What’s a thesis or dissertation embargo, and when to use it?
As part of the degree requirements for theses and dissertations, students hold a public defense and their document is published electronically in the ASU Digital Repository and with ProQuest. Publication in the ASU Digital Repository is required; however, students may elect to delay (known as “embargo”) publication of their thesis/dissertation for a period of two years with support from their committee.
Why embargo a thesis/dissertation?
Delayed publication can protect:
- information of commercial value
- patentable rights
- sensitive or classified information
- academic or commercial press from acquiring publishing rights
- other relevant scholarly issues related to the release of your work
How can a student establish an embargo?
- Consult with committee at the time of the defense (or earlier) to decide whether an embargo is necessary.
- Complete the Delaying Publication of Thesis/Dissertation form and include the chair’s (or a co-chair’s) signature.
Please note that although the complete document will not be accessible in ProQuest and the ASU Digital Repository, discoverable information such as the title, author and the abstract will appear in these repositories and cannot be removed. It is important that you are transparent with any prospective publishers if you are using content from your thesis, dissertation or culminating document.
To ensure that the embargo form has been received, the ASU ProQuest submission portal does not provide an option for students to directly select an embargo. After submitting the embargo form and uploading the document in ProQuest, the Graduate College format review team updates the publication release date in the student's submission before delivering the document ProQuest. If a student submits their document in ProQuest before completing the embargo form, the student should note the embargo request in the "Notes to Administrator" section to ensure the document is not released before the embargo form is applied.
If approved, an embargo allows for a temporary delay of the publication of your document for up to two years through the ASU Digital Repository, KEEP. Embargo requests made after publication cannot guarantee non-viewing or downloading.
Other considerations
In unique cases, students may be granted an embargo of their document for an additional two years by emailing [email protected] before the original embargo expires. The maximum allowable embargo period for the ASU Digital Repository is four years, while ProQuest may allow for an indefinite embargo. Those requests are to be emailed to [email protected].
These embargo guidelines apply to other culminating experience documents (such as bound documents and DMA research papers) that are required to go through format review and submission to ProQuest. Please check with your academic unit if unsure if this applies to your culminating experience.
Embargo questions can be directed to [email protected].
