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Open Access Theses and Dissertations

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About OATD.org

OATD.org aims to be the best possible resource for finding open access graduate theses and dissertations published around the world. Metadata (information about the theses) comes from over 1100 colleges, universities, and research institutions . OATD currently indexes 7,206,043 theses and dissertations.

About OATD (our FAQ) .

Visual OATD.org

We’re happy to present several data visualizations to give an overall sense of the OATD.org collection by county of publication, language, and field of study.

You may also want to consult these sites to search for other theses:

• Google Scholar
• NDLTD , the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations. NDLTD provides information and a search engine for electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs), whether they are open access or not.
• Proquest Theses and Dissertations (PQDT), a database of dissertations and theses, whether they were published electronically or in print, and mostly available for purchase. Access to PQDT may be limited; consult your local library for access information.

Research Writing Process (Book)

Find the following links to be useful in learning about the research writing process., writing a thesis statement, open thesis vs. closed thesis.

Open Thesis vs. Closed Thesis

Implicit Thesis vs. Explicit Thesis

The thesis is a declarative sentence. It is a clear, specific statement, which states the main point of a the paper, thereby limiting the topic and indicating the researcher’s approach to the topic. For this research paper we will be discussing the difference between the open (implicit) thesis approach, and the closed (explicit) thesis. Open (implicit) thesis: Let’s say you are writing a paper on the relationship between the United States criminal court system and the media. You have read on article related to this topic, but you have not yet begun your research. Still, it is possible for you to arrive at a very basic and general opinion without going into detail, secondary topics, or supporting reasons for your assertion. Broad Topic:  The United States criminal court system and the media. Example of an open (implicit) thesis statement: The media plays too influential a role in criminal court trials. To assist you in formulating your preliminary thesis, ask basic “W” questions that are related to your topic: who, what, when, where, and why? This will help you determine your particular interests and a possible starting point for your research. Based on the topic above, the following list demonstrates the different kinds of questions that can be generated. *Why is the media involved in court cases? *When did the media start reporting court cases? *What is the media’s role in criminal court cases? *What aspects of the media am I going to write about? *What kind of criminal case is it? *When did the case take place? *Where did the case take place? *Who were the people involved in the case? If you are writing a research paper and you have come up with a long list of random questions, select three or four questions that hold the most interest for you. These questions will narrow your focus and help you to plan your research strategy.

Closed (Explicit) Thesis: If you make an assertion and include the reason or reasons which support your assertion, and it is broad enough in scope, yet specific enough to be unified and to perform as a substantial generalization of your essay, you have written a closed thesis statement. The evidence can take many forms: facts, opinions, anecdotes, statistics, analogies, etc., but the essential relationship between the thesis and the major points of support is one of conclusion to reason:   This is believed to be true because… (reasons). Broad Topic:  The United States criminal court system and the media. Example of a closed (explicit) thesis: The media plays a very influential role in criminal court trials because of their access to the people, their bias, and because of the special privileges. Based on the topic that YOU have chosen, ask yourself basic “W” questions that are related to YOUR topic to help you plan your research strategy and form a thesis. (Written by Lisa Tolhurst for the Hunter College Reading/Writing Center, 1998) WHY – WHEN – WHAT – WHERE – WHO – HOW – KEEP GOING!.....

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Home » For Authors & Researchers » Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Theses and dissertations produced by students as part of the completion of their degree requirements often represent unique and interesting scholarship. Universities are increasingly making this work available online, and UC is no exception. Find information related to open access theses and dissertations below.

UC has an open access policy for theses and dissertations, but procedures and specifics vary by campus

Several UC campuses have established policies requiring open access to the electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) written by their graduate students. As of March 25, 2020, there is now a systemwide Policy on Open Access for Theses and Dissertations , indicating that UC “requires theses or dissertations prepared at the University to be (1) deposited into an open access repository, and (2) freely and openly available to the public, subject to a requested delay of access (’embargo’) obtained by the student.”

In accordance with these policies, campuses must ensure that student ETDs are available open access via eScholarship (UC’s open access repository and publishing platform), at no cost to students. By contrast, ProQuest, the world’s largest commercial publisher of ETDs, charges a $95 fee to make an ETD open access. Institutions worldwide have moved toward open access ETD publication because it dramatically increases the visibility and reach of their graduate research.

