Q. Why has an embargo been applied to my thesis?

This has occurred due to the author previously publishing the work in whole or in part, and the publisher is restricting the public release of the work via Author' Rights.

The majority of theses are not embargoed but are made publicly available following their formal process as part of completing a masters or doctoral degree as detailed in the Higher Degree Research Examination Handbook  

Some common reasons that allow for a thesis to be embargoed are:

• The author wants to patent something described in the work.
• The author wants to publish the work in whole or in part in the future and is concerned that making the work public will interfere with this.

The author has previously published the work in whole or in part, and the publisher is restricting the public release of the work in some way that can be avoided by seeking advice from their supervisor in the first instance.