Publication Decisions

Doctoral candidates at the University of Chicago are required to grant ProQuest non-exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, and sell their dissertations. Granting ProQuest non-exclusive rights means an author is free to re-publish dissertation research with another publisher. When another publisher accepts a manuscript for publication, the author must be sure to retain the right to publish through ProQuest as this is a degree requirement.

Shortly after each convocation, dissertations are sent to ProQuest where they are processed and made available within 12 weeks. During the following year, records for the dissertations are added to the University of Chicago Library Catalog with a link to the full text of the dissertation in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. Many universities subscribe to ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, and the full text of these dissertations will be available online to subscribers. Copies may also be purchased from ProQuest.

Two options for those interested in making their work freely available include:

• ProQuest (author is charged a one-time fee)
• Knowledge@UChicago, the University of Chicago's Open Access Repository (no fee for author)

The University of Chicago relies on ProQuest for access to University of Chicago dissertations published after June 2009. Since August 2015, most of these dissertations also appear in Knowledge@UChicago.

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ProQuest Agreement

Authors should print copies of the publishing agreement and the publishing options selected and retain these copies for future reference.

Type of Publishing (Traditional or Open Access)

One of the sections in the submission steps on the ETD Administrator requires authors to select the type of publishing, either Traditional Publishing or Open Access Service. You must select one of the PQ publishing options. You may also make your dissertation freely available through the University of Chicago Institutional Repository (IR), Knowledge@UChicago, if you wish.

We recommend authors choose Traditional Publishing in order to avoid ProQuest's Open Access Service Fee. Choosing Open Access Publishing means the full text of the dissertation will be available free of charge, but it will cost the author $95.00. You may include your dissertation in the University of Chicago Repository free of charge. For authors interested in open access, we recommend choosing Traditional Publishing and the Institutional Repository (IR) publishing options

Access Options (Delayed Release / Embargo)

Authors must also decide whether or not to delay release of the dissertation in ProQuest. There are times when dissertation authors may be concerned that making their dissertation research publicly available might endanger research subjects or themselves, jeopardize a pending patent, complicate publication of a revised dissertation, or otherwise be unadvisable. Authors may choose to restrict access to their dissertation for a limited period of time. This is called an embargo or delayed release. Authors should be aware that embargoing a dissertation may render it ineligible for a dissertation award.

This decision should be made in consultation with faculty (and as appropriate, research collaborators).

A dissertation author may choose to initially embargo the dissertation for a period of six months, one year, or two years. While a dissertation is embargoed, a record for the dissertation that includes a citation, abstract and additional details will appear in ProQuest databases and other indexes and catalogs, but the full text of the dissertation will not appear through ProQuest and will not be available for purchase. If a dissertation author needs to renew an embargo at the end of its term or initiate an embargo after graduation, the author should contact the Dissertation Office with the embargo request. Dissertation Office staff members coordinate post-convocation embargoes with University Administration, with ProQuest, and with the IR.

Embargo periods in ProQuest are managed by the Dissertation Office in accordance with University of Chicago policy.

Search Engine Discovery

Unless the author opts out, dissertations available on ProQuest are indexed by Google Scholar. A record in Google Scholar links to the ProQuest record for authenticated subscribers. Others are sent to a landing page where they can access up to the first 24 pages or purchase the entire dissertation. Researchers are not charged to access the full text of dissertations published using the ProQuest Open Access publishing model.

IR Publishing Options

Authors may choose to make their dissertations available through both ProQuest and the University of Chicago Repository (Knowledge@UChicago). They should retain a copy of the University of Chicago Repository Deposit Agreement in addition to the ProQuest documentation. Dissertations in our repository will be open access dissertations, freely available to all at no cost to the author.

An author who chooses to embargo a dissertation in ProQuest should delay the release of the dissertation in Knowledge@UChicago for the same length of time.

Learn more about open access, open data, and open educational resources from the Library's Guide to Open Access.

Creative Commons License

Authors may decide whether or not to use a Creative Commons License.

Creative Commons (CC) is a way of letting others know how they can use your work. For instance, you can indicate if others may distribute or build on your work as long as they credit you. There is no registration to use a CC license or any cost. You simply select one of the CC licenses and mark your work in some way to indicate which license applies.