her degree. 

Many thanks to Kay Coates, Zach Henderson Library at Georgia Southern University and  Shayna Pekala , Scholarly Communications Office at Indiana University, for permission to reuse content.

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Theses & Dissertations

• Submitting your Thesis or Dissertation
• Depositing with ProQuest
• Understanding Copyright
• Understanding Embargoes
• Frequently Asked Questions

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Jessica Benner , Library Liaison for Computer Science and GIS, for compiling the information on which this page is based. 

What is an Embargo?

Authors who share their work openly will gain more visibility for their research and are contributing to the scholarly record of work conducted at Carnegie Mellon University. Even so, a n embargo on your work may be appropriate in certain circumstances. An embargo is a specified time period to delay online access . Applying an embargo to your thesis or dissertation does not mean that your work will be completely hidden. A public record of your thesis will exist online, including the author’s name, title of the work, keywords, and an abstract. In either KiltHub or ProQuest, the embargo options can range from 6 months to 5 years, and will automatically expire. In most cases, an embargo is not needed, but you should discuss your options with your thesis advisor.

Embargo Dos and Don'ts

• When to apply an embargo
• When not to apply an embargo

Embargoes are recommended for a few typical cases: 

Non-disclosure agreement, patent agreements or commercially valuable research.

In this case, the authors believe the research is commercially viable and may want to protect intellectual property rights while securing a patent. The embargo period should be used to obtain the patent not for conducting more research.

Publisher Requirements

An embargo is not recommended if: .

• The author wants to do more research or believes the quality of the research is poor. Conducting more research is not an appropriate cause for an embargo.
• The author is against depositing their work in open access venues. They can deposit their dissertation in ProQuest, a subscription based database.
• The author believes everyone else in the department is obtaining embargoes so they want to follow the crowd. Each dissertation is unique and should be evaluated independently.
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Dissertations, Doctoral Projects, and Theses: Embargoes

Should i request an embargo for my dissertation.

If you are concerned that public release of your research may be inadvisable, you may request an embargo, which will restrict access to your work for a limited period of time. Reasons for an embargo include: making public information about a pending patent application, violating privacy rights; disclosing sensitive data or information; and adversely affecting your chances of publishing a revised dissertation. In these cases, you should consult with your advisor and dissertation committee to determine whether an embargo would be appropriate.

In 2013, the American Historical Association released its Statement on Policies Regarding the Embargoing of Completed History PhD Dissertations  suggesting that doctoral students should be permitted to embargo online access to their dissertation for up to six years, with access being provided only for those on campus or with the student’s explicit permission off campus. If you are concerned that the availability of your dissertation in an open access repository will negatively affect your future publication prospects, you may find our Revising Your Dissertation for Publication page and the articles below of interest.

• Cohen, Philip N. " Sociologists: Don’t Embargo your Dissertation ." Family Inequality. 2021.
• " Can't Find It, Can't Sign It: On Dissertation Embargoes ." Harvard University Press Blog. 2013.
• Gilliam, Christian and Christine Daoutis. " Can Openly Accessible E- Theses Be Published as Monographs? A Short Survey of Academic Publishers ."  Serials Librarian  no. 1–4 (July 2018): 5–12.
• Gold, Alexandra. " The Great Embargo Debate ." Inside Higher Ed. 2018.
• McCutcheon, Angela M. Impact of Publishers' Policy on Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (EDT) Distribution Options within the United States . 2010
• Ramirez, M. L., J. T. Dalton, G. Mcmillan, M. Read, and N. H. Seamans. " Do Open Access Electronic Theses and Dissertations Diminish Publishing Opportunities in the Social Sciences and Humanities? Findings from a 2011 Survey of Academic Publishers ." College & Research Libraries 74.4 (2013): 368-80.
• Ramirez, M. L., G. Mcmillan, J. T. Dalton, A. Hanlon, H. S. Smith, and C. Kern. " Do Open Access Electronic Theses and Dissertations Diminish Publishing Opportunities in the Sciences ?" College & Research Libraries 75.6 (2014): 808-21.
• Rosen, Rebecca J. " You've Spent Years on Your Ph.D.: Should You Publish It Online for Free? " The Atlantic . 2018.
• Dissertation Embargoes and Publishing Fears
• Open Access and Dissertation Embargoes
• Publishing a Revised Dissertation
• To Embargo Your Dissertation, or Not?
• Dr. Audrey Truschke's follow-up tweets on this subject (2019)
• Weinberg, Justin.  Should PhD Students Embargo Their Dissertations?   Daily Nous. 2018.

