Depositing a Digital Thesis - read this first

• Lincoln University theses only, PhD or Masters (by research)
• the thesis must have gone through the examination process and be the final university-approved copy
• the thesis must be identical in content and as close as possible in layout to the print copy deposited in the Library (with the possible exception of any third party copyright material - see below)
• associated files such as data sets or spreadsheets may also be appropriate to deposit.

Check your thesis for any third party material that is subject to copyright, such as charts, diagrams, graphs, photographs, maps, tables.

You will need to obtain written permission from the copyright owners for online publishing of any such material that is not your own. We provide a sample MS Word form for your use to request permission. The Library does not need to see any completed forms, but you should retain them in case of dispute.

If written permission cannot be obtained, those sections must be removed before converting to PDF. Where material is removed, put an appropriate note to that effect and spacing to ensure pagination and layout remain the same.

Copyright in a thesis remains with the author. However, for intellectual property reasons (eg. prior publication of portions of a thesis in a journal or book) you may wish to apply for access restrictions - see below. See also the University's Intellectual Property policy.

During the submission process you will be asked to approve a Deposit Licence with the following text:

• "I hereby grant to Lincoln University or its agents the right to archive and to make available for consultation my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known, for the purposes of research and private study. It is understood that any person wishing to publish material from my thesis or use it for purposes other than research or private study will require my permission. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation."
• "I certify that the digital copy deposited with the University is a direct electronic equivalent of the version of my thesis approved by the University for the award of the degree. Except in the circumstances set out below, no emendation of content has occurred, and if there are any minor variations in formatting they are a result of the conversion to digital format."
• "I have either used no third party copyright material, including charts, diagrams, graphs, photographs, maps, in my thesis, or I have obtained permission for such material to be included in the digital copy of the thesis. If permission has not been obtained, I have removed the third party copyright material from the digital copy and fully referenced the deleted material."

If you do not agree to these statements, deposit will not be completed.

Before depositing you are asked to convert your thesis into Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).

We prefer that Adobe Acrobat software be used to create PDF files for the Digital Theses collection, as this enables a quality document to be produced using the settings and enhancements described in our guide Producing High Quality PDF files for the Research Archive including Digital Theses.

While other software is available for creating PDFs, many features such as creating bookmarks and adding metadata may not be available.

Adobe Acrobat software to create PDFs is available on some PCs in all University divisions, and two PCs in the ITS Resources Room (adjacent to ITS Help Desk) have Acrobat software installed. If you want or need to do the conversion on your own PC, the free software Pdf995 can be downloaded and installed.

If you do not have easy access to PDF creation software, or if you find it too difficult, the Library will try to convert your thesis for you - please contact Ruth Lewis.

You may also deposit associated files such as data sets or spreadsheets along with your thesis - we can accept most standard file formats.

You should deposit at least one file, named according to the suggested filename standards.

File sizes should be kept under 10 MB if possible. Consider your file sizes before deciding whether to deposit your thesis as one large file, or split into a number of smaller files, as suggested on the filename standards page.

Please deposit your thesis without any document security settings in place.

If security is set, it will not be possible for the Library to convert the thesis to another digital format if this should prove necessary in the future for preservation purposes.

The Digital Theses project is intended to provide worldwide access to your thesis. However some theses may need to be restricted wholly or in part for a period of time. Your supervisor and the University Librarian must approve any restrictions. We allow the following access options:

• no restrictions - immediate worldwide access
• restrict to Lincoln University community only - remote access available to current staff & students via authentication
• restrict all access for a certain period, up to 24 months - when this period has elapsed, access can be either to Lincoln University only or worldwide
• certain thesis files can be completely restricted [copyright, libel, etc] while others can be accessible as per the options above.

Request any restrictions using the appropriate field in the submission form, after discussing it first with your supervisor and gaining their approval.

When you are ready, Submit your file(s) online to the Lincoln University Research Archive.

We require up to 72 hours to check your files after receiving them, before we can sign off the Library deposit section of the Graduation Clearance form.

For further information or assistance see the Contacts page.