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Submitting Electronic Theses and Dissertations to ProQuest

Traditional Verses Open Access Publishing

Information About Publishing Options

One of your choices will be to decide if you want to select Open Access or Traditional Publishing.  Regent University recommends the Traditional Publishing option in order to retain the greatest level of control of your work. If you choose Open Access Publishing, the full text of your dissertation will be available free of charge via PQDT Open.

Traditional Publishing

The dissertation will not be freely available in PQDT Open.
There is no fee charged.
The author is eligible to receive royalties.
The dissertation will be available for purchase through ProQuest.
The dissertation will appear in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, a subscription database.
A record for the dissertation (may include citation, abstract, preview, etc.) will appear in Udini, and other ProQuest resources, in library catalogs and in indexes.

Open Access

The dissertation will be freely available in PQDT Open.
There is a fee of $95.00.
The author waives rights to receive royalties.
The dissertation will be available for purchase through ProQuest.
The dissertation will appear in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, a subscription database, and in PQDT Open.
A record of the dissertation (may include citation, abstract, preview, etc.) will appear in Udini and other ProQuest resources, in library catalogs, and in indexes.

Embargo Restrictions

Embargoes

You will be given the option to place an embargo on your work. If you conclude that you need to place an embargo on your thesis or dissertation, you will have the option to select a duration of 6 months, 1 year, or 2 years. Regent University's policy on embargoes allows you to select the option to embargo your work, but give careful consideration before you decide to place an embargo. Submitting a bound, print copy is not required for short-term embargoes.

Permanent Embargoes may not be submitted to ProQuest and are subject to approval from the Dean of your School or College. 
Permanent embargoes (longer than two years) or for any reason other than those listed on the online submission form require special authorization and submission of the Academic Petition Form through your school or college. The form is available through the My Regent portal. If you receive approval for a permanent embargo of your work, you need to deliver a copy of your document. Printed in single-sided format to your School Administrator,  
who will submit it to the library to be bound and added to the collection. You will be responsible for printing and binding fees (see the tab marked Fees) 


Most students opt to give broad reach to their work immediately rather than choosing an embargo. Reasons students have chosen to embargo their theses/dissertations include:

  • It is based on data that will be used for other/future publications of a research group, and the research group wishes the thesis/dissertation embargoed until these other works are published. If you think this situation applies to you, discuss it with your research group and adviser.
  • The student plans on obtaining a patent based on work in his/her thesis/dissertation.
  • The student is under a grant or contractual obligations that forbid publication in these circumstances.
  • The student plans on or already has a contract to publish the thesis/dissertation with a publisher who requires that the work not be published elsewhere.  Generally, theses and dissertations require revision and editing prior to publication to such an extent that publishing this original version is not necessarily an obstacle to a later publishing contract.

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