Temple University electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) are hosted in ProQuest’s ETD database and in the Libraries' institutional repository, TUScholarShare. The Graduate School oversees the submission process. However, the Libraries regularly offer workshops on publishing and copyright specifically for graduate students working on theses and dissertations. Librarians are also available for one-on-one consultations about copyright-related questions. 

 

ETD stands for “Electronic Thesis or Dissertation.” ETDs are often gathered by the degree-granting institution and deposited into digital repositories for public access.

You can find Temple University ETDs in Temple's institutional repository, TUScholarShare. Search the ETD collection using your name as keyword.

If you are unable to find your ETD and it has been more than six (6) months since your PhD or Master's degree was awarded, please email scholarshare@temple.edu with your full name, dissertation title, department, and date submitted so we can look into any issues. It is our understanding that ProQuest uploads your dissertation into their database within 6-8 weeks from the end of the semester.

Yes. We copy the record describing your dissertation from the repository into the Library Search.

Yes. As of September 2008, all PhD candidates must submit their dissertations electronically, and grant a limited non-exclusive license to Temple to include the dissertation in TUScholarShare.

Q: I am a Master's degree student at Temple - do I need to submit my masters paper or thesis electronically?

Yes. As of August 2010, Master's degree candidates presenting a thesis (as opposed to a master's paper) are required to submit the thesis in electronic format and grant a limited non-exclusive license to Temple to include the thesis in TUScholarShare. Master's papers do not have to be submitted electronically.

Q: How do I submit my Temple dissertation or master's thesis?

Submit your dissertation or thesis through ProQuest. Follow the instructions at the ProQuest ETD submittal site for Temple University. If the instructions are unclear or you have questions on how to prepare your thesis or dissertation, check the Temple dissertation instructions in the Dissertation and Thesis Handbook. Contact the Temple Graduate School if further help is needed either in formatting your paper, or to understand either your rights and the University’s graduation requirements—they are the experts in how to properly format and submit your thesis or dissertation.

Be sure that what you submit to the Graduate School and ProQuest is the final, fully proofread version. We cannot accept changes to the final submitted document.

Q: Do I need to pay ProQuest to make my dissertation (or master's thesis) accessible? What is open access publishing?
Open access publications are freely available online for access by anyone. It does not affect your copyright.

ProQuest will present you with two ways to publish your thesis/dissertation, via "Traditional" or "Open Access" publishing. Temple Libraries automatically receives copies of all ETDs submitted to ProQuest and deposits a copy into Temple's institutional repository TUScholarShare for free. This copy is available open access, therefore you do not need to pay ProQuest's "Open Access" publishing fee to make your thesis/dissertation accessible to the academic community at large. If you have placed an embargo on your work, TUScholarShare will follow the same embargo.

Q: Do I have to give up my copyright when I publish my dissertation (or master's thesis)?

No. You retain copyright of your work. The submittal mechanism only grants ProQuest and Temple limited non-exclusive licenses to reproduce the dissertation or master’s thesis. Please read the publishing agreement from ProQuest for full details.

Q: Will I be able to publish my dissertation (or master's thesis) as a book?

Granting Temple University a limited non-exclusive license to preserve and present your work in TUScholarShare does not prevent you from revising and publishing your research in whole or in part. Publishers generally regard the unrevised dissertation or master’s thesis as substantially different from a monograph.

Q: Will I receive royalties after publishing my dissertation (or master's thesis)?

ProQuest will receive royalties if you select the “traditional publishing” option during submittal. ProQuest will pay royalties of 10% of its net revenue from sales of the work, conditioned on the author maintaining a current address on record with ProQuest. Royalties will be paid when accrued earned royalties reach $25.00 USD. If, after 25 years, earned royalties do not accrue to at least $25.00 USD, ProQuest's royalty payment obligation will cease.

An open access copy of your work will be freely available online via TUScholarShare. Temple University does not pay royalties. For more information on open access scholarship, view Temple’s Open Access Research Guide.

Q: What can I do if I do not want my dissertation (or master's thesis) publicly accessibly via the web?

For both dissertations and master's theses, making your contribution to scholarship publicly accessible is a requirement in order to receive the degree from Temple University. You may, however, request that an embargo be placed on your dissertation or thesis for up to two years, during which time the ETD would not be publicly accessible. At the end of the embargo period, your work will be available through ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, Turnitin, and Dissertation Express, and a citation/abstract may appear in some indexes (e.g. SciFinder, MathSciNet, PsycINFO, etc.). In addition, the Libraries’ will automatically expose the scholarship in TUScholarShare. If you need an extension, please contact the Graduate School.

Q: Can I include some images and diagrams from another author in my dissertation (or master's thesis)?

Images, diagrams, or other materials from third-party sources may be under copyright. If you include copyrighted material of any sort in your dissertation/thesis, you MUST obtain the copyright holder's written permission for its inclusion and subsequent distribution. For instructions, and an example copyright permission letter, please see the Dissertation and Thesis Handbook. If you need help or have questions about copyright, contact your subject librarian.

Q: What do I do if there is an error in my dissertation (or master's thesis)?

Contact the Graduate School to discuss your options.

Q: What do I do if I made a mistake in the dissertation (or master's thesis) submittal process?

Contact the Graduate School and explain the nature of the mistake. In the case of an omitted file, such as an appendix or musical score, this can be resolved through them. For other errors, such as requesting that ProQuest not release or sell on your behalf print copies of your dissertation, you should ask that the Graduate School assist you in contacting ProQuest.

Q: What does the library do to promote wider visibility and reading of my dissertation (or master's thesis)?

We upload the metadata describing your paper to three international databases:

By listing the descriptive citation and abstract of your work in these international databases, anyone doing research in your specific area of study should turn up your work and find the embedded link back to to TUScholarShare. Studies at other ETD repositories show that such exposure increases how often dissertations will be cited well beyond a simple listing in the fee-based ProQuest Dissertations database. Posting in a free open repository increases your impact on the scholarly world.

Q: Is a print copy of my dissertation (or master's thesis) on the shelf somewhere in Charles Library?

If you submitted an ETD, we do not keep a paper or microfilm copy of the dissertation. For dissertations submitted prior to September 2008, we do have paper and microfilm copies at locations listed in the Temple University Library Search.

Q: Who keeps a backup copy of my dissertation (or master's thesis)?

For dissertations or theses submitted electronically, the Libraries maintain, in a secure electronic storage system, an online disk backup of the PDF as submitted to us. That file is automatically backed up on additional disk arrays. The metadata and PDF included in the publicly searchable TUScholarShare is also backed up at two data centers in Ohio. We do not make or accept paper printouts of dissertations or theses submitted electronically. ProQuest also preserves microform copies of all electronically submitted dissertations.