What is an embargo?
A mechanism whereby access to, or visibility of, the full text is hidden or delayed for a set period.
This is usually for a very defined period of time (i.e. 1-5 years) which can be determined by a range of circumstances e.g. publication plans, funder requirements etc. You should also speak to your supervisor about your publication plans, this will help clarify if you require an embargo or not.
We have also made a video guide entitled When to consider an embargo of your thesis held in this LibGude. The list of eligible reasons for an embargo is also contained on the Thesis Deposit Form.
There could be certain circumstances in which a bespoke embargo could be required, in instance like this please contact Rebecca Clarke, Open Research Librarian to discuss your options.
If the purpose of conducting research is to share it and make it available as soon as possible, why would anyone choose an embargo?
One of the primary reasons why people decide to opt for an embargo is because they are preparing the work for publication. And they do not want their work to appear until it has been presented in a formal publication or publications. This could be in the form of a research article or articles, or indeed am entire book (sometimes called a monograph). So, people often choose to embargo the thesis while they are preparing the material for publication.
Find listed below some of the reasons why people embargo their thesis:
If you want to embargo your e-thesis you must indicate this on the Thesis Deposit Form.
Please upload the Thesis Deposit Form to Pure with your e-thesis record. Both are required as part of your submission process.
The E-thesis Team will cross check the embargo in Pure with the embargo information provided in the Thesis Deposit Form.
If you wish to discuss your embargo options, please contact Rebecca Clarke, Open Research Librarian
So, as a result of making your thesis open access, it will eventually be visible on Queen’s Research Portal and other platforms. I include an example of a thesis from 2019 that is open access here on Queen’s Research Portal. There is no embargo.
On the right-hand side is the EThOs thesis record. EThOS is the UK’s national thesis service which aims to maximise the visibility and availability of the UK’s doctoral research theses.
EThOS, which is run by the British Library, harvest our content and EThOS is the place to go to look for PGR theses.
So, by uploading to Pure, it is visible on Queen’s Research Portal - on the left-hand side, as well as be discovered via EThOS and various search engines, including Google. This is the best news for you raising your visibility
In the past when you submitted a print thesis, someone had to come into the library to access it or order on interlibrary loan, but now through your e-thesis and with the right combination of keywords, you are discoverable online. This is wonderful new for being more recognised for your research. That’s the advantage. The disadvantage is that by making your thesis available online, you are more easily discoverable now. So you need to protect your work and consider the implications of visibility particularly after you submit. This is why embargoes are so important.
This is how an embargoed thesis will look on Queen's Research Portal - this is where we PGR thesis content is publicly made available. One the left hand-side there is an image of an open thesis. There is a paperclip symbol visible, which means it is open access – it is similar to the green padlock symbol which means open access now– so it is NOT embargoed.
On the right-hand side, the same thesis is embargoed. The embargo may be identifiable by the fact that there is no full-text content attached to the thesis. There is no paperclip symbol, which indicates the presence of full text now. No full text has been attached to the e-thesis record or is visible publicly. This indicates that there is an embargo on the thesis.