If my work is embargoed, what information will be available?

The Graduate School allows two types of embargoes:

Common Embargo

The citation and abstract will appear in DigitalGeorgetown and ProQuest. The full text of your dissertation, doctoral project, or thesis will be withheld from public distribution but will be available to the Georgetown community (current faculty, student, and staff). Your work will also be available to any researcher who contacts the Georgetown University Library in advance and comes to campus to read it. Visiting readers are not permitted to print or download your work.

Restrictive Embargo

The citation and abstract will appear in DigitalGeorgetown and ProQuest. The full text of your dissertation, doctoral project, or thesis will not be available to anyone. This most restrictive option could be requested for a patent pending application and must be supported by a letter from your mentor or Director of Graduate Studies.

How do I request an embargo?

The Graduate School's embargo policy is set out in Part V.B. of the Graduate Bulletin, " Publication of Theses, Doctoral Projects, and Dissertations ." Additional information about requesting an embargo is on the Graduate School's Embargo Policy page. For questions about how to place an embargo, email [email protected] .

Is there a time limit on the embargo?

Both ProQuest and DigitalGeorgetown allow an embargo for up to two years. In rare circumstances, an extension beyond two years might be granted. Such request must be made before the expiration of any previously granted embargo and must be addressed in writing to the Dean of the Graduate School, accompanied by a letter of support from your mentor or the Director of Graduate Studies. The decision whether or not to grant such an extension will rest with the Dean. 

Requests to extend your embargo in ProQuest should be made directly to ProQuest by emailing [email protected] .

If you submit your thesis or dissertation through the ProQuest submission portal without requesting an embargo, your work will be made available openly in DigitalGeorgetown within a few weeks after graduation.  

Can I embargo my work after it has already been submitted to ProQuest and DigitalGeorgetown?

Requests to embargo a dissertation that has already been publicly available will not generally be approved. Even if an embargo is allowed, it is important to note that if your work has already been freely available in DigitalGeorgetown, and any copies made by others won't be affected by a later embargo.

Theses: Embargoes and making your thesis open

• Queen's e-thesis
• Embargoes and making your thesis open
• Copyright: seeking permission
• Training & support
• Getting published
• Finding theses

Applying an embargo to your thesis

What is an embargo?

A mechanism whereby access to, or visibility of, the full text is hidden or delayed for a set period.

This is usually for a very defined period of time (i.e. 1-5 years) which can be determined by a range of circumstances e.g. publication plans, funder requirements etc. You should also speak to your supervisor about your publication plans, this will help clarify if you require an embargo or not. 

The list of eligible reasons for an embargo is also contained on the Repository Deposit Form.

There could be certain circumstances in which a bespoke embargo could be required, in instance like this please contact Dawn Pike, Open Research Librarian  to discuss your options.

When you DO need to consider an embargo on your thesis

Circumstances when you do not need an embargo on your thesis, reasons for an embargo to the thesis.

If the purpose of conducting research is to share it and make it available as soon as possible, why would anyone choose an embargo? 

One of the primary reasons why people decide to opt for an embargo is because they are preparing the work for publication. And they do not want their work to appear until it has been presented in a formal publication or publications. This could be in the form of a research article or articles, or indeed am entire book (sometimes called a monograph). So, people often choose to embargo the thesis while they are preparing the material for publication.

