-------------------- Select ------------------------ Preparing your manuscript for submission Including supplementary material with your submission Inclusion of other people's copyrighted material Copyrighting your own dissertation or thesis Embargo Options Choosing Traditional or Open Access publishing

If your university does not participate in ProQuest Dissertation Publishing program, you can still publish your work with us;  use this form to request a publishing agreement.

Preparing your manuscript for submission

Depending on the method supported by your graduate school, you will submit your manuscript in one of three ways – as a paper copy we will scan, as a PDF file through our online submission tool (preferred), or via FTP site.

Electronic Submissions. Online submission ensures that we receive the highest quality copy of your manuscript, with color images preserved. The most important consideration for you when you submit electronically is to be sure that you embed your fonts in the PDF you send us. For more direction on embedding fonts and other guidance, please see our Preparing Your Manuscript Guide.

FTP Submissions. The most important consideration for those who submit graduate works in PDF format via FTP is to adhere to our XML DTD (Document Type Definition).  Please see our Electronic Submission to ProQuest using FTP for complete guidelines.

Paper Submissions. Some schools ship paper copies to us, which we scan as an image PDF during the publishing process. The most important consideration for you when you submit a paper copy is to ensure that the printing is high quality, with crisp, dark black characters for the best scanned copy. Please see our Preparing Your Manuscript Guide for more recommendations.

Including supplementary material with your submission

More and more graduate authors are taking advantage of new technology and including supplementary digital materials with their dissertations or theses. These can range from an audio file or spreadsheet all the way to a software program written as part of a dissertation. If you are an author at a school that uses our online submission system, you can submit supplementary materials in electronic format through the online system. Just follow the instructions during the submission process (note that files that total more than 100 MB should be sent to us on CD or DVD).

If you are an author at a school that still submits paper copies for scanning, please include a CD or DVD of your supplementary materials with your submission. Please consult our Supplementary Digital Materials Guide for additional instruction.

Inclusion of other people's copyrighted material

Including material produced by other authors in your dissertation or thesis can serve a legitimate research purpose, but you want to avoid copyright infringement in the process. Republishing someone else's work, even in abbreviated form, requires permission from the author or copyright owner. You must receive permission from the author(s) and include it with your submission before we can publish it in your dissertation or thesis.

For more detailed guidance on avoiding copyright infringement, please see our Copyright Guide. In addition, Dr. Kenneth D. Crews, a Professor at Indiana University's School of Law, has kindly given us permission to provide free access to his booklet Copyright Law and Graduate Research: New Media, New Rights, and Your New Dissertation. It provides a detailed overview of copyright law that no new dissertation author should miss.

Copyrighting your own dissertation or thesis

Because of the availability of content on the open web via repositories and other avenues, registering for U.S. copyright can be a significant benefit for the protection of your work. For only $55, you can protect your dissertation or master’s theses and become immediately eligible for statutory damages and attorney fees. Registering for copyright allows for the claimant to receive statutory damages set out in Title 17, Section 504 of the U.S. Code, which range from $750 – $150,000 plus attorney fees per copyright infraction. This contrasts with those who do not register for copyright – authors without copyright registration can claim only actual damages and no attorney fees.

At ProQuest, we make copyright registration easy—by submitting your application to the United States Copyright on your behalf and providing you with the certificate from the Library of Congress. Once your dissertation is published, a permanent link to your citation is created for your curriculum vitae and to refer scholars to your work.

Registering with the U.S. Office of Copyright establishes your claim to the copyright for your dissertation (which you already own) and provides certain protections if your copyright is violated. If you wish, ProQuest Dissertation Publishing will act on your behalf as your agent with the United States Copyright Office and apply for copyright registration as part of the publishing process. We will prepare an application in your name, submit your application fee, deposit the required copy or copies of the manuscript, and mail you the completed certificate of registration from the Library of Congress.

Embargo Options

ProQuest Dissertation Publishing offers a number of mechanisms that can help address concerns about prior publication and its potential to impact future publishing opportunities. The following statement explains in detail how we assist author’s with prior publication concerns.

Choosing Traditional or Open Access publishing

ProQuest Dissertation Publishing provides authors an open access publishing option called Open Access Publishing PLUS, in addition to the standard traditional publishing option. Which one is right for you? We recommend consulting with your graduate school for their guidance, and you might also consult our Open Access versus Traditional Publishing Guide.

Who can submit their dissertation?

ProQuest's policy is to accept master's theses and dissertations from all institutions which have been accredited by one of the six regional accrediting bodies (Middle States Association, New England Association, North Central Association, Northwest Association, Southern Association and Western Association) for inclusion in the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses database. Regional accreditation means that the accredited institutions are eligible for membership in the Council of Graduate Schools, which is the standard by which the higher education community judges itself. Master's theses and dissertations from independent medical and law schools accredited by the AMA and ABA are also accepted. Learn more.

Contacting ProQuest Dissertation Publishing

If you have any questions that are not answered here or elsewhere on the ProQuest website, you can contact our Author and School Relations team directly at 1-800-521-0600 ext. 77020 or via email at disspub@proquest.com.