Thesis Embargoes

The University has an expectation that a Postgraduate Research thesis is a document available for public consultation. As such, unless a legitimate reason for restricting access to the thesis exists, all PhD, Masters by Research, Professional Doctorates and MPhil theses will be made publicly available on the internet via the Bangor University Library Catalogue.

A candidate can publish any research work before it is submitted for examination. Published work can be included in the thesis. In some cases, publication may not be permitted, for example, where constraints have been imposed by a sponsor or by the University. If a thesis contains confidential or sensitive data it may not be appropriate to make the full text freely available online. Similarly if there is the intention to publish the whole, or extracts from the thesis, then there may need to be a restriction to access to the electronic version. If this is the case, an embargo/bar on access may be requested.

Normally, a bar on access to the thesis and/or accompanying data for a specified period of up to five years can be permitted. The candidate’s supervisor must submit a request for a bar on access. Requests must be submitted to the Doctoral School, and requests for a period of over 6 months will be considered by the Chair of the Senate Regulations and Special Cases Committee (or nominee).

Regulations for Postgraduate Research Programmes

The embargo period is normally quite short and only in exceptional cases may a thesis be restricted, such as on commercial grounds, pending patent application, confidentiality required by the funder, or restriction imposed specifically by a publisher (eg. because all or part of the thesis is being published as a book contract).

The thesis will be stored electronically in PURE. The metadata for the thesis will be made available via the PURE portal (and the Library catalogue). The thesis itself will be added to the record but closed so that it is not available until the embargo has lapsed (or extended if the student gathers the necessary publication information to warrant further extension).

Requesting your Thesis Embargo

Step 1

Speak with your Supervisory Team


Step 2

Complete an Embargo Request Form in the Request Centre. 

For current postgraduate researchers, to submit a thesis embargo request, please follow the below link: 

Current postgraduate Researchers 

For former postgraduate researchers, to submit a thesis embargo request, please follow the below link: 

former postgraduate researchers 


Step 3

Submitting the Embargo Request Form

Embargos will be approved only where there is a good reason for doing so. Once the request is submitted, the supervisor will receive a notification. For that reason, the embargo requests should come after discussions with your supervisor.

The embargo request form should normally be submitted at the same time as the candidate submits their thesis for examination; at the very latest, it should be submitted before they deposit the final version of their thesis following examination.

Late submission of the request may result in the thesis being made available publicly.


Step 4

Approvals

There are four possible scenarios:

  1. Request for embargo rejected: The Doctoral School might reject your embargo  request or ask for further evidence to support the application. 
  2. Request for embargo approved for six months: If the embargo request is for six months, the Doctoral School can grant this request for six months. 
  3. Request for embargo approved for a longer period of time without further evidence: If the embargo request is for more than six months, the Doctoral School can grant an embargo on access to a Bangor thesis for the initial six months. The request is then forwarded to the Senate Regulations and Special Cases Committee (SRSCC) for consideration of a longer extension (max. 5 years). 
  4. Request for portfolio of evidence for longer embargoes: If the Senate Regulations and Special Cases Committee (SRSCC) request a portfolio to support a longer period of embargo, the Doctoral School would request the candidate to prepare the portfolio, comprising any correspondence with publishers, testimonials from informed persons etc., in support for a lengthier embargo. 
  • Preparing a Portfolio of supporting evidence Your portfolio of supporting evidence should be incorporated into one submission to the Request Centre and this is forwarded to the Senate Regulations and Special Cases Committee (SRSCC) for consideration of a longer extension (max 5 years). 

Over the embargo period access to your thesis will be restricted according to the terms approved by the University:

  • if an embargo is applied to the thesis, there will be no public access to your thesis over the embargo period. A metadata record will be publicly available, unless you specify that this also needs to be embargoed. Your thesis may, if needed, be consulted by your supervisors and/or Head of School.

Following the end of the approved embargo period, your thesis will automatically be made available publicly in the normal way.

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