Deposit requirements

The Library only requires an electronic copy of your thesis. The electronic copy must be deposited to the University of Melbourne Institutional Repository, Minerva Access, via the Thesis Examination System (TES) once a final 'pass' has been recommended. Before depositing, your final thesis must be approved by your Chair of Examiners.

For PhD and Doctoral theses, the final thesis should be updated with amendments required by your examiners. Masters candidates are not required to make amendments before submitting their final thesis, unless they submitted prior to 1 January 2025 and changes have been requested by the examiners.

• Your thesis must meet the Preparation of Graduate Research Theses Process. Please also refer to the sample thesis title page and ensure that the title page does not include the University's logo.
• Your thesis, including the declaration page and any appendices, should not include your signature as these can be harvested by Google and appear in Google images.
• You should not upload to TES your index of changes, research data, ethics approval or other similar content as these are not an integral component of your final thesis.
• If your thesis contains complete publications, you should use the final published version  , if it was published open access under a Creative Commons licence or if you have permission to do so and this will not breach your publishing agreement.  Otherwise, we recommend you use the author accepted manuscript, unless the final version was published open access under a Creative Commons licence. You may also use the final published version if you have permission to do so and this will not breach your publishing agreement. For information on author accepted manuscripts and other versions of publications, see the Minerva Access deposit advice. Also see the incorporating your published work in your thesis page for further advice.
• You must submit a durable record of all components of your final thesis for preservation purposes, even if they've been previously submitted for examination.

  Durable record of all components of thesis

  A durable record refers to a permanent file or archive that ensures the preservation and accessibility of all components of the thesis. This record typically includes any multimedia material (streaming or downloading), content on web links, or data sets that are integral to the thesis.

• If you are submitting multiple files, upload them individually. They should not be compressed or zipped together into a single file.
• If your thesis contains other copyright material, you must obtain permission. See the Copyright Office page on Copyright and your thesis.
• Refer to the FAQs for depositing the final thesis.
• Download the Final Thesis for Degree Completion Submission Checklist to assist you in preparing your final thesis.
• If you are enrolled in a joint PhD, you must ensure that the final version of your thesis submitted to Minerva Access is identical to the version submitted to your partner institution, unless otherwise specified in your Graduate Researcher Agreement (GR Agreement). Find further guidance on joint PhD examinations.

Thesis with creative outputs or other additional material

• The thesis title listed on the written component is usually recorded on your official academic record. If you wish to have an alternative thesis title recorded that better reflects all components of your research, contact the Examinations Office when submitting your final thesis to TES.
• If your thesis consists of a written dissertation and creative outputs, a durable record of all components of your final thesis must be submitted to TES. This includes thesis content that has been made available online via a streaming service, online platform or website. You can submit the durable record as an additional file(s). If the total size of all files exceeds 2 GB, upload your thesis file through the final thesis process and, contact the Examinations Office to arrange a secure University SharePoint link for uploading additional files. Alternatively, upload the files to a cloud storage  platform and email the shared link to the Examinations Office.
• If your thesis consists of multiple components that are an integral part of the thesis, useful information is available on the Depositing multiple files for your final thesis record page.

The University of Melbourne scholarships do not provide a thesis allowance. If your department/school requires a printed copy, this won’t be covered by a thesis allowance as this copy is not a requirement for completion and should be paid for by your department.

Public access to my thesis

Until it is made publicly available, your thesis is an untapped resource of original research. The University is committed to ensuring that all research outputs are disseminated as widely as possible. This allows the University not only to meet the open-access policies of national and international granting bodies but also ensures the results of research are made available to the public, industry and researchers worldwide, for the benefit of society. Individual researchers, likewise, have a responsibility to other researchers and the wider community to disseminate a full account of their research as widely as possible. In keeping with these commitments, the electronic copy of your thesis will be made available on the web, via the University's institutional publications repository, Minerva Access.

Most major scholarly journal publishers now have clear policies supporting the submission of articles derived from theses that are publicly available in an institutional repository, such as Minerva Access.

Making your thesis publicly available via Minerva Access, has the following benefits:

• The general public, which has invested in the University, can access your findings
• Allows more exposure and influence for your research
• Helps build your scholarly reputation and research profile
• Practitioners can apply your findings
• Other researchers, especially in developing areas, can see and easily access your work.

Through Minerva Access, you:

• Ensure that a digital copy of your thesis is preserved for future generations of researchers
• Receive a permanent and citable web link to your thesis
• Can track the usage of your thesis.

You can find out more about the Principles for Open Access to Research Outputs, different pathways to open access, and funder policies on the Open Scholarship website.

In some circumstances, however, it may be necessary to delay or to withhold online access to the thesis.

Public access options

Revised thesis embargo options came into effect 22 January 2025. Find frequently asked questions on our FAQs page.

There are two options for access to your thesis in the repository. You will need to choose an option when you submit your thesis for examination in TES. The same access option will usually apply to all submitted components unless you specify restrictions for any additional files.

