Digital theses at Oxford

Every Oxford thesis in ORA comprises i) a record describing the thesis and ii) one or more files containing the full text of the thesis.

i) The thesis record comprises:

  • Details of the author, supervisor and funder (if appropriate)
  • Descriptive details of the thesis and other information: title, abstract, keywords etc
  • Link(s) to download the full text file(s) (if available via ORA)
  • Notes and proof of permissions that can be viewed by the ORA administrator

The record will be made freely available, even if the full text is not. In a small minority of cases it might be necessary to restrict access to the thesis abstract, or in extreme cases, embargo the entire record.

ii) The files containing the full text of the thesis will be made freely available wherever possible. Some Divisions operate a 3-year default embargo, others expect theses to be made freely available on deposit unless there is good reason to restrict access.

  • MPLS; Department of Continuing Education: Freely available on deposit unless good reason to restrict
  • MSD; Humanities; Social Sciences (except Dept Cont Ed): 3-year default embargo after which the thesis is made freely available unless i) the author applies for and is granted an extension or ii) the thesis has previously been granted a longer embargo

See information on copyright and other legal issues and pre-publication concerns.