Policies and procedures for ETD filing, including how to delay public release of an ETD and how long such a delay can last, vary by campus. Learn more about the requirements and procedures for ETDs at each UC campus:

• UC Berkeley: Dissertation Filing Guidelines (for Doctoral Students) and Thesis Filing Guidelines (for Master’s Students)
• UC Davis: Preparing and Filing Your Thesis or Dissertation
• UC Irvine: Thesis/Dissertation Electronic Submission
• UCLA: File Your Thesis or Dissertation
• UC Merced: Dissertation/Thesis Submission
• UC Riverside: Dissertation and Thesis Submission
• UC San Diego:  Preparing to Graduate
• UCSF: Dissertation and Thesis Guidelines
• UC Santa Barbara:  Filing Your Thesis, Dissertation, or DMA Supporting Document
• UC Santa Cruz: Dissertation and Thesis Guidelines (PDF) from the Graduate Division’s Accessing Forms Online page

Open access can be delayed in certain circumstances

Some campuses allow students to elect an embargo period before the public release of their thesis/dissertation; others require approval from graduate advisors or administrators. Visit your local graduate division’s website (linked above) for more information.

Common copyright concerns of students writing theses and dissertations

Students writing theses/dissertations most commonly have questions about their own copyright ownership or the use of other people’s copyrighted materials in their own work.

You automatically own the copyright in your thesis/dissertation  as soon as you create it, regardless of whether you register it or include a copyright page or copyright notice (see this FAQ from the U.S. Copyright Office for more information). Most students choose not to register their copyrights, though some choose to do so because they value having their copyright ownership officially and publicly recorded. Getting a copyright registered is required before you can sue someone for infringement.

If you decide to register your copyright, you can do so

• directly, through the Copyright Office website , for $35
• by having ProQuest/UMI contact the Copyright Office on your behalf, for $65.

It is common to incorporate 1) writing you have done for journal articles as part of your dissertation, and 2) parts of your dissertation into articles or books . See, for example, these articles from Wiley and Taylor & Francis giving authors tips on how to successfully turn dissertations into articles, or these pages at Sage , Springer , and Elsevier listing reuse in a thesis or dissertation as a common right of authors. Because this is a well-known practice, and often explicitly allowed in publishers’ contracts with authors, it rarely raises copyright concerns. eScholarship , which hosts over 55,000 UC ETDs, has never received a takedown notice from a publisher based on a complaint that the author’s ETD was too similar to the author’s published work.

Incorporating the works of others in your thesis/dissertation – such as quotations or illustrative images – is often allowed by copyright law. This is the case when the original work isn’t protected by copyright, or if the way you’re using the work would be considered fair use. In some circumstances, however, you will need permission from the copyright holder.  For more information, please consult the Berkeley Library’s guide to Copyright and Publishing Your Dissertation .

How to find UC Dissertations and Theses online

All ten UC campuses make their electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) openly accessible to readers around the world. You can view over 55,000 UC ETDs in eScholarship , UC’s open access repository. View ETDs from each campus:

• Santa Barbara

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EBSCO Open Dissertations

Search millions of electronic theses and dissertations (etds).

With EBSCO Open Dissertations, institutions and students are offered an innovative approach to driving additional traffic to ETDs in institutional repositories. Our goal is to help make their students’ theses and dissertations as widely visible and cited as possible.

This approach extends the work started in 2014, when EBSCO and the H.W. Wilson Foundation created American Doctoral Dissertations which contained indexing from the H.W. Wilson print publication, Doctoral Dissertations Accepted by American Universities, 1933-1955. In 2015, the H.W. Wilson Foundation agreed to support the expansion of the scope of the American Doctoral Dissertations database to include records for dissertations and theses from 1955 to the present.

Get involved in the EBSCO Open Dissertations project and make your electronic theses and dissertations freely available to researchers everywhere. Please contact Margaret Richter for more information.

The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) is an international organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination, and preservation of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). We support electronic publishing and open access to scholarship in order to enhance the sharing of knowledge worldwide.

Iryna kuchma recognized with the 2024 ndltd leadership award.

