Candidates for GCU research degrees are required to deposit an electronic copy of their final thesis in GCU's research repository (Pure) to be made open access in GCU's institutional repository ResearchOnline .
Follow the guidelines in each of the sections below to make sure that you deposit your thesis successfully. Your degree will not be awarded until you have deposited your thesis and a copy of the Library Doctoral Thesis Deposit Declaration . You can contact the library research team if you have any questions: libraryresearch@gcu.ac.uk .
Please note: only the final, post-viva copy of your thesis needs to be electronically submitted to the Library in this way. Deposit is not required for the examination copy prior to the viva.
Personal data and copyright
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Personal and sensitive material Your thesis should contain no personal information about an individual, as defined by the Data Protection Act 2018, unless permission to include the information has been granted by the individual. This includes, but is not limited to:
Personal contact information, for example email addresses, postal addresses or telephone numbers Signatures Vehicle registration numbers IP addresses Images identifying a person Where permission has been granted this should be clearly stated in the thesis, for example "Photograph reproduced with the permission of the subject(s)". You should collate and retain proof of permissions granted and, where appropriate, submit this as an appendix to your thesis.
Copyright You may wish to include materials from other people's work in your thesis, for example, quoted text, images, tables or graphs. You must exercise caution to avoid the risk of copyright infringement. It is your responsibility to ensure that material in your thesis that is authored or created by a third party is either free of copyright restrictions, falls under the UK copyright quotation exception, or can be made openly available under permission you have obtained from the rights holder. By obtaining permission, you remove any risk. Be sure to retain your email correspondence as evidence that you have permission.
Follow our Thesis Copyright Guide to help you decide whether you need copyright permission and how to request this.
You must always deposit the complete final version of your thesis in Pure. If certain material in your thesis cannot be made publicly available you should also deposit a second version of your thesis without that material. This is known as a redacted version. If the material is so intrinsic to the thesis that it cannot be removed you should still deposit the complete final version to Pure and request an appropriate restriction on access (see section "Access and licensing").
Access and licensing
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Access All candidates are required to complete the Library Doctoral Thesis Deposit Declaration to specify whether your thesis should be made open access immediately or after an embargo period (delay). Embargoes on thesis should normally last no more than 24 months, but in exceptional circumstances longer embargoes are permitted. You should discuss any proposed restriction with your supervisor before completing this form.
If your thesis cannot be made open access at all, you will still need to deposit a copy of it, but it will not be made openly available.
The citation and abstract of your thesis will appear in GCU's institutional repository soon after deposit, even if the full text is under embargo or cannot be made available.
Reasons for restricting access Future publication: your thesis contains material intended for future publication (for example, as a series of articles or monograph) and my intended publisher specifically prohibits prior publication of my thesis. If you are unsure about your publisher's policy please contact libraryresearch@gcu.ac.uk for assistance before submitting the form. Personal or confidential data: your thesis contains personal data, information that could prejudice the interests of an individual, or information whose disclosure would constitute an actionable breach of confidence (for example, patient data). This material is so intrinsic to the thesis, or so widely dispersed within it, that it is impossible to remove it. Copyright: your thesis contains third party material which is in copyright. Its use is not permitted under the UK copyright quotation exception, and permission to make it available has not been obtained. This material is so intrinsic to the thesis, or so widely dispersed within it, that it is impossible to remove it. Commercial information: your thesis contains sensitive information that would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of an individual or organisation, or intellectual property that may be the subject of commercial exploitation (for example, a patent application). Contractual restrictions: agreements with your commercial sponsor include restrictions on making your thesis available. International relations, defence, national security or public safety: your thesis contains material whose disclosure would be likely to adversely affect international relations, defence, national security or public safety. The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (“FOISA”) and the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (“EI(S)Rs”) ensure access to any information held by Glasgow Caledonian University, including theses, unless an exemption or exception applies.
Licensing Theses will usually be made open access in GCU's institutional repository under a Creative Commons (CC) licence. These licences enable you to specify how you would like your thesis to be used by others. CC licences are legally binding and internationally recognised. CC licensed content is easy to reuse as the licence states exactly what others can and can’t do with the content.
When you complete the Library Doctoral Thesis Deposit Declaration you will be asked to specify which Creative Commons licence you would like to apply to your thesis. Full information on each licence can be found on the Creative Commons website .
Preparing your documents
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Information on how to format your thesis can be found in the Guidelines for Thesis Preparation .
You are required to deposit the following documents:
The complete final version of your thesis in PDF format, incorporating any corrections. The file must not be locked or password protected. Any supplementary files associated with your thesis. If these are too large to deposit then they can be submitted on a USB. Please email libraryresearch@gcu.ac.uk to arrange this. A completed Library Doctoral Thesis Deposit Declaration . If your thesis contains third-party copyrighted material that cannot be made publicly available (see section "Personal data and copyright") you should also deposit a second version of your thesis without that material. This is known as a redacted version. Please name the files clearly, for example, "complete version" and "redacted version".
Making redactions Make redactions in the original file format of your thesis (e.g. Microsoft Word), then convert the file to PDF. This is easier than attempting to make redactions in the PDF itself. Delete all restricted information and replace it with the text [REDACTED]. This way, redaction is apparent, but the space can't be used to identify the missing information. Don't conceal text behind black highlighting or a black box; future readers may have technologies that could reveal the hidden text. Don't delete any reference to the content you have removed. To redact images or large sections, delete them and replace them with [REDACTED]. You may need to add padding to keep your page numbering the same.
Deposit your thesis
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Candidates will soon be able to deposit their thesis directly in GCU's research repository (Pure). Until then you should email your file(s) to Registry: researchdegreeexams@gcu.ac.uk .
What happens next?
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Following receipt of your file(s) the library will process your thesis based on the access arrangements specified in the Library Doctoral Thesis Deposit Declaration . Your thesis should usually be processed within five working days. If we have any questions or require further information we will contact you directly.
A few weeks after your thesis is processed an entry will be added to GCU's library catalogue (Discover ) and the British Library's Electronic Theses Online Service (EThOS). This will maximise the visibility of your thesis and ensure the widest possible audience for your work.
Some of the content on this page has been reproduced with the permission of University College London and Imperial College London.
