Dissertations
For doctoral students who graduated in December 2025 or later, a new policy for dissertation embargoes is in effect.
- WashU doctoral students may request to embargo the public release of their dissertation for 6 months, one year, or two years.
- An embargo can only be requested pre-graduation and the initial request must be submitted through ProQuest at the time of dissertation submission.
- Renewals after the initial embargo will be granted by the Vice Provost for Graduate Education in rare cases.
- An embargo renewal request must be submitted in writing at least 30 days before the expiration of the original embargo. The Dissertation Embargo Renewal Request Form is available online, or contact digital@wumail.wustl.edu for assistance.
- Only one renewal request can be submitted.
- Renewal requests require written approval from either the graduate’s dissertation committee chair or the current chair of the department that issued the degree before being referred to the Vice Provost for Graduate Education.
- When an embargo expires the dissertation will be automatically released--graduates will not receive advance notice before an embargo ends.
The policy is referenced in the Bulletin under "Dissertation Submission" : Washington University in St. Louis doctoral students may initially request to embargo the public release of their dissertation for a specified period of six months, one year, or two years. Renewals beyond the initial embargo may be granted by the Vice Provost for Graduate Education.
More details are in the Washington University PhD Dissertation Guide (May 2026). Consult with your department or school or the Vice Provost for Graduate Education office at vpge@wustl.edu if you have questions.
If you graduated before December 2025, you can email digital@wumail.wustl.edu to submit an embargo renewal request. These requests do not need to be approved by your chair or the VPGE.
Dissertation Embargo Renewal Request Form
Master's Theses
Current University Libraries policy (effective 2022): At the request of depositors, content can be “embargoed,” or restricted, from view for a limited amount of time of up to three years. Open Scholarship (now the WashU Scholarly Repository) requires an end date to the embargo, at which time the content automatically becomes openly available for viewing. However, the depositor may submit one renewal request to extend the embargo for a maximum of three additional years, for a total maximum embargo of six years. This is dependent on academic departmental policy.
"Academic departmental policy may govern the use and duration of embargoes and students should consult their department for this information." https://library.wustl.edu/about/policies/open-scholarship-policies/#ossubuse [under Embargoes]
