Depositing digital theses

UniSA Research Archive is a digital archive of UniSA research output. All UniSA PhD and Masters by research theses are eligible for inclusion in the repository along with other types of digital content such as research papers, journal articles and books. All theses included in the UniSA Research Archive will have a persistent link and can be found via Trove (opens in new window) and search engines such as Google (opens in new window), OAIster (opens in new window) and OpenDOAR (opens in new window).

The National Library of Australia's Trove service (opens in new window) incorporates the former Australasian Digital Theses Program (ADT) and Australian Research Online (ARO). These national collaborative projects have improved access to, and promoted Australian research to the international community. For further information about Trove, see Supporting Australian research through Trove(opens in new window) and Australian Research in Trove FAQ(opens in new window).

Who can submit a thesis

In accordance with the Academic regulations for Higher Degrees by Research, section 22.2.4, Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students are required to submit a digital copy of their thesis. An author's consent form will need to be completed as detailed in section 22.3.

Professional Doctorates, Masters by coursework, and honours theses are only included in the UniSA Research Archive under specific circumstances. Please see the Guidelines for the acceptance of theses and other works for more details.

File formats

The preferred format for submitting files to the UniSA Research Archive is:

  • .pdf (Adobe Portable Document Format)

Library staff will also accept and undertake the conversion of file types such as:

  • .doc, .docx (Microsoft Word)
  • .jpg, .jpeg and other image formats
  • .xls, .xlsx, .txt, .ppt
  • .htm, .html, .asp, .aspx (web pages)

If the file you submit is unable to be converted, you will be asked to resubmit your thesis in the preferred format.

Ideally, your thesis should be in one file, no larger than about 10MB. If you need to split your thesis into two files, the first file should contain the body of the thesis including the title page and table of contents, with the second file containing your appendices.

Copyright

As the author or creator of a work, you automatically own copyright to it, unless you have transferred your copyright ownership to a third party, such as a publisher.

If you have used other people's copyright material in your thesis, you must ensure you comply with copyright law.

In submitting your thesis for inclusion in the UniSA Research Archive, you are required to warrant that you have not infringed the copyright of any person. If you reproduce other people's work in your thesis, you must ensure that all works copied are appropriately attributed.

You are encouraged to familiarise yourself with the guide, Theses Toolkit - Managing Copyright in your Research (PDF, opens in new window), produced by the University's Copyright Officer.

Restricted access

Authors of theses are required to complete an 'author consent form' in accordance with Section 22.3 of Academic regulations for Higher Degrees by Research. Consent is sought for the print copy being made available for loan and photocopying as well as a digital copy being made available for inclusion in the UniSA Research Archive.

If you have concerns about a digital copy of your thesis being made available in the UniSA Research Archive, for example, your thesis contains sensitive or confidential information, or if you are in the process of applying for a patent, you can apply for an embargo period, which will require approval by the Research Degrees Committee.

You have the option to make your thesis inaccessible to everyone, or you can ask that UniSA staff and students only have access.

Restricted theses submitted via online deposit will be stored in the UniSA Research Archive and will automatically become available at the cessation of the embargo period.

An embargo period is for 2 years, with longer periods requiring the approval of the Research Degrees Committee.

Advantages of exposing your research

Theses have long been considered an under-utilised information resource. The growth of university institutional repositories in recent years together with sophisticated search engines and harvesting technologies has served to harness this valuable research.

Making your research accessible in the UniSA Research Archive has these benefits:

  • Increased accessibility to research
  • Enhanced research impact and dissemination
  • Increased community engagement with research
  • Allows researchers to build on existing knowledge
  • Enhanced reputation of the author, and their School/Research Centre
  • Increased research citation
  • Safe long-term storage

Wider international access is facilitated by regular harvesting by the National Library of Australia's Trove service (opens in new window). The repository is also indexed by Google (opens in new window), OAIster (opens in new window) and OpenDOAR (opens in new window).

Depositing your thesis

A digital copy can be submitted by using a deposit wizard. Library staff will view and approve records and upload digitised theses into the UniSA Research Archive. Theses cannot be added to the UniSA Research Archive until Research and Innovation Services notify the library that the degree has been conferred. This can take several months.

By submitting your thesis to the repository you are granting the University of South Australia a non-exclusive worldwide license to reproduce your work in the UniSA Research Archive under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/deed.en (opens in new window). As author of the thesis, you remain the copyright holder.

If you encounter problems in depositing your thesis, please don't hesitate to contact library staff.

For further information contact: UniSA Research Archive

Latest content revision: Sunday, 29 April 2012