The nature and prevalence of embargoes on ETDs at Canadian universities:  - USETDA 2021 Conference.
Channel: USETDA
Date: 2022-03-13

The nature and prevalence of embargoes on ETDs at Canadian universities: Results of a national survey. 

Nicole White
http://www.lib.sfu.ca
Simon Fraser University
Canada

Abstract

For the purposes of reviewing and improving the ETD program at Simon Fraser University, a mid-sized Canadian public university with approximately 4000 graduate students across 8 faculties, a survey of Canadian University ETD programs was conducted January-March 2021 using Survey Monkey. Completed by 36 participants, the survey results relating to embargoes reveal a wide range of policy language and practices. While some institutions permit graduate students to embargo an ETD upon request with no rationale, others maintain strict limitations on embargoes, underscoring their institution's support for openly accessible research. In these cases, responsibility is placed on students and often supervisors to justify their embargo request against strictly defined criteria. This session will review examples of common embargo policy language, the individuals and groups that typically have authority for embargo approval, the circumstances in which ETDs are most frequently embargoed, and the prevalence of ETD embargoes across Canadian universities. Some discussion of ETD embargo workflows will also be touched upon. Session participants will be able to use the results shared from this survey to inform how to improve embargo policies and practices at their home institution. This in turn will assist participants in advancing the open access values, mission, or vision of their college or university while still balancing authors’ needs to restrict or delay access to their research.

Nicole White is Head of the Research Commons at Simon Fraser University Library, an initiative that provides spaces and academic support for graduate students across the research lifecycle. She participated in the development of SFU’s award winning Thesis Boot Camp alongside a team of writing facilitators, librarians, and other campus partners. She leads the Thesis Office and a team responsible for increasing campus awareness of Open Access and trends in scholarly communication.


Keywords

embargoes, policy, open access

United States Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Association.

USETDA 2021 Conference Proceedings: https://www.ocs.usetda.org/index.php/USETDA/USETDA2021

https://www.usetda.org/