Submitting a thesis to the repository is the last thing a doctorate asks of you, and at most universities the degree waits for it. The corrected final version goes into the university's institutional repository, where it is preserved, given a permanent address and, unless you ask otherwise, opened to anyone.
This guide, published by EdCitation, sets out what ten universities' own pages say: what goes in and when, which reasons for an embargo they accept, how long one lasts and who approves it, the licence, and what became of EThOS. Every rule was read at its source on 26 September 2026. EdCitation never writes any part of a thesis; its free Cite a source builds the reference for a deposited thesis from its DOI or repository address, and the runs below show what it returned.
What does submitting a thesis to the repository involve?
Uploading the final PDF, and any supplementary files, through the university's deposit system, with a form that sets access and licence. The form decides who can read the thesis, and from when.
What must be deposited
The examined thesis with every required correction made. Edinburgh's deposit form says the copy must be the one the examiners approved after corrections (University of Edinburgh, 2024), and UCL asks only for the final, post-viva copy, not the examination copy (UCL Library Services, n.d.). Melbourne wants every integral component, multimedia and datasets included, as separate unzipped files, and no signature anywhere, since search engines can harvest one (University of Melbourne, n.d.).
When it is due
Before the award, at most universities read. UCL will not award the degree until the thesis is deposited; UNSW requires it before the testamur is issued (UNSW Library, n.d.); Cambridge has required an electronic copy in Apollo from doctoral students since 1 October 2017 (University of Cambridge, n.d.-c). Melbourne takes the file only after a final pass and the Chair of Examiners' approval; Toronto's students submit through ProQuest, which passes the thesis to TSpace.
How do universities' deposit and embargo rules compare?
They agree that the thesis should normally be open and the record public; they differ on how long a delay can be and who approves it.
| University | Repository | Delay without further approval | Longest delay on the pages read | Who approves more | Identifier seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cambridge | Apollo | 12 months by default | 6 years from first deposit | Supervisor; Degree Committee for restriction | DataCite DOI |
| Oxford | ORA | None: open after deposit | Not stated | Department and Graduate Studies Committee | DOI and ARK |
| UCL | UCL Discovery | Normally up to 12 months | Longer, exceptionally | Not named | Not stated |
| Edinburgh | ERA | 12 months, then a year at a time | 5 years; longer only exceptionally | Head of School beyond that | Handle and DOI |
| Imperial | Spiral | 6, 12, 18 or 24 months | 6 years in total | Every request subject to approval | Not read |
| Sheffield | White Rose eTheses Online | Up to 12 months | 5 years; beyond only very exceptionally | Faculty | Not read |
| MIT | DSpace@MIT | None | 90 days; 24 months for a book | Vice Chancellor | Handle |
| Toronto | TSpace (via ProQuest) | 1 or 2 years | Beyond 2 years with additional approval | Graduate unit chair signs | Not read |
| Melbourne | Minerva Access | External embargo, 2 years | Beyond 2 years only exceptionally | Pro Vice-Chancellor (graduate research) | Permanent citable link |
| UNSW | UNSWorks | Up to 24 months | Longer with approval | Higher Degree Research Hub | Not read |
MIT is the outlier: holds of up to 90 days for a patent, a business opportunity, a government restriction, privacy or a pending journal article, and up to 24 months only for a book, with documents to show it (MIT Libraries, 2026).
Which reasons for a thesis embargo do universities accept?
Four appear almost everywhere: publication still to come, a patent or other commercial interest, confidential or personal data, and a sponsor's contract.
The reasons, and the limits on them
UCL's six grounds add third-party copyright that cannot be removed and material affecting defence or public safety (UCL Library Services, n.d.). Imperial adds evidence of animal experimentation whose release could raise safety risks (Imperial College London, n.d.). Toronto's form names three: publication in a journal or as a book, content that could endanger the author or people connected with the work, and a patent in process (University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies, 2025).
