All RMIT theses (as described below) which are classified as fully completed after 1st June 2006 must be submitted electronically.

Where it is determined that a thesis/project is not suitable for digital archiving alternative provisions are made.

What can be deposited?

Your thesis must be:

• PhD, Professional Doctorate or Masters by Research.
• The outcome of a program of research at RMIT University.
• Fully completed. This means it must have been submitted for examination and examined and classified as ‘Passed’ and amended in accordance with any examiners’ comments and signed off as ready for final archival submission. See the Archival Lodgement Guide for more information.

Steps for depositing a thesis

Please refer to the Archival of thesis or project page for instructions.

The RMIT Research Repository is the central location for all RMIT University digital theses.

The RMIT Library receives the final electronic copy from the School of Graduate Research and is responsible for uploading the thesis/project onto the RMIT Research Repository.

Embargoed theses

If a request to embargo the thesis/project has been approved, the electronic copy of the thesis will be held by the School of Graduate Research for the approved time (up to three years) prior to release to the Library.

Copyright and privacy

The content of the RMIT Research Repository is available open access (freely available to the public), so it is important that you check your thesis for any material that is subject to copyright or that breaches or risks the privacy of the thesis author, research subjects or partners.

Copyrighted material may include text, tables, illustrations, graphs and photographs. Such items may not be your own work, or they might be your own published work that is already under copyright or restriction. To include this copyrighted material in your thesis or Appropriate Durable Record (ADR), you will need to obtain written permission from the copyright owner/s.

Material that breaches or risks the privacy of the thesis author, individuals or groups involved in your research, will also need written permission to include in your thesis. Examples of private information include photographs, names, addresses, mobile numbers, student numbers, social media identifiers and signatures.

Where permission has not been granted for copyrighted and private material to be made available open access from copyright holders or research subjects and partners, it will be necessary to supply two electronic copies of your thesis or Appropriate Durable Record (ADR):

1. One full and complete copy (the copy that was examined and passed).
2. A copy with all third-party copyrighted works and private information of subjects, partners and the thesis author, removed.

Do you want to include a copy of your published journal article in your thesis? Check your publisher's policy regarding this.

For more information and advice regarding copyright issues, see the Library's Copyright guide.

Do you want your print thesis digitised?

The Library has digitised most of the back collection of print RMIT Higher Degree by Research theses. With the consent of the original author, copyright holders and owners of private information (or the removal of copyrighted and private information) a thesis can be made available open access via the RMIT Research Repository.

If you would like to make your thesis available open access, please contact the Research Repository team.

The RMIT University Library receives the final electronic archival copy of your thesis/project from the School of Graduate Research and makes it freely available online via the RMIT Research Repository, unless there is an embargo in place. Grounds for an embargo are detailed in section 21 of the Higher Degrees by Research Policy. Note that proposing to publish from your thesis/project is not adequate grounds for an embargo.

Providing your thesis/project to the Repository does not prevent you from publishing additional outputs, as long as you reference the thesis/project and follow the terms of the publication agreement. It is highly recommend that you examine the publication agreement carefully and obtain legal advice before signing, especially if you are unsure about how the agreement will impact your intellectual property rights.