E-Theses Collection

Swansea University always require a preservation copy for the research archive even if you opt-out of
making your full-text e-thesis available to the public in the repository. 

 Following the examination and completion of any required corrections: 

• Convert the final version of the thesis to a PDF file and name your file appropriately, e.g. 2021_Davies_AB_final.pdf.  
• Review the level of access you wish others to have to your thesis (i.e. full-text open access, temporary restriction, redacted content version, permanent restriction). 
• Consider your funder requirements.
• Check that you have completed and signed the E-Thesis Deposit Agreement. We recommend requesting a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC default licence but allow the use of others. The deposit licence sets out the terms on which you deposit work in Cronfa. Please read the deposit declaration carefully. Copyright usually remains with the author.
• Send a PDF copy of the agreement and a full-text PDF copy of the final thesis to your Faculty postgraduate administrator.

Doctoral Training Partnership Grant

Compliance with the UK Research Councils’ (UKRI) policy on open access:

The UKRI document "Research Councils Training Grants Terms & Conditions" Requirement TGC11.5 (Nov 2020) states that the institution must support UKRI funded Ph.D. students to publish the results of their research in the institution's repository as soon as possible after award (maximum 12 months).

Compliance with the research data policies of the individual Research Councils:

• Research Councils’ policies on research data require data generated or collected by research that supports published research findings (which could include e-theses) to be preserved and (where no commercial, ethical, or legal restrictions apply) made publicly available. Clarification on the EPSRC data access requirement is available.
• Contact the Research Data support team for information on sharing your data or visit the research data management guidance. We can link your e-thesis record to your research data if you provide a URL.

We reserve the right to contact completing students to check that they have made an open access deposit.

The E-Thesis Deposit Agreement offers an opportunity for the completing student to supply a temporary embargo date to the full-text e-thesis. Access can be restricted for one year, two years etc. up to a maximum of five years. The supervisor does not need to approve a temporary embargo.

Temporary restriction example:

• Publication pending - journal article(s) or monograph

If a formal, permanent bar on access to the electronic full-text is required the student must indicate their intention as early as possible via the supervisor or Faculty nominee. 

• The permanent restriction request must state the title of the work, and the reasons for a bar being placed.
• A permanent restriction will not be applied for the repository without a formal email/letter.  The notification will be included with the final paperwork handed to the repository team by the PGR administrative team.
• If the thesis has been commercially sponsored and the student has signed an agreement which does not permit the work to be publicly available, whether for a limited period of time or in perpetuity, this should be indicated on the deposit agreement form and the formal restriction notice.

Permanent restriction examples:

• Commercial contract
• Patent pending
• Third-party copyright inclusion where permission cannot be obtained or redacted
• Ethical considerations, national security or data protection
• Other substantial reason

The author is required to supply a full-text electronic copy of the thesis for preservation. If a permanent restriction applies, Swansea University will undertake not to make it publicly available online in accordance with the terms of the deposit agreement. An option for submitting a second redacted content version is available if the thesis contains third-party copyright content, or sensitive material the author wishes to remove.

A metadata catalogue record is always made available on the repository.
Theses are subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental Regulations 2004 (EIR).

This booklet accompanies workshops presented by Swansea University Library (Education Services), focused on theses and rights risk management.

Keeping Your E-Thesis Legal

Full copyright guidance is available from our Copyright Library Guide.

Including copyright material in your thesis

Third party copyright material

You will need to seek permission to include any substantial third party copyright material in an electronic version of your thesis, which is publicly available online.  You may normally include 'limited amounts' without seeking permission, provided it is adequately acknowledged and referenced according to academic convention.

What is 3^rd party copyright content?

• Any material which is not your own or where you have assigned your rights over to another, e.g. a journal article where you may have transferred rights to a publisher.
• It includes long extracts of text, illustrations, adaptations, figures, tables, maps, charts, tables, photos, images etc. If in doubt, always ask permission.

It is beneficial to obtain permission to include copyright material in your thesis as you progress through your studies, rather than attempting to contact rights holders when you are approaching completion.  

How to seek permission to include third party material in the electronic version of your thesis
Identify and contact the rights holder(s). This could be an author, a publisher, an illustrator etc. When using material from published sources, contact the publisher in the first instance.  Include the following key points in your correspondence:

• What are you asking permission to do? Include information on any ISBNs, title, page numbers, extract required.
• Explain where you are seeking to re-use it (eg. online thesis).
• Explain why you want to do this.
• Include your contact details.

If you fail to receive a reply, assume that you cannot use the content, as you do not have permission. Occasionally you may be asked to pay a fee to re-use content. You are not obliged to do this and can choose to remove this material from the electronic public version of your thesis.

What to do with permission

• Indicate that you have received permission from the copyright holder at the appropriate point in your thesis. Add a statement along the lines of ‘Permission to reproduce A has been granted by B.’ Keep records of any correspondence you obtain from rights holders.

If permission is refused or you cannot clear copyright for all material included in the thesis, you will not be able to make the full version of the thesis publicly available online.

 You may deposit two electronic versions of the thesis:

• The complete version, including the third party content will be stored securely in a controlled area of the Research Information System (RIS). This will not be made publicly available.
• A redacted content version: the second edited version of the thesis with all third party material removed can be released publicly via Cronfa.

Open Science: a practical guide for PhD students

This guide to Open Science is designed to accompany you at every step of your research while doing your PhD, and beyond. From developing your academic approach to the dissemination of your research results, it provides a set of tools and best practices that can be directly implemented and is aimed at researchers from all disciplines.
This guide is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons license CC BY-SA 4.0 The same conditions cover assignment and sharing.

Creating an Accessible Thesis (Open University Guide)

Have a look at this excellent document created by the Open University.
What is accessibility?
Accessibility Checklist
Checking Accessibility
Converting to a PDF file
PDF Accessibility Evaluation

Guidelines for Creative Writing PhDs

Produced by the British Library and the National Association of Writers in Education (nawe) under a Creative Commons CC-BY-ND License.