Full Embargo

In exceptional circumstances, it may be necessary to make the full content of a thesis unavailable by any means for up to two years. Approval from the Pro Vice-Chancellor for graduate research is required in these cases, and you must provide the reasons for the Full Embargo and any supporting documentation upon submission into TES. Reduced embargo periods may apply for funded research. Refer to the Research funded from ARC and NHMRC below.

Why choose Full Embargo?

You may request a Full Embargo if intellectual property protection is required (eg pending a patent application or commercialisation negotiation) or if there are exceptional privacy or security issues. We cannot approve a full embargo solely based on potential future publication. To grant a two-year full embargo, please provide documentation showing you are in active discussions with a publisher who has explicitly stated this embargo period is necessary.

If a Full Embargo is granted for up to two years:

• No requests for inter‐library loans will be fulfilled.
• There will be no access to the thesis in university departments.
• Thesis metadata (including title, author, abstract and keywords) will be displayed publicly during the embargo period. It will only be suppressed in very exceptional circumstances. See Exceptional Circumstances below.
• After the embargo period has passed, the thesis full content is available online.

If Full Embargo is not granted:

• An External Embargo will be applied to your thesis for two years.

Embargo Criteria

The criteria for requesting an embargo include:

• The research was conducted under a contract or third-party arrangement that places restrictions on access to the thesis.
• An application for a patent or intellectual property protection is planned but not yet submitted.
• The thesis contains material that must remain confidential due to legal, cultural, ethical or national security reasons.
• The prospective publisher of articles from the research requires the thesis not to be made available prior to publication of the article (usually external embargo only).

Redacted Version of Your Thesis

Some theses contain information that cannot be made public, such as confidential or private data, intellectual property agreements, or third-party copyright where permission to publish it has not been obtained.

In these cases, you will be required to provide two versions (original and redacted) of the online thesis to the Thesis Examination System:

1. A full version of the thesis, as examined including any required amendments and the confidential or third-party material. This copy will not be made publicly available but will be stored in Minerva Access for long-term preservation.
2. A second 'public access' copy of the thesis, with confidential or third-party material for which there is no permission removed or 'redacted'. Redacted material must be entirely removed and may be replaced with a statement such as 'This image/material has been removed by the author of this thesis for copyright reasons'. When removing material from the digital copy, a placeholder should be included to retain the pagination of the original document.

Where possible, confidential information should be presented in an appendix rather than in the body of the thesis. The body of the thesis can then be available on open access, while the appendix is not.

Reducing an Embargo Period

Once your thesis is deposited to Minerva Access if you selected embargo to your thesis, you may lift the embargo before its expiry by submitting an email request, along with your supervisor’s endorsement, to Minerva Access.

Research funded from ARC and NHMRC

The ARC Open Access Policy requires all research outputs funded in whole or in part by the ARC (except for preprints and research data) to be openly accessible within 12 months of publication. The policy applies to all ARC grant and scholarship holders and includes research theses. If you are funded by the ARC, you must make your thesis openly accessible within 12 months from the date of submission to Minerva Access. If you are unable to do so due to legal or contractual obligations, or due to sensitive information contained in your thesis, you may opt to embargo your thesis for the standard two-year period. The Primary Chief Investigator on your grant will then need to explain why your thesis was not made openly accessible, and the compliance options that were investigated to make your thesis open, when they submit their Final Report to the ARC.

The NHMRC and MRFF Open Science Policy requires full and immediate open access for all research papers funded in full or in part by the NHRMC or MRFF. The policy applies to all grant and scholarship holders for works produced from 2 February 2026.

Further information about the ARC and NHMRC Open Access Polices can be found in the Funder Open Access Policies page of the Open Scholarship website.

Third Party Copyright in My Thesis

Whether choosing immediate open access or seeking an embargo, the Preparation of Graduate Research Theses Process requires that you list third-party copyright material included in your thesis and indicate whether you have gained permission from the copyright owners to make this material publicly available as part of your thesis. You should obtain copyright permissions as early as possible to avoid delays in submitting your thesis.

When creating the list of third-party copyright material included in your thesis, please use the Template for Listing Third Party Copyright Material.

Please ensure that:

• The inclusion of publications in the thesis complies with your publisher's copyright agreement. Usually, this means the post‐print (author-accepted manuscript) should be used rather than the publisher PDF as it appears in the final published version at the publisher site.
• Informed consent has been obtained for the use of research participants’ photographs (eg patients), and particularly for the use of images of Indigenous Australians.
• The identity of participants in the research is adequately protected.

If you have not been successful in obtaining these permissions, you will need to deposit two copies of the thesis. Likewise, if your thesis includes confidential or sensitive material you should consider depositing two copies. See Redacted Version of your Thesis above.

If you have permission for third-party works, or if you are relying on the fair dealing provision for criticism or review of third-party works, you do not need to submit a redacted version of your thesis.

For information on copyright, what constitutes as third-party copyright, including copyright in creative works and dealing with the copyright of others visit the Copyright Office.

• What is copyright?
• Copyright and your thesis