ETD Submission Process
There are three steps involved in submitting your dissertation or thesis to the library for review. You should only submit your work to the library in the semester in which you intend to graduate. All three steps must be completed and submitted before the formatting review can take place. Submission deadlines are listed at the top right corner.
You must upload a final version of your ETD that already includes the suggested edits from your committee. You are not allowed to make substantive content changes during the formatting review process.
ETD Submission Checklist
- Submit the ETD Approval Form to the library
You must complete this form, sign it, and get it signed by both your committee chair and your school’s ETD Representative. Submit the completed and signed form to the Scholarly Communications Librarian, either physically (at the circulation desk or through interdepartmental mail) or electronically (through email).
- Upload your thesis or dissertation to the Duquesne Scholarship Collection
Sign up for an account using your Duquesne email. You will be asked to upload both a PDF copy and a Word .doc(x) of your dissertation or thesis. You must upload a single, complete Word document for the purposes of the formatting review. Please be sure the file name includes your last name.
- Upload your dissertation or thesis to ProQuest
This submission only requires a PDF.
ETD Submission Steps
ETD Approval Form
This link above will take you to download the ETD Approval Form. Please fill out the form and ensure that all signatures are in place.
Step 1: Administrative Information
- Please be sure that any dates are accurate.
- In the Document field, please specify whether your submission is a dissertation or a thesis.
- Please specify which citation style you're using; it makes the formatting review go a little faster.
- If you want an embargo, make sure your post-graduation email is something you will have access to in a year. If we can't reach you, we won't be able to extend your embargo, should you need it.
Step 2: Copyright and License Agreement
- You must get permission or provide Fair Use Checklists in order to include some content in your dissertation. Works created by others such as survey instruments, large excerpts of creative work such as poems or photographs, or content which requires a license to use may require you to seek permission. Standard academic quotation does not require permission documentation or a Fair Use Checklist.
- Many students include previously published as part of their graduate work in their ETDS. Often students do not own the copyright to these articles, therefore they need permission to include them. The publisher website may provide permission and acknowledgment requirements for use of article in the author’s dissertation.
- Additionally, you must cite the tables, figures, images, and data that you did not create yourself. You must cite your sources. If you do not do these things, you may be committing copyright infringement and/or plagiarism. An easy way to acquire reprint permissions is through the Copyright Clearance Center.
- You must send any reprint permissions you have for reprinting materials to the Systems and Scholarly Communications Office at Gumberg Library. (Doing this through email is fine.)
Step3: Embargo
You will need to choose whether to release your work immediately for access worldwide, or delay release (“embargo”) for one year. If you choose to embargo your work, you must provide the appropriate reason for your embargo: Publishing in process, Patenting in progress, or Copyright permissions pending.
An embargo is a delay of the release of the full-text of a thesis or dissertation for a specified amount of time. During the embargo period, no one will have access to the full-text of the work; however, access to the title and abstract will be available. In light of the value that Duquesne places on the dissemination of new knowledge, and the importance of publication of your thesis or dissertation as evidence of the quality of your scholarship, the maximum time period a thesis or dissertation can be withheld from the institutional repository is one year. The availability decision is final and cannot be changed following ETD approval.
The Scholarly Communications Librarian will contact you before your embargo expires. Should you wish to extend it, you will need to provide the appropriate documentation; extensions will only be granted for a work that is in the final stages of preparation for publication, as documented by a publication contract or patent filing. (This only applies to the Duquesne Scholarship Collection; you will need to contact ProQuest for an embargo extension in their databases.)
Step 4: Publishing Type
There are two choices: Traditional Publishing and Open Access Publishing. The options outlined below refer only to publication through ProQuest; regardless of your choice, your ETD will be made available freely via the Duquesne Scholarship Collection.
Traditional Publishing means that the full-text ETD will be freely accessible through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database to Duquesne students and faculty. To ProQuest users at other institutions, a 20-page preview will be available in ProQuest, with the option to buy the full-text document from ProQuest. Because they are selling your work, as the author, you are eligible to receive royalties.
Open Access Publishing means that you agree to allow ProQuest to provide full-text access to your work free of charge, via the PQDT Open database. Access to the full-text in ProQuest is “open access” in that it is not limited to users at your institution, or those who pay for a subscription. Your ETD will be available open access through the institutional repository regardless of which option you choose for ProQuest.
Step 5: Submission Requirements
- Please ensure that all of your choices (publishing type and embargo) and information match between all three parts of the submission.
- It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that all signatures are in place and that they have submitted all final documents and corrections for the manuscript by the deadline.
Duquesne Scholarship Collection
This link above will take you to the submission page for the Duquesne Scholarship Collection. You must create an account and upload your submissions before the formatting review
Things to keep in mind:
- This submission will require you to upload both a PDF and a Word version of your thesis or dissertation. The Word document is required so that the Office of Systems and Scholarly Communications can use it for the formatting review.
- Please only submit a single, complete Word document.
