Submitting your research thesis
Once you have received your final feedback and have completed your last edits, it’s time to submit your research thesis. Learn more about the steps to take.
Submit your thesis to NOW Dropbox
You will need to submit your thesis through the relevant NOW Final Submission Dropbox.
To do so, log into NOW and access the Doctoral Learning Room. From the menu bar, select ‘Dropbox’. This is where you submit your thesis and get your Turnitin report.
Once you've submitted to the Dropbox, wait for the report to generate, then download it so that you can send it on.
You can use the practice submission first (also in the NOW room) to check everything is fine before you do the final upload.
Thesis embargo
In some cases, you may wish to request your thesis to be embargoed or exempt from submission to a repository. Reasons might include:
- Confidentiality agreement
- Inclusion of commercially sensitive material and/or honouring commercial contracts
- Negotiating a publishing contract whereby the publisher considers public access to jeopardise the intellectual property.
If you are considering publication, check the guidelines for the publishers you are interested in. Most major publishers (e.g. Elsevier, Wiley, Palgrave Macmillan, Sage) will accept publications from institutional repositories, as they require significant revisions and reformatting for publication.
If your work was funded by a research council or other funding body, check their access requirements. There may be an expectation to make your thesis accessible online no later than 12 months after the degree is awarded.
Be sure to discuss the possibility of an embargo with your supervisory team before you submit. Embargo requests will be raised at the relevant School Research Degree Committee (SRDC) meeting, so you and your supervisors will need to provide supporting evidence for your request.
If you request is successful, only the details of your thesis will be submitted to the repository. The full text will be made available after the embargo has expired. The default length for embargo is 12 months, but longer periods can be requested in certain circumstances.
If an embargo or exemption request is approved, the University will make the thesis available if it considers that it can no longer maintain a successful defence of the restriction if challenged under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Submit your declaration to the PGR dashboard
Once you have submitted your thesis and have your Turnitin report, you need to submit your declaration form via the PGR dashboard.
From the menu, select Milestones and complete the Candidate Declaration Form (RD7DEC). You will then be able to upload your Turnitin report for approval from your Director of Studies. Please also email a copy to the Doctoral School. If you are unsure of how to use the form, please review this video guidance.
This should be the same version that you uploaded to the Dropbox so that it matches your Turnitin report. We recommend saving your thesis as a PDF, so you can ensure that your formatting isn’t altered.
You no longer need to provide a printed copy of your thesis for submission, but if you would like to print one for your viva preparations you can either do so on one of the University printers or via the Printshop.
(A top tip from us: if you’d like a nice bound copy for yourself, wait until you’ve done your viva! That way it includes any edits or amendments given during the exam.)
What happens next?
Once you have submitted your thesis to the NOW Final Submission Dropbox and your Director of Studies has approved it, a workflow will be created to begin the examination process.