Delayed Release/Embargo of Your Electronic Thesis or Dissertation (ETD)

Students may choose to delay the release (embargo) of their ETD due to a pending patent, publication, or other reason. Students are urged to embargo an ETD only if it is absolutely necessary, as it is the University’s mission to distribute knowledge to the public.

Procedure

During the electronic filing process with ProQuest, students are asked to select publishing options for the ProQuest (PQ) version of the ETD and UCSB’s Institutional Repository (IR) version of the ETD.

ProQuest (PQ Publishing Options)

Students may embargo for up to 2 years with ProQuest. A period longer than 2 years requires additional approval. 

Institutional Repository (IR publishing options)

Students may choose to embargo their IR ETD for up to two years. Requests to embargo for longer than two years total require approval from the Thesis/Dissertation Chair and the Dean of the Graduate Division (using the Dissertation/Thesis Delayed Release (Embargo) Request form). 

Embargo Request Beyond  2 Years

Requests to embargo for more than two years total can be made 3-6 months before the end of the initial 2 years of embargo. This type of request will require approval from the Thesis/Dissertation Chair and the Dean of the Graduate Division (using the Dissertation/Thesis Delayed Release (Embargo) Request form).

Students who need additional time beyond the initial 2-year embargo must submit an embargo petition along with supporting documentation, such as a publishing contract or official correspondence from a publisher, editor, journal, or patent lawyer. 

The completed form can be emailed to academics@graddiv.ucsb.edu

This request will be reviewed by the Graduate Division Associate Dean, and if approved, a copy will be sent to the requester and to the UCSB eScholarship Repository liaison.

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