Publication is the reason most often narrowed. Melbourne will not grant its full embargo for possible publication alone; it wants a publisher in active discussion to have asked for the period (University of Melbourne, n.d.). Its ordinary two-year embargo still lets anyone with a Melbourne login read the thesis.
What an embargo hides, and what it does not
The file, not the record. By default every university read keeps the title, author and abstract public; hiding them takes a separate request, which Oxford grants only in extreme cases (University of Oxford, n.d.-b). Cambridge passes requests for an embargoed file to the author, who decides (University of Cambridge, n.d.-a). An abstract naming a patentable result is public on deposit day.
How long can a thesis embargo last, and who approves it?
One or two years with little ceremony; longer needs a more senior signature.
- Read your university's page, not a friend's. The lengths in the table above range from 90 days to six years.
- Talk to your supervisor before you fill in the form. UCL, Imperial, Sheffield and Toronto all say so.
- Choose the shortest delay that covers the reason, with the evidence: a publisher's letter, a sponsor's agreement.
- Get the signatures the length needs. At Edinburgh a year needs none and renews a year at a time up to five; beyond that the Head of School must sign (University of Edinburgh, 2024). At Sheffield anything over 12 months goes to the faculty (University of Sheffield, n.d.).
- Set it at upload. Sheffield warns that a thesis without an embargo set is made public; UNSW cannot add one once the thesis is open (UNSW Library, n.d.).
- Diary the expiry. Edinburgh will not remind you; Imperial wants extensions asked six to eight weeks ahead.
What happened to EThOS, and where else does a thesis go?
The national services mostly take the thesis from the university's repository.
EThOS in the UK
EThOS, the British Library's catalogue of UK doctoral theses, went offline after the cyber-attack on the Library in 2023. On 8 July 2026 the British Library (2026a) announced it was back on a new platform, with more than 650,000 records, about 14,000 of them added since the attack. It no longer holds files: it links to university repositories, from which more than 400,000 theses can be downloaded. You cannot deposit in EThOS; the record follows once the thesis is in the repository, perhaps more slowly than before (British Library, 2026b).
ProQuest in the US and Canada
ProQuest's ETD Administrator offers two routes: Traditional Publishing at no cost, through subscribers to ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, and an Open Access service for a fee of $95, which some institutions pay (ProQuest, 2026). A delayed release is available, with the citation and abstract visible meanwhile. UCL offers it as an optional extra deposit.
Theses Canada and Trove
Theses Canada, run by Library and Archives Canada, harvests participating universities' repositories; students sign its licence through the university and arrange any embargo there, which delays the harvest (Library and Archives Canada, n.d.). In Australia, Trove describes its Research & Reports category as holding every Australian thesis of the last decade, and sends readers of an embargoed thesis to the university's library (National Library of Australia, n.d.). The National Library's own guide to finding Australian theses could not be read: its address now returns "Page not found".
Which licence should a thesis carry, and does a funder decide?
You keep the copyright; the licence says what others may do with the open copy. The university takes a non-exclusive licence to preserve and distribute it, which MIT makes a condition of the degree (MIT Libraries, 2026).
Creative Commons options
A Creative Commons licence is optional at MIT and the default at UCL, where theses carry CC BY-NC unless the deposit form asks for another (UCL Library Services, n.d.). CC BY allows any reuse with credit; CC BY-NC rules out commercial reuse. Bradley's 2026 Oxford record carries only ORA's own terms of use.
UKRI and other funders
UKRI's open access policy covers articles and long-form publications and exempts a book arising solely from a training grant, while stating that the thesis requirements in the training grant terms still apply (UK Research and Innovation, 2023). Those terms, in condition TGC 11.5, expect the full text to be available within 12 months of the award, allow a slight delay for commercial, collaborative or publication reasons, and ask universities to keep a documented process for exceptions (UK Research and Innovation, 2025). Cambridge and Oxford both print the 12-month limit. Melbourne reports that the ARC's open access policy includes theses, with a 12-month window; the ARC's own policy was not read here.
What about third-party copyright in a public thesis?
