Delaying Electronic Dissemination of Dissertations and Theses

In certain situations, there may be a reason to delay the electronic distribution of the dissertation. Because the university policy is to disseminate all dissertations as soon as possible, requests for delays must be reviewed and approved by the Graduate School. Situations in which delaying may be appropriate include, but are not limited to:

• The graduate student wishes to publish an article from the dissertation in a journal whose policy is not to publish anything that has already been disseminated electronically.

• The graduate student wishes to publish the dissertation with a publisher whose policy is not to publish anything that has already been disseminated electronically.

• The graduate student is in the process of applying for a patent on research contained in the dissertation and does not wish to make its contents public until the patent application has been filed.

Policy
Graduate students can apply to the Graduate School to delay the electronic dissemination of their dissertations and theses for one, three, or five years. Such requests will be reviewed and granted in the Graduate School. Once the initial request has been granted, additional extensions can be requested. Graduate students bear the responsibility for requesting extensions. If the Graduate School does not receive a request for an extension, OhioLINK will release the document according to the original schedule.

Process for delaying dissemination

1. Graduate students can request a delay when they submit their PDF file to OhioLINK by checking the second button in the Publication section of the Permissions and UMI Publication webpage.

2. In the UMI Permissions box, Master students choose, "Do not upload to UMI." Theses are not archived through UMI. Ph.D. and D.M.A. students choose "upload my paper to UMI for traditional publishing."

3. Graduate students must complete and submit the Graduate School’s Delay of Dissemination Form, available online. This form can be signed by the graduate student and his or her advisor at the time of the final examination. Turn the completed form in with final paperwork.

Note: Graduate students are responsible for requesting a delay of electronic dissemination and for sending their completed request to the Graduate School for review. If a graduate student checks the OhioLINK delay button but does not obtain approval from the Graduate School, the dissertation will be released for dissemination once it is approved.

Access to Dissertations and Theses through the OSU Libraries

Dissertations and theses submitted and approved by the Graduate School in partial fulfillment of OSU degree requirements are cataloged and made accessible through the OSU Libraries.  The University acknowledges a student's right to restrict the sale of the thesis or dissertation to ProQuest/UMI and does allow a delay in the dissemination of the electronic version to the OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertation (EDT) Center.  However, these policies do not prevent the University from providing access to OSU theses or dissertations through the Libraries.  Local access to the material, interlibrary loan, length of loan, and patron confidentiality are determined by the OSU Libraries.