All Drexel University graduate theses and dissertations must be submitted online so that they can be made available in ProQuest’s Dissertations & Theses database and in the Drexel Research Discovery portal, the University’s open access repository. There is an option to delay publication (see Frequently Asked Questions section below).

While some programs require students to archive other graduate projects (such as Capstone projects) in the Drexel Research Discovery portal, not all graduate projects are subject to this University requirement. Please check with your department if you are unsure of their requirements. You may also submit your project independently.

Important Information

Students in the College of Medicine and Kline School of Law should contact their college or school officials for guidance.
For all others, please visit the Office of Graduate Studies website for information about graduation dates, deadlines, requirements and the eForms submission process. Be aware that some schools and colleges may have earlier deadlines.
The format of your thesis/dissertation must follow the guidelines found in the Thesis Manual [PDF] maintained by the Office of Graduate Studies, in addition to any guidelines set by your academic department.
The Writing Center offers in-person and online appointments, workshops, and other helpful resources.
For information about Commencement, visit the University’s Commencement website.
For questions or more information about the submission process, email libthesis@drexel.edu.

Thesis & Dissertation Submissions

All Drexel University graduate theses and dissertations must be submitted online via ProQuest’s ETD Administrator tool for publication in ProQuest’s Dissertations & Theses database and in the Drexel Research Discovery portal.

The following instructions are for formal theses and dissertations only. Please see the "Master's and Doctoral Project Submissions" section below for information about other graduate projects, including Capstone projects and DNP Projects.

Submission Instructions

All PhD and professional doctoral degree candidates and master's thesis option students must follow the eForms process outlined on the Office of Graduate Studies website, which will generate the below forms and processes. Please note that individual academic programs or departments may have additional requirements. Please check with a representative from your program/department for more information.

Complete your thesis or dissertation, including oral defense and post-defense edits, and save it as a PDF.
Your title page must be formatted as described in the University’s Thesis Manual, maintained by the Office of Graduate Studies. Download this Drexel University logo to use on your title page. All other formatting standards are the responsibility of your advisor. Style guides appropriate for most disciplines are available through the Drexel Libraries.
Ensure your committee members have signed off in eForms.
Once all committee members and stakeholders have noted their approval of the final thesis or dissertation file in the eForms system, the Thesis/Dissertation Approval Form and Signature page will automatically be generated by the eForms system and sent to the Libraries. The Libraries will incorporate this form as the very first page of the student’s thesis/dissertation file as submitted in ETD Admin (see next step). Unless otherwise advised by program officials, all should follow the eForms process.
Create an ETD Admin Account.
Go to Drexel's ETD Admin website and click 'submit' to create an account. Follow the steps to upload your document. This will take approximately 20 to 30 minutes.

Master's & Doctoral Project Submissions

Graduate students who complete a final project at the end of their program have the option to submit their projects to the Drexel Research Discovery portal, where they are made publicly accessible. Some programs require students archive their Master’s/Doctoral projects in the Drexel Research Discovery portal. Each program may have additional requirements or preferences. Contact your advisor for more information.

Projects can differ greatly in appearance and arrangement. Every project must include a title page with your name, the full title of your project, and the month/year. If your department does not have a template, please use the template in the University’s Thesis Manual [PDF]. Replace “thesis” in the first line with the name of your project type (Culminating Project, Capstone Project, etc.)

To submit a graduate project, please fill out the Graduate Project Submission form. The form includes complete instructions, required filename conventions and a link to the most recent version of the Drexel University Archives Deposit Agreement.

Please submit the following:

Required: Signed Drexel University Archives Deposit Agreement
Required: Your primary project file. This should be in PDF format whenever possible, but other file types are permitted if they are more suitable for your project.
Optional: A supplementary file, if applicable. If you have more than one supplementary file, please contact libthesis@drexel.edu to make other arrangements.

Frequently Asked Questions

ORCID is an initiative to disambiguate authors of scholarly works through unique, persistent identifiers. Creating an ORCID is optional; however, the Drexel Libraries recommends each researcher creates a unique ORCID and populates the record with information about their research activities. Visit the Libraries’ ORCID resource guide for more information.

You have the option to temporarily delay the public release of your thesis or dissertation by placing an embargo on it. At the end of the embargo period, your dissertation or thesis will become publicly accessible unless you request an extension. All requests for extensions must be made at least one month in advance.

Embargoes must be requested separately for the ProQuest database and the Drexel Research Discovery portal:

An embargo in the Drexel Research Discovery portal is managed through the eForms process. You may request an extension on an embargo by emailing archives@drexel.edu at least one month in advance of the embargo's expiration.
An embargo in the ProQuest database must be requested as part of the online submission process through ETD Administrator. Please specify the length of the embargo (6 months, 1 year or 2 years). This should match the embargo requested in eForms. To extend an embargo in the ProQuest database, contact ProQuest at disspub@proquest.com at least one month in advance of the embargo’s expiration.

You retain copyright of your work regardless of whether you formally register it. You may register copyright directly with the U.S. Copyright Office. If submitting via the ETD Administrator, the submission process includes an option to register copyright through ProQuest for a fee.

Drexel University has the right to reproduce and publicly distribute copies of your thesis for limited and noncommercial purposes, per the Drexel University Intellectual Property Policy. For more information, please read ProQuest’s Copyright and Your Dissertation or Thesis Guide.

The Libraries does not provide printing or binding services. ProQuest’s ETD Administrator tool offers the option to purchase bound copies during the submission process. Please review ProQuest’s guidelines on how to prepare your manuscript to ensure it will reproduce well in print.

You may also use a third-party binding service such as HF Group and Wert Bookbinding.

Yes. You may submit supplemental files during the submission process.

By default, all works submitted through the ETD Administrator tool will be discoverable in ProQuest through Google Scholar and other major search engines. You may opt out during the submission process. More information is available on the “Publishing Options” page of the ETD Admin submission process.

Once deposited in the Drexel Research Discovery portal, your work will be indexed by major search engines and is available to all users, in accordance with any embargo you have requested. There is no option to opt out during the submission process.

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