Submit Your ETD

Submission Deadlines

Research Repository - Login & Submission 

Web Distribution Options at WVU

Upon completion of the ETD approval process, your thesis or dissertation is deposited into the  Research Repository@WVU. When submitting your ETD paperwork you choose how you would like your ETD to be made available.

Open Access

• The University recommends making your ETD freely available worldwide.  All ETD's submitted with a "Thesis" or "Dissertation" document type will, by default, be open access.
• Historically, this option was perceived by some publishers as “publishing” the work, thus they may have seen a conflict with this level of distribution of the thesis or dissertation. However, today the vast majority of publishers support the archiving of a thesis or dissertation in an open access institutional repository such as the WVU ETD collection.
• Students may choose “Open Access” at WVU while simultaneously choosing “Traditional Publishing” option via ProQuest (included in base ETD submission fee) at no additional cost.

Campus Access

• This is a special exception allowed for MFA Creative Writing program students, activated by selecting the "MFA Creative Writing Thesis" document type.
• Makes the ETD freely available only to the WVU community (via login to the WVU ETD system) and as requested through the OCLC Interlibrary Loan (ILL) lending program.
• Access will be provided by interlibrary sharing of electronic or printed copies as requested.
• Campus only distribution will continue from year to year without special notification for a period of up to five years after the submission date, after which time it will revert to ‘World Wide Distribution’. You may change the Web distribution to “World” access at any time by sending an email to  ETDreview@mail.wvu.edu.
• This option addresses situations such as when a book or article is planned, and the book or journal publisher is concerned that prior publishing through a digital library will negatively impact on sales.
• Limiting distribution to “Campus Only” is generally accepted to be the equivalent to the “paper copy on the shelf.”
• Our best advice is for the student to contact prospective publishers to learn about their publishing policy. Many publishers have this information provided on their Web sites; if not, usually a simple email query to the editor will resolve any questions.

No Access

• Select this option by applying an "embargo" to any document type.  You will see embargo options under "Access Options" on the submission form.  The default is "Open Access: no restrictions."  You may change this to "1 year embargo" or either of two options for "Permanent embargo."  A second drop-down requires you specify the reason for an embargo.
• These options secure the entire work for patent, proprietary, data sensitivity and/or third-party funding sponsorship purposes for a period of one year or permanently.
• During this period the copyright owner also agrees not to exercise her/his ownership rights, including public use in future works, without prior authorization from West Virginia University.
• The metadata for access-controlled and embargoed content is still visible in the Research Repository and will be indexed by search engines. The access-control and embargo only applies to the full-text file that users download. 
• At the end of a one year embargo, either the student or proxy may request an automatic extension for one additional year. 
• You must include a signed form for  One Year or Permanent embargo with a thesis or dissertation you wish to embargo.
• Students (or designated proxies) may change the Web distribution to open access at any time by sending an email to  ETDreview@mail.wvu.edu.