The preservation and public dissemination of original dissertation research is a principle to which the University, as a publicly funded institute of higher education, is strongly committed. Unrestricted release of theses means permanent worldwide access through the Internet. Students retain copyright on the thesis as the thesis author. However, in exceptional cases, the author, in consultation with the thesis supervisor and with the approval of the chair of the graduate unit, shall have the right to postpone distribution and publication for a period up to two years from the date of acceptance of the thesis. Discuss placing an embargo on your thesis with your supervisor.

When you choose to embargo your thesis, you must still submit the thesis. On the ProQuest website, there is an option to choose an embargo of six months, one year or two years. The Chair of your graduate unit must also sign a form, which you will submit to the Program Completion offices at the SGS. Your thesis will be virtually held until the date of release.

Students must agree to the ProQuest and University agreements when submitting their theses, providing ProQuest and the university with a non-exclusive licence to publish your thesis on ProQuest and in TSpace, the universitys repository.

►►The SGS form to restrict thesis release date - needs to be dated and signed by your graduate unit chair.

For further submission instructions see the Electronic Thesis Submission section of the SGS website.