We are proud to recognize Iryna Kuchma for her exceptional dedication and contributions to the NDLTD community. Serving on the NDLTD Board of Directors since 2011, Iryna has played a pivotal role in promoting open access electronic theses and dissertations (ETDS). Her …

ETD 2024 Announcement

We are thrilled to announce that the 27th International Symposium on Electronic #Theses and #Dissertations (#ETD2024) will take place on November 4-6 in Livingstone, Zambia.  Hosted by The University Of Zambia (UNZA), Higher Education Authority of Zambia and Zambia Research and Education Network together with NDLTD.  This year’s topic …

ETD 2024 Call for proposals extended!

In response to numerous request, the paper/poster abstract and workshop proposal submission deadline for the ETD 2024 symposium has been extended to May 17 2024. It is hoped that this will give additional potential authors enough time to submit their work.

The Call for Papers for ETD2024 is now open!

27th International Symposium on Electronic Theses and Dissertations *Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Visibility at a Global Scale* /Join us, along with global leaders, from Wednesday, October 30th to Friday, November 1st, in Livingstone, Zambia./ The theme for ETD 2024 is “Electronic Thesis …

We are thrilled to announce that the 27th International Symposium on Electronic #Theses and #Dissertations (#ETD2024) will take place on October 30th to November 1st in Livingstone, Zambia. Hosted by The University Of Zambia (UNZA), Higher Education Authority of Zambia and Zambia Research and Education Network together with …

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• Open Scholarship

Open Access Theses

I have benefited greatly from being able to share my PhD dissertation as an open access publication – it has meant that more people have read and engaged with the research I spent so many years working on. I was glad to know there was an option to move to a Creative Commons license, so that it was clear to people what they can do with the work. Dr Lauren Gawne, PhD Graduate (School of Languages and Linguistics, University of Melbourne, 2013)

Today, public access to graduate research theses is a common and valuable aspect of the open scholarship landscape. This is usually made possible by depositing the thesis in an institutional repository after final submission. To meet the best practices of open access , graduates may be encouraged to apply a Creative Commons licence to their thesis.

For candidates undertaking creative work as part of their thesis, or whose thesis includes Non-Traditional Research Outputs (NTROs) , other copyright and intellectual property considerations will apply, and full open access may not be possible. The advice on this page primarily concerns traditional text-based research theses.

Benefits of making theses open access

Until your thesis has been made open access, it is an untapped resource of original research. A thesis under embargo cannot be downloaded or read, significantly limiting the potential impact your research can have.

By making your thesis freely available to the public, you help to advance scholarly discourse in your field. You also make it available to other researchers, students, policy makers, and practitioners, all of whom could build on your research in significant and meaningful ways.

For University of Melbourne graduates, your thesis being open access in Minerva Access results in it being discoverable through Google, Google Scholar, the National Library of Australia’s Trove database, and other platforms.

Making your thesis open access means it can easily be provided as an example of your work and expertise in your chosen discipline, helping to raise your researcher profile. It can also help to build your impact narrative, spark conversations, and lead to exciting collaborations, both within and beyond the academy. Once open, your thesis can also start gathering views, downloads, shares, and citations – none of which are likely if your thesis remains inaccessible to most potential readers.

Researchers in low- and middle-income countries often face significant barriers when it comes to accessing research. Making theses open access increases the amount of high-quality research available to researchers of the Global South, whose institutions may struggle to afford expensive journal descriptions or costly books ( Tennant et al., 2016 ).

Open access theses at the University of Melbourne

The University’s institutional repository, Minerva Access , provides free public access to theses completed at the University of Melbourne.

Open access is required for University of Melbourne PhD, Doctorate, and Masters Research theses in all but exceptional cases. It may also be required, or encouraged, for Honours and Masters Coursework theses, depending on the school or faculty. When required and approved, temporary embargoes and ongoing access restrictions are possible.

For more information, see the FAQ and deposit advice below, or visit the Graduate Research Hub’s “My thesis in the library” page. Current graduate researchers may also wish to join one of the “Open Access and Your Thesis” webinars, which run twice each year as part of our Researcher@Library program .

Browse open access theses in Minerva Access

Publishing after your thesis is open access

Historically, publishers would not consider submissions that had been adapted from theses available online, just as, historically, many publishers would not accept submissions that had been shared as preprints . Today, however, it is increasingly rare for publishers to reject work for appearing in earlier forms as online theses or preprints, whether the submission is for a journal article, book chapter, or monograph.