- Please put your last name in the file name.
- If you want an embargo, please be sure to choose that option when you get to it.
- The DSC can be slow, so please wait until it tells you that your submission is complete before closing the page.
1. General Information
- You will start by entering general information, such as Title, Author, and Graduation Date, etc.
- Please enter the title of your thesis or dissertation using Title Capitalization (e.g. "The Title of Your Thesis or Dissertation: The Subtitle of Your Thesis or Dissertation"). The title must be entered exactly as it appears on the signature page as signed by your committee.
2. Release Date
- Choose whether to release the full text of your ETD immediately following approval or after a one-year embargo. Your title, abstract, and other metadata will be released immediately in either case.
- Be sure this matches your selections on the ETD Approval Form.
3. Keywords and Subject Categories
- Keywords: Please enter up to 10 keywords or phrases, separated by commas. To enhance the indexing and retrieval of your dissertation or thesis, you may add up to six keyword descriptors. These will help identify and classify your thesis or dissertation; for example, geographical locations or scientific names not mentioned in your title or abstract might be listed.
- Subject Categories: Please select the subject category that best fits your Dissertation/Thesis. Subject Categories will help the indexing of your dissertation or thesis and the eventual retrieval of it by interested parties.
4. Uploading Documents
- You should upload both the PDF and Word document / LaTeX file versions of your ETD where indicated (PDF in Upload Full Text and WORD as Supplemental File)
- Upload Full Text: Click the
Upload file from your computerand locate your PDF document on your computer.- Supplemental Files: Click the check box to upload your Word document/LaTeX file version and hit the
Submitbutton.- It may take a while. Please wait until it moves to the Upload Supplemental Content page.
5. Upload Supplemental Content
- If your submission consists of multiple Word documents, you must combine them before submitting. Your submission will not be marked complete until we have received both the PDF and Word/LaTeX files.
- Click the
Choose Filebutton and upload your Word document/LaTeX file version.- Your supplemental file name will appear in the box.
- Please click the
Continuebutton once you have confirmed your supplemental file name.- Please wait until you see the message saying, "You have successfully uploaded".
ProQuest/UMI
This link above will take you to the submission page for ProQuest. You must create an account and upload a PDF of your thesis/dissertation before the formatting review.
1. Publishing Options
- Make sure your ProQuest publishing choices match your Approval form publishing choices.
- Open Access or Traditional Publishing
- (Please note that regardless of your choice, your ETD will be made available freely via the Duquesne Scholarship Collection.)
- Immediate Access or Embargo
- During the embargo period, no one will have access to the full-text of the work; however, access to the title and abstract will be available.
2. General Information (Contact Info, Dissertation/Thesis Details)
- Details are nearly identical to the DSC and the ETD Approval Form. Please be sure to be consistent.
3. Upload a PDF of your document
- PDF is the required format for ProQuest submission.
- Works created by others such as survey instruments, large excerpts of creative work such as poems or photographs, or content which requires a license to use may require you to seek permission.
- You must submit any reprint permissions you have for reprinting materials here at this step.
4. Register U.S. Copyright
A common question is whether or not a student should file for copyright, which is an option during the ProQuest submission.
Under US copyright law, your work is already, automatically, under copyright. For most students, then, filing for copyright is probably not necessary.
However, filing for copyright does grant certain additional protections that you may want if you want to be able to establish your right to the dissertation in a court of law. According to the U.S Copyright Office:
"In addition to establishing a public record of a copyright claim, registration offers several other statutory advantages:
• Before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration (or refusal) is necessary for works of U.S. origin.
• Registration establishes prima facie evidence of the validity of the copyright and facts stated in the certificate when registration is made before or within five years of publication.
• When registration is made prior to infringement or within three months after publication of a work, a copyright owner is eligible for statutory damages, attorneys’ fees, and costs.
• Registration permits a copyright owner to establish a record with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)3 for protection against the importation of infringing copies."
Even if you choose not to file for copyright during your submission (you can do it through ProQuest), you can choose to file later on, as long as you make the request within the original term of copyright. In the US, copyright lasts until 70 years after the death of the author, so you have some time.
5. Order Copies
- This is where you can order hard copies of your work (you will need a credit card for payment)
ETD Submission Deadlines
| Graduation | Deadline | |
|---|---|---|
| Fall 2024 | November 22 | |
| Spring 2025 |
April 11 |
|
| Summer 2025 | July 11 | |
| Fall 2025 | November 21 | |
| Spring 2026 | April 7 | |
| Summer 2026 | July 10 | |
| Fall 2026 | November 20 | |
| Spring 2027 | April 9 | |
| Summer 2027 |
|
|
| Fall 2027 | November 19 | |
| Spring 2028 | April 7 | |
|
Summer 2028 |
July 7 |
Need Help?
- Contact the Systems and Scholarly Communications offices at Gumberg Library.
- Schedule an appointment for a video meeting with one of our ETD coordinators.