Find listed below some of the reasons why people embargo their thesis:

• Publication - the thesis is embargoed while you attempt to get your work published. 
• Commercial reasons – the thesis has potential to be commercial and that is why you are embargoing. 
• Confidential – the thesis contains confidential information – secrets of a business, process or maybe some legal and the embargo is needed because of the confidentiality of the content. 
• Copyright – maybe your thesis contains excessive amounts of third party copyright  and this is why an embargo is required.

How to apply for an embargo?

If you want to embargo your e-thesis you must indicate this on the  Repository Deposit Form .

Please upload the  Repoistory Deposit Form  to  Pure  with your e-thesis record. Both are required as part of your submission process.

The E-thesis Team will cross-check the embargo in Pure with the embargo information provided in the Repository Deposit Form. 

If you wish to discuss your embargo options, please contact Dawn Pike,  Open Research Librarian 

The Open Research Librarian for E-theses can help

Common questions about embargoed thesis content.

• Why is uploading my thesis the best thing for my visibility, and the visibility of my research?
• Can the thesis text be seen if it is embargoed?
• What does an embargoed e-thesis look like?
• What are the most common embargo lengths?

So, as a result of making your thesis open access, it will eventually be visible on Queen’s Research Portal and other platforms. I include an example of a thesis from 2019 that is open access here on Queen’s Research Portal. There is no embargo. 

On the right-hand side is the EThOs thesis record . EThOS is the UK’s national thesis service which aims to maximise the visibility and availability of the UK’s doctoral research theses.  

EThOS , which is run by the British Library, harvest our content and EThOS is the place to go to look for PGR theses. 

So, by uploading to Pure, it is visible on Queen’s Research Portal - on the left-hand side, as well as be discovered via EThOS and various search engines, including Google. This is the best news for you raising your visibility 

This is how an embargoed thesis will look on Queen's Research Portal - this is where we PGR thesis content is publicly made available. One the left hand-side there is an image of an open thesis. There is a paperclip symbol visible, which means it is open access – it is similar to the green padlock symbol which means open access now– so it is NOT embargoed.

On the right-hand side, the same thesis is embargoed. The embargo may be identifiable by the fact that there is no full-text content attached to the thesis. There is no paperclip symbol, which indicates the presence of full text now. No full text has been attached to the e-thesis record or is visible publicly. This indicates that there is an embargo on the thesis.

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• Dissertation Embargo Guidelines
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In cases where papers are in press, patents are pending, or where there are other intellectual property concerns, it may be beneficial to delay publication (“embargo”). Students should discuss with their advisor whether a delay in publication is necessary or advisable, and may also reach out to their  subject librarian  for guidance.   

Embargo Options

Dissertations are available through three primary venues: ProQuest, ScholarlyCommons, and for dissertations prior to 2020, the Penn Libraries stacks. Students may apply for a delay in publication/embargo in ProQuest and in ScholarlyCommons. 

ProQuest  is a third-party, commercial resource that provides full-text access to electronic dissertations to Penn faculty, students, staff, and anyone else with a ProQuest institutional subscription. Members of the public may view the first 24 pages of a dissertation before being prompted to purchase a copy of the dissertation. 

ProQuest offers the following embargo options: 6 months, 1 year or 2 years .

ScholarlyCommons

ScholarlyCommons  is the University of Pennsylvania’s  open access  institutional repository for gathering, indexing, storing, and making widely available to the public the scholarly output of the Penn community. Since December 2015, Penn has required open access publication of dissertations in ScholarlyCommons. Full-text access to electronic dissertations is available to all members of the public (except dissertations that are embargoed). For more information about ScholarlyCommons, visit  http://guides.library.upenn.edu/scholarlycommons/ .

ScholarlyCommons  offers the following embargo options: 3 years only.