That is, most publishers today do not consider theses available online as prior publications for the purposes of publishing. They are typically treated in a similar way to preprints: they are regarded as early versions of a work shared online prior to submission to a publisher.

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) states that online theses should not be considered prior publications that would prevent submission to a publisher: “Where a thesis (or chapter) contains otherwise unpublished work … it should not be considered prior publication. That is, it is acceptable for the work, or parts of the work … to be submitted … to a publisher for publication” ( COPE Best practice for theses publishing, 2017 ).

There do remain some publishers, journals, and individual editors who are resistant to publishing work previously available online as theses or preprints, so check websites for publisher policies prior to submission. It may be that an editor’s or journal’s resistance is out of step with their own publisher policies.

If an editor or publisher requests that a thesis be taken offline, embargoed, or placed under access restrictions for publishing reasons, graduate researchers must negotiate on the terms of publication. Any agreement entered into with a publisher must accommodate the University making the thesis publicly available in Minerva Access (see “Can I choose not to make my graduate research thesis open access?” in the FAQ below).

Deposit your thesis

Find out how to deposit your University of Melbourne thesis in Minerva Access.

Graduate Research Theses

PhD, Doctorate, and Masters Research candidates are required to submit a digital copy of their thesis to Minerva Access via the Thesis Examination System (TES). Detailed information is available on the "My thesis in the Library" page.

Honours and Masters Coursework Theses

Honours and Masters Coursework candidates are welcome to submit their completed thesis to the Minerva Access repository. This may be required by some schools or departments.

Most major scholarly journal publishers today have clear policies supporting the submission of articles derived from theses or dissertations that are publicly available. In doing so, they are following COPE best practice guidelines that recommend treating theses, like preprints, as not being prior publications for the purposes of publishing. The shift to accepting openly available theses as publications is ongoing, but in the University’s experience it is already very rare that an open access thesis is ultimately a barrier to publication.

Consider the following publisher policy examples:

Elsevier’s policy on prior publication confirms that they do not consider online publication of an academic thesis as prior publication. Like preprints, they are considered prior uses of a work that can be considered for publication. They note, however, that Lancet journals, Cell Press journals, and some society-owned journals have their own policies on prior publication that can be found on the journal homepages.

Likewise, Springer’s journal author FAQ states: “Springer will consider submissions containing material that has previously formed part of a PhD or other academic thesis including those that have been made publicly available according to the requirements of the institution awarding the qualification.” Other Springer Nature imprints have similar policies, confirming that theses are not considered prior (or duplicate) publication – see BMC , SpringerOpen , Palgrave , and Nature .

Sage’s prior publication guidelines follow COPE guidelines and states: “Excerpts or material from your dissertation that have not been through peer review will generally be eligible for publication.”

Taylor & Francis’s Editorial Policies state that the publisher supports “the need for authors to share early versions of their work.” Although the policy does not mention theses or dissertations specifically, preprints and other Author’s Original Manuscript versions can be shared anywhere, without embargo.

Although Wiley’s overarching policies do not mention theses, their Preprints Policy confirms that the publisher will consider submissions already available online as preprints, and allows submitted manuscripts to be shared to preprint servers at any time. Individual journals’ author guidelines often confirm that theses do not count as prior publications. For example, “Articles submitted to Journal of Anatomy are done so on the following conditions: that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis)” ( Journal of Anatomy Author Guidelines ).

Major academic book publishers differ in their approaches to publishing monographs based on theses, but most are happy to consider book proposals based on theses that are available online. Some publishers have strong statements clarifying that open access theses do not present barriers to publication, while others consider matters on a case-by-case basis.

Palgrave Macmillan, for example, provides the following advice on their Early Career Researcher Hub : “Palgrave Macmillan will consider submissions containing material that has previously formed part of a PhD or other academic thesis including those that have been made publicly available according to the requirements of the institution awarding the qualification. Prospective authors should bear in mind that every PhD thesis will need to undergo rigorous revision in order to be published as a monograph with our press.”

Likewise, Cambridge University Press considers theses and dissertations to be preprints, as covered by their Green Open Access Policy . If a monograph is based on a thesis, the policy supports that thesis being shared in full, at any time, under any licence (including a Creative Commons licence).

Some other major publishers, such as Routledge, do not have blanket statements of this kind, but consider requirements on a case-by-case basis. Such publishers will usually take into account university expectations around theses being made open access.

