Thesis Release and Embargo Procedures
Release and Embargo Options
The thesis is submitted as public evidence of your scholarly research and accomplishment. It has always been the university's expectation that every master’s thesis and abstract will be released upon conferral of the degree. Only in specific circumstances may release of a thesis be deferred, and then only for a limited period of time.
Master’s theses and abstracts are normally made publicly available upon degree conferral when they are deposited electronically in Deep Blue. If a student wishes to postpone public release of the final thesis, also called an embargo, the student should discuss this option with his or her faculty advisor. The student is responsible for requesting an embargo of the thesis.
A student may independently choose among several levels of embargo for the copy of the thesis that is deposited electronically with ProQuest.
Embargo requests must be submitted before the final thesis submission deadline with which the student is working.
Two embargo options are available:
A student may choose to restrict access to the 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 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 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 thesis and does not wish to make the contents public until the patent application has been filed; or
- The thesis includes information that is covered for a limited period of time by a confidentiality agreement or contains third-party proprietary information.
Theses that are fully restricted are 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 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 thesis in a journal or book with a publisher that restricts consideration of manuscripts derived from theses 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 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).