eTheses in QMRO

Submitting your thesis

Since September 2008, it has been a requirement that one copy of all theses submitted for doctoral degrees be in electronic format, with the intention that they will be provided openly through the institutional repository, Queen Mary Research Online.

Things to consider when submitting your thesis

eTheses and publication

It's not always easy to think about what happens after you have received your doctorate whilst writing up your thesis. However, one thing to be thinking about is whether you are hoping to have your thesis published. If the answer to this is likely to be yes, you need to put in place a few provisions before you submit for examination.

Your thesis will be made available online through the repository within about 6 months of your award.

Under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 2008 making your thesis online is a form of publication, and this could affect you if you are hoping to have your thesis published by an academic publisher in the future. Some publishers do not take into account theses having been previously made available in a repository, whilst others do, so if you are planning to have submit for publication, you need to consider requesting an embargo on your thesis being made available.

What's an embargo?

An embargo is a way of withholding your thesis from public access, usually for a fixed period of time. The thesis is held by the Research Degrees Office until after the embargo has expired.

How long can I embargo my thesis for?

You can embargo a thesis for up to 2 years, with the option to negotiate a further embargo after this time if necessary

Can I embargo my thesis indefinitely?

Yes, in certain circumstances we will agree to embargo your thesis indefinitely. If there are particular reasons why you feel that your thesis should not be made available in any form, please speak to the Research Support Librarian.

If you are making my thesis available online, are you assuming copyright of my thesis?

No, you as the author you retain full copyright of your thesis, you merely give us permission to make your thesis available online

3rd party copyright

Before submitting your eThesis, you need to consider whether there is anything contained within it for which you do not own the rights. This may include (but is not limited to): photographs or other images, accompanying video clips or film, diagrams, quotations from other works, any or all of which have been produced by someone else. If your thesis does contain 3rd Party Copyright material for which you have not requested permission to make available publicly, you need to declare this to the Research Support Librarian, and also seek permission where appropriate.