An open thesis is a publication, so a figure, map or long quotation that belongs to someone else needs permission, a licence or a copyright exception. When permission fails, the answer is a second file: UCL wants an edited version beside the complete one; Melbourne a public copy with the material removed and a placeholder keeping the page numbers. UNSW keeps the permissions in a PDF never made public, and Cambridge says redrawing a figure does not avoid the need for permission.
How to credit a borrowed table or figure, and when permission is needed at all, is in appendices, tables and figures in a thesis. Articles of your own inside the thesis raise the publisher's terms instead: see thesis by publication.
Does a deposited thesis get a DOI or a handle?
Often both, and the repository decides, not you. Cambridge assigns DOIs with its CAM prefix to theses, among other outputs, and accepts changes to a thesis record only until the final version is deposited (University of Cambridge, n.d.-b). Edinburgh's record for Stoyanova (2026) carries a DOI and a handle. Oxford's record for Bradley (2026) has a DOI and an ARK identifier. MIT gives a handle, as for Barnes (2025). Melbourne promises a permanent, citable web link. Cite the DOI where there is one; otherwise the handle, not the address in your browser bar.
Why does depositing matter for being found and cited?
Because a thesis outside a repository is, for most readers, nowhere. UCL says theses are among the most downloaded items in UCL Discovery. EThOS, Theses Canada and Trove list what repositories hold, and ProQuest says its abstracts may appear in Google Scholar, PsycInfo and MathSciNet. A DOI puts the thesis in the registry that citation tools and search engines read. No page read gave figures for how much more an open thesis is cited, so none is offered. How others should cite it is in how to cite a dissertation or thesis.
How EdCitation helps with a deposited thesis
EdCitation is the best tool for citing a deposited thesis and checking the list around it, because it takes every entry from the registry record rather than writing one, and a deposited thesis has exactly such a record. It never writes any part of a thesis. Runs on 26 September 2026:
- Cite a source, Edinburgh DOI. Given 10.7488/era/7782, Cite a source returned, in APA 7: Stoyanova, D. (2026). Rapid and in-depth proteomic analysis of CHO cell bioprocesses. https://doi.org/10.7488/era/7782. The DataCite record names only a placeholder, "My University", as publisher, so the entry leaves the university out rather than print it. The repository page names a PhD: add [Doctoral dissertation, University of Edinburgh] after the title, then Edinburgh Research Archive.
- Cite a source, Oxford DOI. 10.5287/ora-pzvaanxxv returned Bradley, M. (2026). Authenticity, reason and morality [University of Oxford]. https://doi.org/10.5287/ora-pzvaanxxv. Add "Doctoral dissertation," (ORA says DPhil) and the repository's name.
- Cite a source, MIT handle. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/165150 was read as a web page: Barnes, C. E. (2025, September). Synthetic Mucins for Microbial Modulation. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/165150. Drop the month, use sentence case and italics, and add [Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology] and DSpace@MIT.
- Find sources. Find sources searches about 300 million published works. With the "Dissertation or thesis" filter, electronic theses open access repository found 4,247 works, led by Priyanto's 2015 study of Indonesian open access repositories.
- Verify references. The three corrected entries and one article went into Verify references. All four came back verified: the article and the two theses with DOIs with "The DOI resolves to this record and the title matches.", and MIT's, by its handle, with "The page is at this address, and its title matches."
Check your paper reads a handbook's rules into a checklist, free. References from a file, in Pro at $8 a month (Pricing), checks every reference in the uploaded thesis and matches every citation to the list. The final pre-submission checks are in final checks before submitting a thesis.
Quick questions
Can I stop my thesis being published in the repository?
You can delay it, and rarely restrict it for longer, but every university read still requires the deposit. The record and abstract normally stay public.
How long can a thesis embargo last?
It depends on the university: MIT allows 90 days for most reasons, Toronto one or two years, Sheffield and Edinburgh up to five years, and Cambridge and Imperial up to six. UKRI-funded doctorates are expected to be open within 12 months of the award.
Is EThOS back?