Be aware that some publishers who do not accept open-access theses for consideration as monographs may also ask the author to assign rights that the author does not have, such as requiring the author to assign exclusive rights for all time. Embargoes are only for a limited period, after which the University will exercise its right to make the thesis available; this right cannot be removed by the author and thus cannot be assigned in a publication contract. Some publishers go further, for example requiring that the material has not and never will be used for academic assessment, which means that they cannot consider material such as a thesis that was used in award of a degree.

Creative Commons licences make it clear to authors and readers how a work can be shared and used. University of Melbourne graduates can apply a Creative Commons licence to their thesis in Minerva Access using the following process:

• Choose a Creative Commons licence that would be suitable for your thesis. See “ Selecting a licence for your work ” on our Copyright website for guidance.
• Receive written permission from your thesis supervisor to apply the chosen Creative Commons licence.
• Email [email protected] to request your chosen Creative Commons licence be applied to your thesis, attaching the supervisor’s permission.

Note that if your thesis includes publications, you may be restricted in what licence can be applied. Consult your publishing agreement or your publisher’s website for more information. For further advice, contact the University’s Copyright Office .

At the University of Melbourne, it is a requirement of all PhD, Doctorate, and Masters Research candidates that their final thesis is made open access in Minerva Access, unless exceptional circumstances mean that an embargo or ongoing access restrictions are required.

This requirement is outlined in the Graduate Research Training Policy (MPF1321) and the Intellectual Property Policy (MPF1320) . The latter policy reads:

4.19. Student theses must be made openly available to the public through the University’s Institutional Digital Repository, unless otherwise agreed with the University (for example where an embargo has been approved by the University). The University is deemed to have been granted by the Student a non-exclusive, royalty free, world-wide and irrevocable licence to use and reproduce the Student theses for non-commercial educational, teaching and research purposes, including making the thesis available to the public through the University’s Institutional Repository.

Students must retain all necessary rights to enable the University to publish and share the thesis and not grant exclusive copyright licence to a thesis to any other person or organisation.

Likewise, our Principles for Open Access to Research Outputs at Melbourne states:

10. Graduate researchers are expected to make their research thesis publicly available via the University’s institutional repository unless otherwise agreed with the University, and to make their thesis available within the University via the repository in all but exceptional cases. Note that the University’s right to publish and share a thesis is irrevocable and cannot be overridden by a private publication agreement.

For information on how to apply a temporary embargo or formally request permanent access restrictions, see the FAQ item below and consult the “My thesis in the library” page.

If you are a University of Melbourne graduate researcher, you may apply a temporary embargo to your thesis or formally request permanent access restrictions when certain criteria are met. Embargoes and access restrictions can also be applied to portions of your thesis, whether this is through the redaction of third-party copyright material or through the embargo or restriction of certain chapters or appendices.

When summitting your final thesis in the Thesis Examination System (TES), you can request a two-year embargo, which will be granted if you meet the required criteria. This can be either an external embargo (the default), where access is limited to University of Melbourne staff and students and interlibrary loans, or a full embargo, where the thesis is not available by any means. Full embargo is only granted in highly exceptional circumstances, where supporting documentation and supervisor approval is provided. The two-year embargo period can be shortened with the support of your supervisor. Further information on embargoes and embargo criteria can be found on the “My thesis in the library” page.

As covered in the Graduate Research Training Policy (MPF1321) , ongoing restricted access arrangements must be approved by the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Graduate & International Research) in consultation with the relevant Dean. Further information, and the restricted access request form, can be found on the “My thesis in the library” page.

Note that applications to have embargoes extended purely for publishing reasons are only granted when extenuating circumstances apply. Requests for permanent access restrictions that are sought to comply with publisher contracts are never granted. In most cases, however, these are not required, as most publishers today understand the requirements for theses to be freely available in institutional repositories.

Yes. Any University of Melbourne graduate who opted to embargo their thesis can choose to release it from embargo early. To end an embargo before its original end date:

• Check to make sure that ending the embargo early would not conflict with any agreements made with third parties (for example, publishers).
• Receive written permission from your thesis supervisor to shorten the embargo period.
• Email [email protected] to request a change to embargo end date, attaching your supervisor’s permission.

