Graduate School

Dissertation, thesis, or report changes

When a student submits a dissertation, thesis, or report, the expectation is that the document will not be changed and that minor errors are acceptable. There are, however, circumstances that require changing the document, metadata, and/or access. The options and types of changes are outlined below. Changes may be requested by emailing the Graduate School.

Name changes

Alumni or committee members may request changes to their names on accepted dissertations, theses, or reports. The name requested must match the preferred or legal name in University records. Name changes are handled through existing processes.

  • Alumni may change their name with the Alumni office or Registrar's office.
  • Enrolled students may change their name with the Registrar's office.
  • Current or former employees may change their name through Human Resources. 

The following options are available:

  1. An ORCiD for the author can be added to the metadata on Digital Commons at no charge.
  2. The metadata on Digital Commons and ProQuest can be updated at no charge.
  3. The document and metadata may be changed on Digital Commons and ProQuest (dissertations and theses) for a change fee.

Document changes

Alumni or graduate programs may request document changes on an accepted dissertation, thesis, or report. Changes requested by alumni must be approved by the graduate program. Graduate programs who request changes to a dissertation, thesis, or report must document that the alumni approve of the change or have not responded to the graduate program. All change requests must provide a justification and be approved by the dean of the Graduate School. The options available for changes are:

  1. Addition of an errata document on Digital Commons and/or ProQuest at no charge.
  2. Updating the PDF on Digital Commons and ProQuest (dissertations and theses) for a change fee.

Embargo changes

Alumni or graduate programs may request changes to the embargo release date of a dissertation, thesis, or report. Extensions to an embargo must be requested ten business days in advance of the release date of the work. All change requests must provide a justification and be approved by the Graduate School, graduate program, and alumni. Extensions requested at least ten business days in advance of the release date will not be charged a change fee.

Access changes

Alumni or graduate programs may request that the access type of a dissertation, thesis, or report be changed. All change requests must provide a justification and be approved by the Graduate School, graduate program, and alumni. The following options are available:

  1. A Campus Access dissertation, thesis, or report can be changed to Open Access on Digital Commons at no charge.
  2. An Open Access dissertation, thesis, or report can be changed to Campus Access on Digital Commons. Please note that this restricts access to future downloads, but does not address previous downloads of the work.
    1. If the alumni selected “Traditional Access” on ProQuest, the access on Digital Commons can be changed for no fee. The access on ProQuest will not be changed.
    2. If the alumni selected “Open Access” on ProQuest, a change fee will be charged.

Multiple changes

If multiple changes as noted above are requested at the same time, only one change fee will be charged.

Change fee

The change fee will be set by the Graduate School in consultation with the Graduate Faculty Council. The change fee will be paid by the person or group requesting the change. It is currently:

  • $100 for dissertations and theses
  • $50 for reports

Definitions

  • Alumni: an individual who has earned their degree at Michigan Tech.
  • Committee member: a member of the graduate faculty who reviewed and approved a dissertation, thesis, or report for an alumnus’ degree requirements.
  • Accepted dissertation, thesis, or report: a dissertation, thesis, or report that has been accepted for formatting by the Graduate School. This may include documents that have not yet been submitted to ProQuest or Digital Commons for publishing.
  • Digital Commons: the University’s institutional repository for scholarship, including dissertations, theses, or reports.
  • ProQuest: the University’s repository of dissertations and theses
  • Errata document: a short file outlining errors in a dissertation, thesis, or report
  • Metadata: the information that accompanies each dissertation, thesis, or report record. It includes information such as the document type, committee members, and degree earned.
  • Open Access: a dissertation, thesis, or report which has full-text available to everyone on Digital Commons (or ProQuest).
  • Campus Access: a dissertation, thesis, or report which has full-text available to Michigan Tech library patrons, and active Michigan Tech employees, staff, and students.
  • Traditional Access: the default access for a dissertation or thesis on ProQuest. The full-text is available to subscribers of the ProQuest database and Michigan Tech Library patrons.
  • Embargo: a period of time where the full-text of a dissertation, thesis, or report is not available to anyone. During the embargo period, the title and abstract are available.
  • Change fee: a fee charged by the Graduate School to cover the administrative costs of updating a dissertation, thesis, or report.

History

  • Reviewed by GFC and GSG and adopted March 2022.
  • Replaced "Changes" with "Extensions" in the embargo section to reflect that only extensions require notification prior to release. Editorial change on 9/30/2024.