Policy and Procedures for depositing e-Theses

It is a requirement of the University that candidates for all Research Degrees produce a thesis or other appropriate form of submitted material which embodies their research for examination at the end of the degree. The term ‘thesis’ is used hereafter to describe all submitted material. 

Upon successful completion of a research degree, candidates are expected to upload the final approved copy thesis online to the LJMU E-Theses Collection. 
The LJMU E-Theses Collection is an electronic archive of research degree theses that have been accepted by Liverpool John Moores University. The collection holds the full text of all Liverpool John Moores University research degree theses submitted from September 2013 onwards. 

In the interests of scholarship, all research degree theses are expected to be made publicly available as soon as possible following the award of a degree, for anyone to read, download, print, copy and reuse. The collection makes the valuable and original research being conducted within the University accessible to all and the University fully endorses the principles of open access.

Candidates should talk to their supervisor before completing and signing the e-thesis access and declaration form to establish whether there is likely to be a valid reason for restricting access to their thesis. Candidates should consult the E-Theses service webpage for information. This discussion should take account of the need to ensure that research is made available as soon as possible and consider the benefits of immediate publication. 

Where an embargo is approved, an electronic copy of the thesis will still be required, but LJMU will not to make it publicly available online in accordance with the terms of the agreement. 

Disputes between Candidates and Supervisors regarding whether to embargo a thesis should be locally resolved wherever possible and referred to the Faculty Research Degrees Committee in the first instance. If a local resolution cannot be agreed, the Doctoral Academy should be informed via PGRExaminations@ljmu.ac.uk for the matter to be considered by the University Research Degrees Committee. 

Candidates should be aware that LJMU is subject to the Freedom Of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) which gives a general right of access to all information held by the University, including theses, unless an exemption applies. Reasons for restricting access to a thesis should be compatible with the exemptions detailed by the FOIA and EIR. 

Criteria for requesting an embargo

An embargo may be approved: 

• If a thesis has been commercially sponsored, and a signed agreement is in place where the sponsor does not permit making it publicly available, whether for a limited period of time or permanently. This will need to be indicated in the E-Thesis Access Declaration and Deposit Agreement form.
• If the thesis contains material whose copyright belongs to a third party and the gaining of approval to publish the material electronically would be onerous or expensive; and the removal of the copyright material would compromise the thesis. In this instance, two electronic versions of the thesis must be submitted:
  • the full version, with all third party copyright material retained (even if not third party copyright permission has not been obtained).
  • an edited version, with any copyright material for which permission has not been granted or sought is removed. The edited electronic version only will be made publicly available - the full version will not.
• If the thesis contains commercially sensitive information, the release of which might prejudice the commercial interests of any person including the author, the University or an external company.
• If the thesis includes material that was obtained under a promise of confidentiality.
• If the release of the thesis might endanger the physical or mental health or the safety of an individual.
• If publication would cause the author or third parties mentioned in the text to be open to legal challenge or racial, ethnic, political or other persecution.
• If the thesis is due for publication, either as a series of articles or as a monograph and the publisher does not allow prior publication of the thesis. Authors may check with journals in question whether a thesis in the repository would be counted as published.
• If the thesis contains the personal information of third parties which is restricted under the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018. 

Candidates should consult any sponsoring organisations that may hold intellectual property rights in a thesis. If an embargo is required, this must be clearly indicated on the e-thesis access and declaration form, otherwise the thesis will be made publicly available. 

Timescales

The maximum length of embargo normally permitted will be 12 months. Requests for embargoes must be accompanied by a rationale as to why they are required. Relevant evidence available to support a request for an embargo, for example a copy of a contract or publishers letter, should be submitted as part of the rationale. Such requests will normally be endorsed by the Doctoral Academy if the Lead Supervisor has agreed the request.

Embargoes for a period of over 12 months and requests for permanent suppression will require approval from the relevant Faculty Research Degrees Committee and the Doctoral Academy. Relevant evidence available to support the request, for example a copy of a contract, should be submitted as part of the rationale.

The University recognises that extensions to an approved embargo may be required from time to time. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure that the request for an extension is made at least 1 month before the embargo expiry date. Failure to submit a timely request may mean that the thesis is made publicly available once the embargo date expires. Once a thesis under an embargo has been made public, a further embargo will only be applied in exceptional circumstances.

Requests for extensions beyond 1 year will not normally be approved unless there are very exceptional reasons. Examples of this may include contractual agreements requiring a longer embargo, or a potential threat to personal security. Only one extension to an embargo will normally be permitted.

Requests should be made via an Extension to Embargo Request Form to the Doctoral Academy. Please email  PGRExaminations@ljmu.ac.uk to request a copy of the form.  Your request will require approval from the relevant Faculty Research Degrees Committee and the Doctoral Academy. Relevant evidence available to support a request for an extended embargo, for example a copy of a contract, should be submitted as part of the rationale.

The University recommends that candidates apply a CC BY- NC licence when depositing the thesis. This is a Creative Commons Licence, which is one of a series of licences designed to encourage the creation of content that can be copied, distributed and re-used, without infringing the creator’s copyright. The CC BY-NC licence allows users to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. They may also create and distribute modified versions of the work. This is on the condition that: they credit the author and do not use it, or any derivative works, for a commercial purpose.

It is possible to select a different Creative Commons Licence when depositing the thesis and this must be indicated on the E-Thesis Access Declaration and Deposit Agreement form.

A Creative Commons Licence will not be applied to a thesis which is under permanent suppression.

Reuse licenses and third-party content

Permission must be gained to reuse the third-party content in a thesis which will be deposited to an institutional repository. This permission might be granted by a licence on the third-party content: for example, if the third-party work itself uses a CC BY licence it can be reproduced if it is correctly attributed. 

If the thesis contains third-party content, which the candidate has received permission to use, a Creative Commons licence can be applied to the thesis, but the third-party content must be clearly marked within the thesis and the terms of use for this content indicated. 

Example

“The photo X is © 2009 Jane Park, used under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/.”

Certificates will not be issued until the Candidate has successfully uploaded an electronic copy of their final thesis, and any associated embargo requests have been approved. 

Any delay in the submission of the electronic copy of the final thesis will delay the release of the degree certificate. 

Degree certificates are normally issued by the Awards Team either via post, at the Graduation ceremony or by alternative arrangement with the candidate.