When preparing a thesis with publications, candidates should follow the guidelines on the “Incorporating your published work in your thesis” and “Submitting my thesis” pages, as well as the “Preparation of Graduate Research Theses Rules.”

If your publication is still in review and has not yet been formally accepted for publication, you should include the submitted manuscript in your thesis.

Once accepted for publication, or published, you should use the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) – the final manuscript accepted for publication after peer review and revisions.

Final published versions can only be included when you have explicit permission to do so and when it does not conflict with your publishing agreement. Final PDFs can be always used for open access publications carrying Creative Commons licences.

It is important to check publisher policies to determine which version can be shared and whether an embargo is required. In the absence of policies pertaining specifically to inclusion in online theses, candidates should follow policies governing what can be shared in institutional repositories. These policies should be available on journal or publisher websites and may be referred to as open access policies, sharing policies, or self-archiving policies. For journal articles, the Sherpa Romeo deposit policy register can be used to determine sharing policies and embargo requirements.

Also note that some publishers offer specific permissions to include Author Accepted Manuscripts (AAMs) or final published versions in theses. For example, the publisher Sage allows the final PDF of a candidate’s article to be included in their thesis and made available online. Their Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines states: “You may use the Final Published PDF (or Original Submission or Accepted Manuscript, if preferred) … in your dissertation or thesis, including where the dissertation or thesis will be posted in any electronic Institutional Repository or database.”

For more information, see the “My thesis in the library” page, along with the advice contained on the Copyright Office’s “Copyright and your thesis” page. The “Declaration for publication incorporated in a thesis” form can be found on the “Submitting my thesis” page.

Some theses contain information that cannot be made public, such as confidential or private data, or third-party copyright material where permission to publish has not been obtained. In these cases, it may be necessary to submit a redacted version of your thesis with third-party copyright content removed. You would then be submitting two copies:

• The original, examined thesis, which will be archived (not available for online public access).
• A redacted “public access” copy, with non-compliant material removed (ensure you maintain page number integrity).

Guidelines on how and when to seek permissions, recording copyright statuses, and redacting copyright material can be found on the “Copyright and your thesis” and the “My thesis in the library” pages. For more information, please consult the Copyright Office .

Further Support

For enquiries relating to open access and scholarly publishing, please contact your Faculty or Subject Liaison Librarians .

If you require assistance using Minerva Access, or have requests relating to existing Minerva Access thesis records, please email [email protected] .

Copyright enquiries should be directed to the Copyright Office .

For all other enquiries relating to thesis preparation and submission, please email your faculty or school’s graduate research contact .

Page last updated 1 February 2024.

Return to Open Scholarship

Institutional repository

Repositories hosted by institutions to collect the research outputs of that institution. They often collect a broad range of digital items including articles, papers, books, book chapters, reports, data, and creative outputs.

The University of Melbourne has two institutional repositories:  Minerva Access for research outputs, and Melbourne Figshare for research data, reports, supplementary research materials, and non-traditional research outputs (NTROs). You can find out more about Minerva Access and Melbourne Figshare on our Repository Open Access page .

Open access

Open access refers to the availability of research outputs via the internet, such that any user can find, freely access, read, and download the output without charge. Best practice in open access is to use open licences, such as Creative Commons licences, that permit users to copy, distribute, print, search, link, crawl, mine, and otherwise use and reuse the research output, as long as proper attribution is provided. Find out more on our What Is Open Access? page.

Creative Commons licences

Open licences that have become best practice in open access publishing. They are built using a combination of elements: BY (Attribution), SA (Share-Alike), NC (Non-Commercial), and ND (No Derivatives). All licences are detailed on the Creative Commons website .

The most open of the licences is the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence. This licence allows authors to retain their copyright while granting others permission to distribute, use, adapt, remix, and build upon the material, so long as attribution is given to the creator. This is the preferred, and sometimes required, licence of the Australian Research Council (ARC) and National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), as well as many international research funders.

The most restrictive is the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) licence. This licence does not allow for any commercial uses or the creation and sharing of any adaptations or derivative versions. It greatly restricts how others can use the work and, when adopted as part of an exclusive licence to publish with a publisher, can result in a significant loss of author rights.

In the context of scholarly publishing, embargoes are access restrictions placed on research outputs. While embargoed, research outputs are not available to the public.

