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As the author, you hold the copyright to your own thesis. You are therefore free to decide for yourself whether your thesis should be publicly available or not. The UvA (and most of its faculties) stimulate the open-access publication of theses in order to disseminate knowledge through all layers of society and provide an insight into the UvA's teaching.

Are you writing a thesis? When you're done, you may want to publish it online. It will then be available through UvA Scripties, a digital platform set up by the University Library where your thesis will be easy to find – even via Google.

Most degree programmes require you to upload the final version of your thesis to Canvas. Just before you do, you must complete a quiz on Canvas with questions on a number of specific points to bear in mind when publishing your thesis. Tip: make sure you ponder these points in good time – don't leave it until the last moment.

Considerations | Open access publication of theses

In Canvas, when you give permission to publish your thesis, some questions follow to determine whether publication is allowed and you are given the option to choose when and for how long your thesis will be published. As the author, you retain the copyright to your thesis, and you can always ask the Library to remove your thesis from the website at a later date.

  • Your own personal information 

    Our advice is not to include your phone number and student number in your thesis, but as the author you may choose whether to publish this information. If you include your e-mail address in your thesis, keep in mind that your UvA e-mail address will no longer be available some time after graduation. 

     

  • Personal data and company data 

    If your thesis contains personal data of other persons (for example, people you interviewed) or non-public company data, your thesis may only be published with the explicit permission of these persons and/or companies. Consent is not required if the data is anonymized and no longer traceable. Companies sometimes give permission to publish certain information after an embargo period has expired. You can specify an embargo period if applicable. 

  • Embargo 

    Is your thesis subject to an embargo? This means that your thesis may only be published after a certain period of time, because it uses company data that may only be disclosed after a certain amount of time has elapsed. You may elect to postpone publication of your thesis for up to 6 years. Please note that your thesis will not be published before it has been graded by your supervisor. 

  • Visual material

    If you use visual material for illustrative purposes, for example on the cover of your thesis, this is permitted if 

    • it is your own work, or 

    • the work is published under a Creative Commons license, or 

    • The copyright has expired, or 

    • you have permission from the author of the work. 

    For more information, see the copyright information on the Library website.

  • Period of publication 

    The Library prefers to publish theses for an indefinite period, but you can also arrange to have your thesis automatically removed from the thesis database after seven years.

    Regardless of your choice, it remains possible to withdraw your permission for publication at any time. Your thesis will then be removed from the UvA Scripties website.

  • Withdrawing permission for publication

    As the author of your thesis, you can withdraw permission for publication at any time. You should submit this request via an online form (also available under Contact on the UvA Scripties website). The Library will then remove your thesis from UvA Scripties.

  • License 

    Do you want to allow others to distribute, share and/or edit (parts of) your thesis? You can do so by applying a Creative Commons license to your thesis. 

    The CC BY license is the most widely used and allows commercial use in addition to reading, sharing and editing. You can also choose a variant that excludes commercial use, such as the CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. For help choosing a license, see the Creative Commons website. Whatever license you choose, you keep the copyright yourself: you may always reuse your own thesis without restriction, also commercially. 

    If you don't opt for a Creative Commons license, others will be allowed to read and cite your thesis, but they will need your permission to distribute or reuse it. 

    Although the library will remove your thesis from its database upon your request, a CC license cannot be revoked; so be aware that others might continue to distribute your thesis. 

  • Abstract / Summary 

    During the publication process, you are asked to enter an abstract (short summary) of your thesis. It will be made available upon publication. Once published, you will not be able to change the abstract, so please review it carefully. Abstracts normally contain 150 to 250 words. 

  • Sentence to spark interest 

    Optionally you can input a catchy line out of your thesis that the library may use to spark interest in your thesis on its website, social media channels, screens inside buildings, mobile app etc.. A selection will be made, so not all sentences will be used. Please don’t make a summary, but use an inspiring, funny, mind-blowing, or strange key phrase out of your work to grab the attention and as a teaser to the subject. 

    Examples:  

    • And that’s how the Roman Empire fell 

    • It just works when someone has a beard 

    • The results show that short-term memory illusions exist. 

More information

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