Full-text dissertations available in ScholarlyCommons can be seen by anyone in the world, whereas the full-text of dissertations in ProQuest are only available to those with an institutional subscription. Dissertations prior to 2015 can be added at the request of the author by contacting  [email protected] . 

Note that dissertations may have two records in ScholarlyCommons: one in  Publicly Available Penn Dissertations  and one in  Dissertations Available From ProQuest .

How to Request an Initial Embargo

Enter embargo preferences, if any, when submitting the dissertation  using ETD Administrator . Students’ first embargo requests are granted automatically. 

The  PQ Publishing Options  tab in ETD Administrator requires you to indicate your selections for ProQuest publishing. You must choose whether you wish to publish on ProQuest immediately or delay the publication of your dissertation for 6 months, 1 year, or 2 years.

Embargo Extensions

ProQuest Embargo Extensions must be requested by the dissertation author directly from ProQuest at  [email protected] . The University does not process ProQuest embargo extensions.

• A request for an additional three year delay (beyond the first three year embargo) in ScholarlyCommons requires approval by the Graduate Group Chair. Complete and submit the  Embargo Extension Request Form .
• The completed Embargo Extension Request Form must be submitted  one month before the end of the initial embargo  to  [email protected] .
• In the event that a further delay (beyond six years) in ScholarlyCommons is needed, a graduate may petition their school’s Graduate Dean for an extension.

Frequently Asked Questions

Students should discuss their embargo options with their dissertation supervisor or may reach out to a  subject librarian  who is familiar with their discipline for guidance. Your choice to embargo may depend on your discipline (it is more common in some fields than others especially if there are patent rights at issue) as well as your publishing goals.

Yes. If you choose to delay the release of your work, access to the full text of your work will be delayed for the period of time that you specify. The citation and abstract of your work will be available through ProQuest and may be available through your institutional repository.

When you upload your dissertation in ProQuest ETD Administrator, please select the option to delay release in the  PQ publishing options  menu. You can select a 6 month, 1 year, or 2 year delay.

At the same time, you may request a delay of publication through  Penn’s Institutional Repository (ScholarlyCommons)  in ProQuest ETD Administrator’s  IR publishing options  menu. The IR embargo is a only available in a 3-year term.

If you wish to release your dissertation for publication before the end of your embargo term, please contact  [email protected]  to withdraw your embargo in ProQuest and contact  [email protected]  to end your embargo in ScholarlyCommons, Penn’s institutional repository.

No; separate requests must be made for each embargo, and requests may not be made until the previous embargo is nearing its end (1-3 months before the embargo ends).  

For instance, if you graduate in May 2021 with a three-year ScholarlyCommons embargo, in April 2024 you may request an additional three years to extend the ScholarlyCommons embargo to 2027 with approval from the Graduate Group Chair using the  Embargo Extension Request Form . In March 2027, you may petition for an additional three-year embargo with approval from the Graduate Group Chair and the Graduate Dean. The dissertation will become publicly available once the embargo period has passed.  

No, you may choose to embargo in either ProQuest and/or ScholarlyCommons, and the period of the embargos will differ.

You may ask to retroactively have your dissertation embargoed in ScholarlyCommons with the  Embargo Extension Request Form , but it may only be embargoed until the date it would have originally ended. So, for example, if you graduated in May 2022, your dissertation could only be embargoed until May 2025, regardless of when you request the embargo to be added. Further embargo periods would follow the procedures outlined above and are subject to the maximum allowed embargo period.

To retroactively embargo a dissertation in ProQuest, contact ProQuest directly  online .

Note that choosing to embargo your dissertation after it has already been made openly available cannot ensure that your dissertation is not circulated or read; it just ensures that others are no longer able to access your dissertation.

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Thesis / dissertation formatting manual (2024).

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UC Open Access Policy

The UC Policy on Open Access for Theses and Dissertations requires that all doctoral dissertations and master's theses be made available for public access.