Most publishers of subscription (paywalled) journal articles, for example, require that the peer-reviewed and revised Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) of the article is embargoed at publication, most often for 12 or 24 months, after which it can be made open access in a repository. Staff at our institutional repository, Minerva Access , will determine publisher policies and manage embargo periods before making any version of a research output publicly available.

When required for privacy, sensitivity, or to adhere to agreements with third parties, researchers may also choose to embargo their own outputs. Datasets deposited to Melbourne Figshare , for example, can be embargoed when necessary, resulting in a dataset record but no publicly downloadable files. Graduate researchers may request to embargo their theses , under some circumstances, restricting access for a period of time.

A version of an article or paper that is shared openly prior to formal peer review or publication. Preprints are typically shared on preprint servers, such as arXiv.org , bioRxiv , OSF Preprints , SSRN , or Zenodo .

Find out more on our Preprints page.

Submitted manuscript

The submitted manuscript is the version of a research output originally submitted to a venue, such as a journal or book publisher. This version typically undergoes editorial review and may subsequently be sent on for peer review.

In the past, submitted manuscripts were sometimes called preprints , although this term now has a different meaning: early versions of article or papers shared prior to peer review on preprint servers.

Find out more about article versions on the Minerva Access website .

Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) / Accepted version

The version of an article, paper, book, or book chapter that has been accepted for publication. It is the author’s final manuscript version after peer review and revisions, but prior to the publisher’s copyediting, typesetting, and formatting results in a proof.

Version of Record (VoR)

The final published version of a research output – usually the publisher’s final PDF.

Unless the work is published open access under a Creative Commons licence, this version cannot generally be shared or made open access in a repository.

Non-Traditional Research Output (NTRO)

A broad term encompassing research outputs that do not take the form of typical peer-reviewed scholarly publications (journal articles, books and book chapters, conference publications).

Non-Traditional Research Outputs (NTROs) include visual artworks, creative writing, films, performances, recordings, music composition, building and design projects, curated exhibitions, and portfolios. They may also be referred to as Artistic and Practice Based Research Outputs (APROs).

To be considered a research output for reporting purposes, an NTRO must meet the definition of research established in the Australian Research Council's  2018-19 ERA report :

Research is defined as the creation of new knowledge and/or the use of existing knowledge in a new and creative way so as to generate new concepts, methodologies, inventions and understandings. This could include synthesis and analysis of previous research to the extent that it is new and creative.

University of Melbourne researchers can find out more about reporting their NTROs on our Research Gateway: Add Non-Traditional Research Outputs (NTROs) to Find an Expert .

OpenThesis OpenThesis

Description.

OpenThesis is a free repository of theses, dissertations, and other academic documents, coupled with powerful search, organization, and collaboration tools.

If you notice a problem or are having trouble connecting to any of our databases, please let us know via our Ask Us service.

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A number of resources are available to help you prepare and present your dissertation or thesis, and decide where to publish your work.

Research skills

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The Open University Graduate School Network  (GSN) supports OU research students in developing skills they will need to pursue and complete their doctorates successfully and on time.

Writing research papers and dissertations

The OU Library Search can be used to find material on preparing and presenting dissertations and theses.

Where to publish

Your supervisor will advise on where to submit material for publication . However, you might find the ISI Journal Citation Reports (JCR) a useful source of information. You can use JCR to generate a list of journals in your subject area ranked by their 'impact factor' a ratio based on the number of times a journal article is cited in academic literature. Journals with high impact factors may receive greater exposure and notice than articles in lower rated titles. However, it is important to note that impact factor should not be the only measure used to decide where to publish. 

The OU has signed the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), signalling a commitment to recognising and measuring the quality of research based on its own merits, rathar than the popularity of the journal it is published in. It may be more important for you to think about whether a journal is suited to your needs and field of experise instead. Ask questions such as: is it a trusted journal? Do fellow researchers in your field recommend the journal? Are the author guidelines clear? Using a tool such as Think.Check.Submit may be a good place to start.

If you are thinking about publishing your work Open Access (OA), the Research Support team have a dedicated Open Access publishing page , offering advice and guidance on what it means to publish OA, the benefits of OA, and our current publishing deals. Websites such as the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) offer a way to find OA journals and articles, and OAPEN provides information on OA book publishing. 

Get in touch with the Research Support team if you have any queries.

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