Thesis and Dissertation Release and Embargo Options
The thesis or dissertation is submitted as public evidence of your scholarly research and accomplishment. A thesis or dissertation and abstract is normally made publicly available upon degree conferral when it is deposited electronically in Deep Blue. If a student wishes to postpone public release of the final product, also called an embargo, the student should discuss this option with his or her faculty advisor. It has always been the university's expectation that every thesis and dissertation and corresponding abstract will be released upon conferral of the degree. Only in specific circumstances may release of a thesis or dissertation be deferred, and then only for a limited period of time.
The student is responsible for requesting an embargo.
Embargo requests should be submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies via email before the final submission deadline with which the student is working.
Two embargo options are available: University of Michigan Only Access and Full Restriction.
A student may independently choose among several levels of embargo for the copy of the thesis or dissertation that can be deposited electronically with ProQuest.
A student may choose to restrict access to the dissertation or thesis to members of the University of Michigan community (those with a uniqname and a Kerberos password) for up to one year from the date of degree conferral. The title and abstract will be displayed in online listings of the University of Michigan Library, but the content of the dissertation or thesis will not be available to view or to download.
A student may seek permission from the Graduate Studies Office for an embargo that restricts all access to the dissertation or thesis for up to one year from the date of degree conferral. Permission will be granted only when:
- The student (or his or her collaborators) is applying for a patent on research contained in the dissertation or thesis and does not wish to make the contents public until the patent application has been filed; or
- The dissertation or thesis includes information that is covered for a limited period of time by a confidentiality agreement or contains third-party proprietary information.
A dissertation or thesis that is fully restricted is not included in the online listings of the University of Michigan Library and the title and abstract are not available to the public or the university community. A full restriction cannot be extended beyond one year. Unless the graduate requests and is granted permission for an additional year of University of Michigan only access, the dissertation or thesis will be fully released.
At the end of the one year University of Michigan only or full restriction embargo period, graduates may ask the Office of Graduate Studies to postpone full public release for an additional year at the University of Michigan only access level. Full restriction cannot be renewed. Permission from the Office of Graduate Studies is required to renew an embargo.
Permission will be given only for specific reasons, such as the graduate’s intention to publish work from the dissertation or thesis in a journal or book with a publisher that restricts consideration of manuscripts derived from dissertation or thesis that have been made available online. (Please note that most publishers do not have restrictive pre-publication policies.) It is the graduate’s responsibility to request a renewal of the University of Michigan only dissertation or thesis embargo. Permission is not guaranteed. Graduates may ask for up to two annual renewals, for a total of three years of University of Michigan only access (or one year full restriction renewed into two years University of Michigan only access).
Publishing With ProQuest - Students are encouraged to submit the final digital copy of their dissertation or thesis to ProQuest, the world's largest permanent archive of doctoral dissertation or thesis. Abstracts of dissertations submitted to ProQuest are listed with the Library of Congress collections and are published in Dissertation Abstracts International.
Dissertation Abstracts International includes selected master’s theses, but the inclusion is limited.