1. School of Graduate Studies
  2. Resources
  3. Thesis/Project Submission
  4. Embargo Procedure

Embargo Procedure

NOTE:  Embargo requests must be made before submitting your manuscript via the e-thesis/e-project submission system. See the Policies & Procedures for policies related to embaro requests. 

If you need to request an embargo or an extension to a previously approved embargo to delay the publication of your manuscript in the University Library Institutional Repository, you must inform the School of Graduate Studies immediately. 

The Dean of the School of Graduate Studies will consider all embargo requests and may approve the publication delay for six (6) months when justifiable reasons are stipulated. Under special circumstances, the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies may approve the delay in publication for a maximum of 12 months when substantive justification is provided.

Examples of justifiable reasons:

  • Time to complete and submit a thesis/project or patent application for a device or idea that emerged from your research.
  • The manuscript describes an idea or product that has substantial monetary potential for either the student, a group of researchers, or the University.
  • A request for the embargo has been requested by a commercial company that funded your research.
  • A journal will not consider publication of a paper/manuscript that has been published in a thesis/project. Evidence of the journal’s policy or a letter from the journal’s editor must be provided.
  • Other reasons.

Procedure:

  1. Complete and sign the Request for Publication Embargo of Thesis/Project form.
  2. Have your supervisor/Advisor and department/area chair sign the completed Request for Publication Embargo of Thesis/Project form.
  3. Submit the signed Request for Publication Embargo of Thesis/Project form to the School of Graduate Studies for decanal consideration before submission of the PDF copy of your manuscript via the e-thesis/e-project submission system.
  4. You and your supervisor will be notified via email of the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies’ decision within 7 to 10 business days.
  5. The School of Graduate Studies forwards a copy of the Request for Publication Embargo of Thesis/Project form via email to the University Library.
  6. Submit the final PDF of your manuscript via the e-thesis/e-project submission system
  7. Check the embargo box within the e-thesis/e-project submission system and specify the approval start and end dates of the embargo period.
  8. The University Library will confirm the approval of each thesis/project embargo request. If decanal approval has been granted, the metadata and the document will not be available to anyone during the embargo period.
  9. Your e-thesis/e-project embargo check and dates will be removed and your manuscript will not be processed by the University Library when a Request for Publication Embargo of Thesis/Project form has NOT been submitted by the School of Graduate Studies and approved by the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies.
  10. When the end of the embargo period has been reached, the document will be released by the University Library and will be available online

Note: The approved embargo period for a thesis is six (6) months, except for ProQuest which has a 12-month embargo period.

If a you wish to extend a six (6) month embargo period for an additional six (6) months, you are responsible for submitting a second Request for Publication Embargo of Thesis/Project form to the School of Graduate Studies for decanal consideration no less than 30 days before the release date of the first embargo period.