An embargo stipulates that your thesis or dissertation cannot become available to the public for a specified time. When you submit it to ProQuest (as required by the Graduate School for most programs), you will have the opportunity to choose an embargo and its length. The University Libraries makes all University of Arkansas theses and dissertations publicly available in the digital repository ScholarWorks@UARK. If you choose an embargo when you submit to ProQuest, the Libraries will apply this same embargo. Until the embargo expires, the repository record will display only the metadata (e.g., your name, the title, the abstract).

If you choose not to apply an embargo, web visitors who come to the repository will be able to view, download, and print your thesis or dissertation.

Should you apply an embargo?

An embargo safeguards research, creative work, and proprietary or private information which may not be released to the public, at least not immediately. For example, if you or your mentor plans to apply for a patent, if you hope to publish your work, or if you worked with a business, you will not want to make your thesis or dissertation publicly available. Please ask your mentor if you should apply an embargo and, if so, for how long.

When your embargo expires, your thesis or dissertation will automatically become available in both ProQuest and ScholarWorks@UARK.

If you want to extend your embargo, please contact ProQuest (disspub@proquest.com) as well as the Institutional Repository staff (uarepos@uark.edu).