Electronic copies of all UCI theses and dissertations submitted to the ETD system will be routed to the UCI Libraries shortly after the formatting of your manuscript has been accepted. The Libraries will preserve and make accessible to the public all theses and dissertations submitted electronically, in accordance with the Libraries policies and best practices. This includes publishing theses and dissertations online through the University of California’s open access repository eScholarship. 

Providing such access increases the availability and dissemination of your work at no charge to you, a benefit ProQuest will provide only for a fee. If you do not wish for your work to be published immediately in eScholarship, you may request an embargo (see below).

All students who submit an ETD must complete and sign the “Open Access” agreement form, which can be found as part of the Ph.D. Form II/Signature Page and Master’s Thesis signature page listed Consent and Release. This is part of the final paperwork packet submitted via DocuSign to the Graduate Division.

Embargoes: Delaying the release of your manuscript

If you plan to publish your work elsewhere, you can request that ProQuest or the UCI Libraries withhold your manuscript for a period of 6 months or 1-6 years. This is requesting an embargo, and it means that your manuscript will not be published online through eScholarship or ProQuest in their databases until after the embargo period concludes.

Upon extraordinary circumstances (such as high legal or safety risk to the graduate student), an extended embargo may be granted for as long as such extraordinary circumstances exist pursuant to Section IV of the  UC Policy on Open Access for Theses and Dissertations . To do so, the student must submit a memo explaining the request via email attachment to the Graduate Dean at [email protected], including "Extended Embargo Request" in the subject line.

You can request an embargo in Proquest under PQ Publishing Options

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What is the purpose of dissertation embargo periods?

I just heard about "dissertation embargoes". My institution recommends that every graduating student place an embargo on their dissertation.

What is a dissertation embargo, and what is its purpose?

• 5 This is the first time I have ever heard of such a thing. Could you provide a link please? –  Shion Commented Sep 12, 2014 at 19:42
• What institution is it? –  Franck Dernoncourt Commented Sep 12, 2014 at 22:18

3 Answers 3

An embargo effectively withholds your dissertation from being placed on your institution's open-access dissertation archive (from which anyone can view/download your dissertation).

I have placed an embargo on my dissertation so that I may attempt to get a few more papers published without my dissertation being searchable on the web. It is a common practice in the department where I did my PhD (though, I wondered sometimes if it was really necessary).

For a more complete list of reasons why one would choose to place an embargo on their dissertation, I'm listing here an excerpt taken from a University of New Mexico page:

Embargos may be appropriate for authors 1) who are seeking patents, 2) who want to publish their work through a traditional press that considers open access publication to be equivalent to prior publication, 3) who have published material from their work with a publisher that does not allow open access release for a certain period of time, or 4) who need to protect sensitive data or information.

• 12 Pardon my question: it is not meant to be combative; this practice is all but unheard of to me. You write "I have placed an embargo on my dissertation so that I may attempt to get a few more papers published without my dissertation being searchable on the web." Could you explain why placing your thesis on the web stops you from publishing papers based on it? Doesn't restricting access to your thesis augment inequity (i.e., some people have obviously seen your thesis work; why doesn't the field as a whole have a right to see it?) and retard progress in your field? –  Pete L. Clark Commented Sep 12, 2014 at 22:21
• 8 @PeteL.Clark My advisor and another committee member (both EEs) suggested that I place an embargo on my dissertation mainly due to point 2 above in the UNM excerpt (I had an applied math faculty member on my committee who didn't think it was necessary). At the time that I requested the embargo, I was not absolutely convinced that it was necessary for this reason; however, I also needed to request an embargo as my research was partly supported by DoD funds, and I was required to clear my dissertation with the DoD for "public release," a process which (from my experience) can be somewhat slow. –  Mad Jack Commented Sep 12, 2014 at 23:31
• 1 My case was 3), I have included a previously published paper and the Springer forbid that part of the thesis to be accessible online. –  Vladimir F Героям слава Commented May 30, 2015 at 15:05

A "dissertation embargo" means that access to the dissertation is restricted for a limited period of time (typically one or two years, but possibly longer).

