Rowan University Libraries Thesis & Dissertation Guidance for Embargoes and Withdrawals

Introduction 

In higher education, it is customary for a graduate student's thesis or dissertation to be available to the public. Additionally, research funded by federal agencies may be subject to public access requirements. 

As such, Rowan University theses and dissertations produced from 1996 forward are available to the public in digital format in two repositories: the library’s institutional repository—Rowan Digital Works (“RDW”)—and ProQuest’s Dissertations & Theses Global online database (“ProQuest”). The RDW repository is available to the public, but ProQuest is a subscription database only available to Rowan students, faculty and staff, or by interlibrary loan for external library patrons. Note: Rowan University (and predecessors) theses and dissertations produced prior to 1996 are available in the Campbell Library stacks in bound volumes and do not circulate (i.e. cannot be checked out). Digitized theses and dissertations from the former Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Stratford have also been uploaded to RDW. 

As part of their graduation requirements, students with theses or dissertations will submit their finished document to the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) via the Thesis & Dissertation Submission Process described here. This process involves submitting their thesis/dissertation document to ProQuest and working with an SGS staff member to finalize their document’s formatting according to the Thesis & Dissertation Manual. 

When students submit their final thesis or dissertation to SGS via ProQuest, they must give permission for their work to be made public in both repositories (ProQuest and RDW) using the license agreement presented in the ProQuest submission platform. The author is asked if they want to make their work immediately publicly available in their school's institutional repository and on the ProQuest platform. If the author says No, they are offered options for embargo periods. Upon completion of formatting in ProQuest, the thesis or dissertation is then automatically delivered to both ProQuest and the Rowan University Libraries to be archived and made available to the public in both repositories, unless the student has indicated that the work must be embargoed (i.e. that the work’s public availability must be delayed for a specific amount of time). 

External researchers wishing to get in touch with an author whose work is in ProQuest or RDW must contact SGS.

I. Inclusion in Rowan Digital Works and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global

All completed and approved Rowan theses and dissertations required for degree conferral must be delivered to RDWs and ProQuest in PDF or other non-alterable digital format. However, the document may be hidden from public view for a period of time (see Embargo section). 

The following information must be provided: Title, Author, Approval Date, Document Type, Degree Name, Department, College, Thesis or Dissertation Chair, and Abstract.

Personally identifying information about the author such as home address, email address, social security number, signature, or date of birth should not be included and will be redacted if found.

Any thesis or dissertation containing protected health information (PHI) as defined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) must be accompanied by a signed consent form or appropriate waiver. If such documentation is not available, this material  must be removed or redacted.

All images must have copyright clearances and include appropriate attribution if they were not created by the author.

II. Author Agreement to Post Online

Graduating students submit their full-text thesis or dissertation to SGS through ProQuest. SGS facilitates delivery to the library after final editing and approval processes are complete. Part of the submittal process includes acknowledging that the thesis or dissertation will be available online worldwide through ProQuest and on RDW. The agreement that the student author accepts in ProQuest also acts as acceptance to the RDW release agreement as shown below: 

I grant to Rowan University and its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part, and/or my abstract in whole or in part in all forms of media, now and hereafter.

I certify that where applicable I have obtained and attached written permission statements from the owners of each item of third party copyrighted material to be included in my thesis or dissertation, allowing distribution as specified below.

I am aware that I have the option and that it is recommended by the Rowan University Libraries that I register my copyright with the US Copyright Office. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation by virtue of being its author. I also retain the right to use in future works, such as articles or books, all or part of this thesis or dissertation.

As the author of the thesis/dissertation I understand that I have the option to withhold the work from public access for a period of up to two years in order to facilitate the application of a patent, commercial publication contract, or other commercial opportunity or to meet research sponsored requirements. I understand and agree that when the period of withholding or embargo expires, the work will be released for open access.

The RDW agreement is non-exclusive, meaning the work can also be uploaded to other platforms besides ProQuest and RDW. However, both repositories are considered forms of publication. If the student wishes to publish the work in a journal or publish a book based on the thesis/dissertation material, it may be rejected if it has already been published in RDW. This possibility should be considered at submission and, if appropriate, an embargo should be chosen to delay publication on RDW until after the author has the opportunity to publish in a journal.

III. Delay of Full-Text Publication (Embargo)

During the combined ProQuest and RDW submission process, a delay in publication (embargo) of up to two years may be indicated by the author. Initial embargo options available are 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years from date of publication in the repositories. A reason does not need to be provided upon initial embargo request. Information about the thesis or dissertation will be shown online on the web page created for that thesis or dissertation, but the full-text document itself will not be available to read. The date of future availability is displayed to the reader on that webpage.

If the two year publication delay turns out not to be sufficient time for the author to publish or patent the research, an extension of the embargo may be requested by the author before the embargo period is up. The processes to request an embargo extension differ for each repository:

• ProQuest: All requests for ProQuest embargo extensions must be made by the author and emailed directly to ProQuest at disspub@proquest.com. 
• RDW: All requests for RDW embargo extensions should be submitted via this form at least two months before the student expects the embargo to be lifted. The request will be vetted by SGS and the student will be notified as to the decision, with a cc: to rdw@rowan.edu. 

Since copyright is retained by the student author, ProQuest is obligated to take down any thesis/dissertation requested for removal by the student. If the student author wishes to request that their thesis or dissertation be removed from RDW, they must submit this form. The request will be vetted by the SGS and the student will be notified as to the decision, with a cc: to rdw@rowan.edu. As part of this process, the student must provide a written, compelling reason for withdrawal and the request must be approved by the SGS. 

If errors are found after a thesis or dissertation has been submitted and a student wishes to upload a revised version to ProQuest and RDW, it must be submitted by the author to SGS as a PDF with the revisions in place. The request must be accompanied by a note of approval from the student’s committee chair(s). SGS will check the document to be sure formatting has remained intact and will provide the student with the next steps required to replace the document in both repositories. For more information about replacing a document in ProQuest, please see ProQuest’s Thesis/Dissertation Correction Policy.