Policies for Theses and Dissertations
Scope
Theses and Dissertations only publishes theses and dissertations prepared by students of the American University in Cairo in fulfillment of a graduation requirement at the University. Theses and dissertations must meet certain criteria in order to qualify for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations.
- The uploaded document must be the final version of the thesis or dissertation, which incorporates all corrections and changes requested during the review and defense.
- The thesis or dissertation must have been approved by all parties: proof of such approval must be provided in the form of scanned copy of the signature page, which must include the signature of the school dean.
- The thesis or dissertation complies with all policies and procedures established by the University, its schools and departments. Authors may be required to upload proof of such compliance during the submission process./li>
- The content of the thesis or dissertation complies with and does not violate any of the terms of the submission agreement.
Embargos and restrictions
During the submission process, authors will be given an opportunity to determine the availability of their thesis or dissertation. Authors may elect to make their thesis or dissertation available online immediately after the submission has been approved. This option is preferred.
Authors may also choose to restrict online access for six, twelve, and twenty-four months from the date of submission. These options should be chosen only for a specific reason (such as a pending patent, or a publication under review), or after discussing embargo options with the thesis supervisor. After the embargo period elapses, the thesis or dissertation will automatically become available online.
Extensions of the embargo period beyond the period of twenty-four months from the date of submission are only granted in exceptional circumstances. Authors requesting a prolonged embargo must submit a request in writing to thesisadmin@aucegypt.edu.
Rights and Permissions
Submission to Theses and Dissertations does not entail a transfer of rights: Authors retain full copyright to their thesis or dissertation, and may publish their research with a commercial publisher. However, authors will be required to agree to the terms of the Submission Agreement, and grant a public license which enables AUC to publish the thesis or dissertation online. As part of the Submission Agreement, authors must warrant that they have the necessary rights to do so.
If a thesis uses third party materials (e.g. images, tables, maps, ...), authors must secure the necessary permissions for all of these materials before uploading their thesis or dissertation.
Third Party Distribution
In addition to making master’s theses and doctoral dissertations available in its repository, AUC offers an option to distribute them through ProQuest Dissertation & Theses Global, a third party platform.
ProQuest provides these services at no charge. ProQuest facilitates the nonexclusive distribution of master’s or doctoral theses. Authors may be eligible for a 10% royalty from ProQuest, based upon sales and usage of the full text of the thesis or dissertation as distributed by ProQuest. Authors may withdraw their thesis or dissertation from distribution through ProQuest Dissertation & Theses Global at any time, by serving a written notice directly to ProQuest.
During the submission process, authors will be given a choice of opting in or out of distribution via ProQuest. By selecting the option "Yes, I agree", authors will enter into a PhD and Master’s Dissertations and Theses Dissemination Agreement with ProQuest LLC, and will grant the University the right to make the Work available to ProQuest (through harvesting and similar methods) for inclusion in the ProQuest public databases in accordance with the ProQuest Agreement. If the Work is embargoed, these rights are automatically effective upon expiration of the embargo.