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Guidance from Quality Handbook:
There are also examples of the thesis title and abstract pages in submission and completion section of the Quality Handbook.
For open access and institutional repository enquiries eprints@soton.ac.uk
For research data management queries please email ResearchData@soton.ac.uk
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Your thesis should be made openly available as soon as possible after the award of your doctorate. In some exceptional circumstances if may be necessary to restrict access to the thesis for a period of time. See below for the permitted reasons for an embargo and how to request an embargo and an extension to an embargo.
Once a thesis has been publicly released, it is not possible to apply an embargo.
According to the University's Code of Practice for Research Degree Candidature and Supervision, para 103, “The results of research should be freely available. Theses are accessible in the University Library or electronically through the University of Southampton Research Repository. Research theses may be subject to restriction only in exceptional circumstances but where this is necessary, the Faculty Director of the Graduate School, in their capacity as Chair of Faculty Graduate School Committee may, on behalf of Senate, approve an initial embargo for a period not exceeding three years from the date of examination. Any subsequent request to extend an embargo will require the approval of the Director of the Doctoral College and such a period of extension may not exceed one year in duration."
You should provide an explanation in support of any embargo requested. For example, patent pending should provide details of who is leading on the application, stage of the process and the expected timeframe. Supporting evidence should be attached where you have a legal requirement
to restrict access such as a commercial contract. It is especially important to provide clear information when you select the ‘other’ option to ensure that the Director of the Graduate School has sufficient information to approve the embargo.
Embargo & abstracts
Please note if a thesis is embargoed, the associated metadata (name, title etc) and the abstract will still be publicly available. If the examined abstract contains sensitive material which should be embargoed, please provide an edited abstract for public release.
Partial embargo
It is possible to embargo just part of your thesis if, for example, you are able to move sensitive material to a separate appendix. In thoses cases, students need to provide a full, unredacted version of the thesis (as examined) which will be embargoed and a redacted version which will be made publicly available. The full and redacted versions must meet the PDF/A-3 and accessibility requirements. See the thesis deposit page for more information on redacting material.
See also: "Theses and embargoes" video
Commercial contract
The contract with a commercial partner or other third-party collaboration states that the research must remain confidential for a given number of years.
Patent pending
The University or a commercial partner or other third-party collaboration has lodged, or imminently intends to lodge, a patent application relating to an invention described in a thesis. The thesis should be embargoed until after publication of the patent by the relevant patent office.
Ethical considerations/data protection/confidentiality
Ethical considerations and data protection will usually have been considered when the ethics committee was reviewing the research proposal.
Third party copyright
Permission to include third party copyright material should be obtained where necessary – see the Library thesis copyright web page for further guidance. If you have been unable to clear third party copyright material, not covered by fair dealing exceptions, you must deposit a complete electronic copy of the thesis with the material removed which will be openly available after any other embargoes have ended. The full and redacted versions must meet the PDF/A-3 and accessibility requirements.
Publications pending
Some publishers may consider publicly available electronic theses as prior publications, but not all. Most journal publishers do not view a thesis as prior publication, for example, Elsevier, Institute of Physics, Nature, Springer and Wiley do not. If you have not finished publishing from the thesis, you may request that the electronic thesis is embargoed.
Safety of those involved in the research (including students, supervisors and participants) and national security
Where circumstances have changed, such as a change in a political regime, and where it may cause harm to make the thesis available immediately, an embargo can be applied. It is not expected that a thesis should contain identifiable special category data. Where it may be pertinent to do so, and it is possible, there should be two versions of the thesis submitted, one publicly available with the material redacted and a complete version that can be embargoed permanently.
Other
This needs to be a substantial reason and will depend on the type of research undertaken. The reason must be justifiable to demonstrate that an embargo outweighs the public interest in access to the research.
The candidate and supervisor must fill in the Permission to Deposit Thesis form, noting the length and reason for the embargo. The Director of the Faculty Graduate School can approve or reject the requested embargo.
The thesis will be made publicly available at the end of the restricted period. The candidate is responsible for contacting the University if there are any extenuating circumstances which warrant an extension to the original restriction.
You should apply for an extension at least 20 working days before the current embargo end date. Email requests to eprints@soton.ac.uk