Submitting Your Electronic Thesis or Dissertation (ETD)

What's an Embargo?

An embargo is an option to temporarily hide/restrict your ETD from public access for a period of 1, 3, 5, or 7 years starting the month you graduate (May, August, December).

The example below shows an embargoed dissertation, which says "available for download on Wednesday, May 15, 2024." The "download" button brings you to a page that has the same message. It's not available for public download until the embargo period expires.

Do I need an embargo?

Reasons to embargo

• Publishing conflicts
• Patent applications
• Funding contract

Reasons to not embargo

• Other researchers build on existing research, moving the field forward!
• You can apply for an embargo at any point, including after graduation

We can help!

Deciding whether an embargo is right for you can be tricky! We're happy to help you figure it out - contact us at digitalscholarship@unlv.edu!

How do I embargo my work?

Apply with the Grad College

• Submit an Embargo Application Form to the Grad College through Grad Rebel Gateway. If approved, they'll notify both you and the University Libraries. The University Libraries will then apply the embargo to your work in both ProQuest and Digital Scholarship@UNLV.
• Only the Grad College can approve embargoes and embargo extensions
• Even with an embargo, you still submit your ETD to ProQuest; it's just hidden from public download.
  • Creative Writing students have an additional option to embargo their ETD in Special Collections & Archives, meaning they will not submit an electronic copy to ProQuest or Digital Scholarship@UNLV; instead, they only submit a physical copy to Special Collections & Archives. This option exists because some novel publishers are very strict about what is considered "prior publication" so to protect our Creative Writing student's ability to publish their work in the future, we don't even keep an electronic copy of their thesis/dissertation.