Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Do you want to make the full text of your thesis or dissertation available in eScholarship@BC?

You have the option to provide free access to the full text of your thesis or dissertation through eScholarship@BC, Boston College's institutional repository. This will make your ETD publicly accessible online and will increase the visibility of your scholarly work. At the same time, you—as the author—retain copyright.

This optional service is distinct from the required deposit in ProQuest, a subscription-based database with limited, paid access. To make your work accessible in eScholarship@BC, please accept the Boston College license agreement included in the ProQuest submission under "Institutional Repository (IR) Publishing Options."

You can make your ETD available in eScholarship@BC AND choose an embargo period, during which time the full text of your ETD will not be available on eScholarship@BC. This delay in release can give you time to explore publishing possibilities or complete patent applications before making it freely accessible.

If you decide not to release the full text of your ETD in eScholarship@BC, it will be retained in a dark archive for preservation purposes only. A catalog record of your ETD will be displayed on eScholarship@BC but the full text will be inaccessible.

For further questions about eScholarship@BC and embargoes, see Frequently Asked Questions.

Do you want to offer your work to users under a Creative Commons license?

If you choose to share your work in eScholarship@BC, you will have the option to apply a Creative Commons license to it. As the copyright holder, you can reserve all rights (users can use your work for individual study and research and can reuse fair use portions of the work). Creative Commons licenses allow you to define broader reuse rights in advance without requiring users to ask for permission.

You may decline the Creative Commons option or choose to apply one of six Creative Commons licenses. The licenses grant different levels of reuse rights and can be viewed in advance here in order to make your decision. There is no fee to use these licenses. If you have decided not to make your ETD available in eScholarship@BC, please decline this license as well, as it applies only to eScholarship@BC.

For more information about Creative Commons, see Frequently Asked Questions.

Do you want an embargo?

An embargo delays the online availability of the full text of an ETD. Embargoes are typically requested when:

• a dissertation is being submitted to a publisher that proscribes prior disclosure;
• a patent application is going to be filed;
• there is a need to protect proprietary information;
• or, there is a need to respect confidentiality.

Some graduate schools at Boston College have adopted policies that limit acceptable embargo periods. Currently the following schools have embargo policies: GSAS, LSOE, BCSSW, CSON. Check with your school about their embargo policy.

Note: During your submission, you must request an embargo separately for the ProQuest copy and the eScholarship@BC copy. If you would like an embargo on the ProQuest copy, please request delayed release during the ProQuest submission under "PQ publishing options." If you would like an embargo on the eScholarship@BC copy, please request this under "IR publishing options." Both ProQuest and eScholarship@BC will display the full text of your ETD only after the embargo period has expired.

For further questions about eScholoarship@BC and embargoes, see Frequently Asked Questions.

Do you want to allow search engine access on ProQuest?

Allowing search engine access simply allows other scholars to discover that your ETD is in the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Full Text database; they would be able to see its title, your name, and some descriptive information including the abstract. They would not be able to read its full text if it was under embargo.

Do you want to register for an ORCID?

When providing your contact information to ProQuest, you have the option to create or add an ORCID identifier.

ORCID (Open Researcher & Contributor ID) is an open, non-profit, community-driven effort to create and maintain a registry of unique researcher identifiers and a transparent method of linking research activities and outputs to these identifiers. ORCIDs distinguish individuals with common names, and are not affected by name changes, cultural differences in name order, inconsistent abbreviations, or the use of different alphabets.

We recommend that you create an ORCID before submitting your ETD by going to the ORCID at BC page. This site allows you to register for an ORCID ID and connect it to your BC ID number. Your ORCID will be persistent throughout your academic career and will allow you to aggregate your work into one visible profile (much like a CV).

When you include an ORCID with your author information on your ProQuest account, that identifier will appear in the record for your ETD, displayed both in ProQuest and eScholarship@BC.

For more information, please refer to the Libraries' ORCID guide.

Do you want ProQuest to register your copyright?

Registering your copyright is optional. Doing so will allow you to bring suit if your copyright is infringed. ProQuest will register your copyright for a fee (about $55), or you can do it yourself by completing the registration process described on the United States Copyright Office website and paying a fee of $35.