Yes. The British Library restored EThOS on 8 July 2026 with more than 650,000 records. It links to university repositories rather than holding files.
Which Creative Commons licence should a thesis use?
Whichever your university allows: UCL's default is CC BY-NC, and MIT leaves it to you. UKRI's open access policy sets none for theses.
Can EdCitation cite my deposited thesis from its DOI?
Yes. Cite a source builds the entry from the DOI in six styles, free. Check the brackets against the repository page: our runs needed the degree added.
References
- Barnes, C. E. (2025). Synthetic mucins for microbial modulation [Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology]. DSpace@MIT. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/165150
- Bradley, M. (2026). Authenticity, reason and morality [Doctoral dissertation, University of Oxford]. Oxford University Research Archive. https://doi.org/10.5287/ora-pzvaanxxv
- British Library. (2026a, July 8). EThOS records restored. https://www.bl.uk/stories/news/ethos-records-restored
- British Library. (2026b). E-Theses Online Service (EThOS) update. https://www.bl.uk/collection/ethos
- Imperial College London. (n.d.). Requesting an embargo. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/theses/requesting-an-embargo/
- Library and Archives Canada. (n.d.). Information for students. Theses Canada. https://www.canada.ca/en/library-archives/services/heritage/theses/information-students.html
- MIT Libraries. (2026). Specifications for thesis preparation. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. https://libraries.mit.edu/distinctive-collections/thesis-specs/
- National Library of Australia. (n.d.). Trove content. Trove. https://trove.nla.gov.au/about/what-trove/trove-content
- ProQuest. (2026). ETD Administrator: Electronic submissions: Unique features. https://proquest.libguides.com/proquest_etd/features
- Stoyanova, D. (2026). Rapid and in-depth proteomic analysis of CHO cell bioprocesses [Doctoral dissertation, University of Edinburgh]. Edinburgh Research Archive. https://doi.org/10.7488/era/7782
- UCL Library Services. (n.d.). Open access for theses: How to deposit. University College London. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/open-science-research-support/open-access/open-access-theses-how-deposit
- UK Research and Innovation. (2023). UK Research and Innovation open access policy. https://www.ukri.org/publications/ukri-open-access-policy/uk-research-and-innovation-open-access-policy/
- UK Research and Innovation. (2025). UKRI training grants: Standard terms and conditions of training grant. https://www.ukri.org/publications/terms-and-conditions-for-training-funding/ukri-training-grants-standard-terms-and-conditions-of-training-grant/
- University of Cambridge. (n.d.-a). Choosing an access level for your thesis in Apollo. Open Research. https://www.openresearch.cam.ac.uk/theses/access-levels
- University of Cambridge. (n.d.-b). DOI policy. Apollo. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/info/doi-policy
- University of Cambridge. (n.d.-c). Theses. Open Research. https://www.openresearch.cam.ac.uk/theses
- University of Edinburgh. (2024). Access to a thesis & publication of abstract [Form]. Registry Services. https://registryservices.ed.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2024-09/Access%20to%20a%20Thesis%20and%20Publication%20of%20Abstract.pdf
- University of Melbourne. (n.d.). My thesis in the library. Graduate Research. https://gradresearch.unimelb.edu.au/examination/my-thesis-in-the-library
- University of Oxford. (n.d.-a). Embargo. Bodleian Libraries, Submitting your thesis to ORA. https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/digitaltheses/embargo
- University of Oxford. (n.d.-b). Restricted access to your thesis. Bodleian Libraries, Submitting your thesis to ORA. https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/digitaltheses/dispensation
- University of Sheffield. (n.d.). Embargoing a thesis. Research and Innovation Services. https://sheffield.ac.uk/rpi/pgr/examination/embargoes
- University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies. (2025). Thesis embargo request information [Form]. https://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Thesis-Embargo-Request-Form_2026.pdf
- UNSW Library. (n.d.). Depositing your thesis to UNSWorks. University of New South Wales. https://www.library.unsw.edu.au/research/publishing-and-sharing-your-research/depositing-your-thesis