What role do the University Libraries play in ETDs?
What is Digital Scholarship@UNLV and what is ProQuest?
How do I upload my ETD to these platforms?
What's an embargo and do I need one?
Who's Involved in ETDs?
There are several folks involved in the ETD submission process!
You and your committee work on the research and writing side of the ETD
The Graduate College manages your program requirements, degree progress, final approval of your ETD, approval of embargoes, and conferring your degree after you graduate
The University Libraries shares your work by making it publicly available in ProQuest and Digital Scholarship. We also help answer questions about publishing, open access, measuring the impact of your work, and data visualization and GIS tools to visualize your work.
Submission Process Overview
Everyone plays an important role in the ETD submission process
Committee and You: student writes ETD
You: student submits ETD to Grad College for final approval
Graduate College: Grad College approves ETD, notified student and University Libraries
Sometimes the Grad College will send it back to the student for revisions prior to approval
You: student submits ETD to ProQuest
University Libraries: University Libraries approves ETD in ProQuest
You: student graduates!
Graduate College: Grad College sends final Conferral List to the University Libraries
University Libraries: University Libraries published ETD in ProQuest and Digital Scholarship@UNLV
Platforms
ProQuest
Global database with materials from over 3,100 institutions worldwide
Often requires a paid subscription to access materials
Well-known among academic researchers, providing a wide-reaching audience
Digital Scholarship@UNLV
UNLV's institutional repository specific to UNLV research
Open Access - anyone with Internet can access, no paywall
Searchable by academic unit, event, title, keyword, and author type (grad student, faculty, etc.)
Managed by the University Libraries (local customer service)
Authors receive monthly download reports via email to track the impact of their work
Submission Process Deep-Dive
Important things to know about the ETD submission process
Grad College approves ETD, notifies student and University Libraries
Once the Grad College approves your ETD, you'll receive an email notification. This is called the Approval Email. This email will include 2 attachments:
Your final, approved PDF
Instructions for how to submit your PDF to ProQuest
Student submits ETD to ProQuest
Once you complete your submission, ProQuest will automatically send a notification email to the University Libraries. We'll begin reviewing the metadata (title, author, abstract, embargo selection, etc.) and ensure everything is correct and complete. Always monitor your student email because we often reach out to students to fix or clarify something in their submission.
Please note that you must submit the Grad College-approved PDF to ProQuest. If you submit your own PDF, the University Libraries will contact you.
The University Libraries will take the information you entered into ProQuest and import it into Digital Scholarship@UNLV ourselves, so you do not need to submit to both ProQuest and Digital Scholarship@UNLV. You only need to submit it to ProQuest and the University Libraries will do the rest!
Student graduates; Grad College sends final Conferral List to University Libraries
This process can take a long time! A student can submit their ETD in March, graduate in May, and the Grad College can send the Conferral List to the University Libraries in August, and it takes the University Libraries approximately 6-8 weeks* to make them publicly available in ProQuest and Digital Scholarship@UNLV.