Possible reasons to embargo a dissertation include:

• You would like to patent some of the work described in the dissertation. The published dissertation would constitute prior art.
• The dissertation includes data covered by a nondisclosure agreement for a limited period of time.
• You intend to publish the dissertation as a book, with a publisher that restricts consideration of manuscripts based on publicly available dissertations.
• Not only books, papers too in some journals I think. Otherwise +1 :) –  yo' Commented Sep 13, 2014 at 13:00
• Not only books, but both journals and some conferences in my field have embargo periods. –  Fomite Commented Jul 8, 2016 at 21:58

I know of one dissertation that has been on embargo. The person who wrote it has not said why, but I suspect it may be related to the content. It sets forth new and well-tested scientific methods to detect the secret burials of crime victims and mass graves associated with human genocide. A number of dictatorial regimes on this planet would love to get their hands on the contents of this dissertation because they could be used to make their mass burial dirty work less detectable and make it less likely that they would someday be put on trial at The Hague for crimes against humanity (see Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, etc.). Sometimes there are very good reasons to withhold a dissertation — even for many years.

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Embargo Information

As a condition of undertaking a thesis/dissertation/treatise program, the student agrees that the completed manuscript will be archived in the University Libraries system. The student will make the electronic dissertation available for review by other scholars and the general public by selecting an access condition provided by The Graduate School.

What is an embargo?

An embargo is a method of restricting access to a manuscript for a limited amount of time in order for a student to pursue a patent, commercial interests, or other publication. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure restricted access on the ProQuest web site .

***Please be aware that embargoing a manuscript does not constitute a guarantee that information in the sequestered thesis, dissertation, or treatise will not be disseminated by means other than the written thesis, dissertation, or treatise.

What are the most common reasons that embargo requests are granted?

• Publishing a book
• Publishing in a journal, especially if the pre-print policy of a journal prohibits the manuscript being generally available on the web. (A pre-print is a manuscript that has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal.)

What form must be submitted when requesting an embargo?

The Manuscript Access Agreement Form must be submitted through the Manuscript Clearance Portal and "Embargoed Access" must be selected. The Embargo Request section of the form must be completed in its entirety. Once submitted, this form will then be approved or denied by the major professor(s), the Manuscript Clearance Advisor, and the Dean of The Graduate School.

When requesting an embargo, what information must be included in the Embargo Request section of the Manuscript Access Agreement Form?

• Name of publisher(s) to whom the manuscript may be submitted
• Potential Timeline
• Short description of what is being patented
• Name of journal(s)
• The exact wording of the preprint policy of the journal(s), which is usually included in the "Instructions for Authors"

Is additional justification required for any other options on the Embargo Request Form?

Yes. Justification is required for selecting the Campus Community-Only Access after the embargo has expired. This option is typically reserved for students intending to publish a book from their manuscript.

Campus Community-Only Access – The manuscript is available only to those that are part of the FSU computer network after the full embargo expires.

To whom are embargo requests submitted?

Embargo request forms are submitted to the Manuscript Clearance Advisor. The Advisor checks  forms to make sure that they have been filled out correctly, including signatures. If filled out correctly, the Embargo Request Form is submitted for approval (see below).

Who approves embargo requests?

The Manuscript Clearance Advisor and Dean of the Graduate School must approve all embargo requests as well as requests for embargo extensions.

What if the request is denied?

In some cases, the original request, or a request for an extension, is denied because the justification is insufficient. In those cases, the Manuscript Clearance Advisor will notify the student by email and request that the student provide additional justification via email. The student’s email response will be attached to the embargo request form, and the form will be re-submitted to the Dean for approval.

How long does an embargo last?

The initial embargo is for 24 months on the ProQuest web site and in the FSU Digital Repository. However, if the student was approved for Campus Community-Only Access (see top of page), then the embargo on the ProQuest web site will be changed to permanent. The most restrictive option offered for the FSU Digital Repository is Campus Community-Only after the embargo expires.

How is a permanent embargo enabled on ProQuest since that option is not available to students ?

For permanent ProQuest embargo requests approved by the Dean, the Manuscript Clearance Advisor will access the student’s ETD account and revise the publishing options to enable a permanent embargo. That process will generate an email notifying the student that their publishing options have been revised.

What happens at the end of an embargo period?

Under special circumstances, the Dean of The Graduate School may grant up to two additional 24-month embargoes. However, each additional embargo is applied for separately, and only approved if the case is made that an additional 24-month embargo is in the best interest of all parties, or if publication or commercial interest in the document is still ongoing. Each request must be submitted at least 1 month prior to the expiring embargo. Students are responsible for initiating this process.

As a courtesy, the Manuscript Clearance Advisor will attempt to inform the student, via the email they provided on the Embargo Renewal Request, that the 24-month embargo period is ending; the email address will be that listed in the Graduate Student Tracking database. 

Failure to submit an Embargo Request Form for renewal will result in the embargo of the manuscript being lifted in the FSU Digital Repository. Manuscript access will either be World Wide Access or Campus Community-Only Access , depending upon the option approved on the most recent FSU Embargo Request Form.

To extend an embargo on the ProQuest web site, it is the student’s responsibility to contact ProQuest to request an embargo extension (800-521-0600; [email protected] ).

What information is posted on the ProQuest web site and the FSU Digital Repository for embargoed manuscripts?

Student's name, manuscript title, and abstract as well as indexing information about the thesis, dissertation, or treatise.

May an embargo be requested after the manuscript has been cleared by Manuscript Clearance?

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Q. How do I embargo my thesis or dissertation?

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Answered By: Repository, digital pub, open scholarship, embargo *SCDPS Last Updated: Apr 22, 2024     Views: 2204

Dissertations For your dissertation, the embargo options are on the form you submit to ProQuest. Your selections apply to both ProQuest and Open Scholarship, the digital repository maintained by the Washington University Libraries: • no embargo = the full text of your dissertation (as a PDF) would be available on Open Scholarship, the university's digital repository, as soon as we process the files. • 6 month embargo = when we process the files, there will be a record of your dissertation (with your name, title, abstract, advisor information, etc.) available through Open Scholarship, but the full-text would not be available for 6 months. • 1 year embargo = same as above, except one year • 2 year embargo = same as above, except two years • 3 year embargo = same as above, except three years

You may change the embargo period, either extending or reducing it, after your original submission, but you would need to contact the library (Digital Library Services – [email protected]) and ProQuest ([email protected] or http://www.proquest.com/en-US/support/contact.shtml) separately.

Theses The embargo options are the same as above, except that they are only applied locally to Open Scholarship as theses are not submitted through ProQuest.

For more information, please contact Digital Library Services: [email protected] or visit http://libguides.wustl.edu/etds

University Libraries Policy Current University Libraries policy (effective 2022): At the request of depositors, content can be “embargoed,” or restricted, from view for a limited amount of time of up to three years. Open Scholarship requires an end date to the embargo, at which time the content automatically becomes available for viewing in Open Scholarship. However, the depositor may submit one renewal request to extend the embargo for a maximum of three additional years, for a total maximum embargo of six years.

"Academic departmental policy may govern the use and duration of embargo es and students should consult their department for this information." https://library.wustl.edu/about/policies/open-scholarship-policies/#ossubuse   [under Embargo es]

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Your Dissertation: Public Access and Embargo Considerations

You’ve worked painstakingly for years on your thesis or dissertation — the scholarly key to completing your graduate degree, securing a possible first book deal, and making inroads toward faculty status somewhere. As you are about to submit your pièce de résistance to SHAREOK , you are confronted with the realization that your dissertation is about to be made openly available online to readers all over the world. Hurrah! And GULP!   Because your dissertation will be available online, you may have questions and concerns about the choices you’ll need to make, specifically about embargoes. These concerns can be daunting, and you definitely don’t want to be thinking about them for the first time when you are rushing to submit your dissertation to SHAREOK. We want you to begin thinking about public access to your dissertation early in your process.    

Should you embargo your thesis or dissertation?

Making your work available to be read online immediately has many advantages in addition to promoting the dissemination of research that is a principle of OU’s graduate programs:

• It establishes when your work was created and published, which can help combat plagiarism and enforce your copyright.
• Open access to your work can help build your academic reputation .
• When your work is openly available it is more findable and more easily cited . 

There are circumstances, however, that would warrant an embargo of your thesis or dissertation:    

• situations where there would be a disclosure of patentable rights.
• ethical concerns, such as protecting subjects or protecting yourself.
• a book/journal publisher has demanded it (which is rare; read on).

Embargoes and Publishing

Certain publishers in particular disciplines may consider dissertations to be prior publications, and/or limit their consideration of a subsequent journal article or book manuscript based on the dissertation. Some authors may, therefore, wish to embargo due to concern that open access availability will impact consideration of subsequent publications derived from their dissertations. Note that this is untrue for the majority of publishers:

• To the contrary, academic publishers typically view prior open access publication as a means to improve acceptance for a book deal due to increased awareness of your work.
• While numbers vary significantly by discipline, there have been several studies that indicate that more than 90% of university presses will consider an open access dissertation for book publication. However — again reinforcing the need for discipline-specific guidance making your decision — publishers in some specific fields indicated they would never consider for book publication a manuscript based on a publically available dissertation. The study found a strong correlation between the size of the university press and willingness to consider manuscripts on a case by case basis, with larger presses indicating they would always review such proposals
• Keep in mind, too, that your dissertation will be revised and rewritten significantly if/when you shape it into a manuscript for a first book. Most publishers accordingly view this as an entirely new work. A recent study found that only 3% of dissertations were actually a close match to the resulting book . 
• If you are instead concerned about acceptance for future journal articles rather than books, take a look at the guidelines for the particular journals in which you're interested. You can check publishers’ permissions on their websites, on this web page , or in SHERPA/RoMEO . You’ll find that most journal publishers do not count theses, dissertations, or preprints as prior publications. And again, most articles vary substantially from a dissertation. A recent article, Transforming Your Dissertation Into a Published Article, explains this.

Ultimately, you should check with your advisors and the guidelines of the publishers you are considering. It is important to familiarize yourself with the policies in your field.  And remember to familiarize yourself with the Graduate College's Embargo Policy for Theses and Dissertations, in section 1.5 of the Graduate College Bulletin .

Portions of this page are used courtesy of the Office of Scholarly Communication at the University of California and used here under a CC-BY 4.0 International license .

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My embargoed dissertation is cited extensively in a work I was asked to review

Hi In history we are required to produce a book on our tenure track. I have a contract with a publisher to turn my dissertation into a book. My dissertation has been embargoed for that purpose. I was surprised to find my dissertation extensively cited and research included in an article I'm reviewing. Noone has access to my work. I'm not sure what I should do next...do I tell the editors about this?

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Thesis_Data_Set_Satyaki_Datta_199001049_MAHE_Manipal

Embargo: 27 December 2024, 12:00 AM UTC

This dataset will be made public in 131 days

What does under embargo mean?

When publishing a dataset, a user may choose to defer the date at which the data becomes available (for example, so that it is available at the same time as an associated article). This means that the description and files of that dataset are not publicly available until the embargo date is reached. Meanwhile, some other information about the dataset - such as the contributors, title, citation and associated articles become available immediately, prior to the embargo.