The Graduate School’s website has detailed instructions and checklists that must be followed before your dissertation, doctoral project, or thesis is ready for submission. These are on the Submission of Dissertation or Doctoral Project and Submission of Thesis pages. When you are ready to submit your work, follow these step-by-step instructions for using the ProQuest ETD Administrator portal.
Create a ProQuest Account
Begin the submission process for your dissertation, doctoral project, or thesis by connecting to the ProQuest ETD Administrator portal. Click the “Sign up and get started today!” button to create an account. If you already have an account, click the “Log in” link. If you are creating an account for the first time, you will need to fill in your personal information to set up your account. It is important to enter an email address that you check regularly and will continue to check after graduation, since this is the primary means for how ProQuest will contact you about your dissertation, doctoral project, or thesis. Once you have completed the form, click the “Create Account” button. ProQuest will send you an email at the email address you entered to verify your new account. Click the link to confirm your account, and you will be logged into the ProQuest submission portal.
Prepare Your Dissertation, Doctoral Project, or Thesis for Submission
The submission homepage displays several recommendations for making the process of submitting your dissertation, doctoral project, or thesis go as smoothly as possible. It is strongly recommended that students prepare the information they will enter about their work before beginning the submission process. To do so, copy or type the following information into a word processing or text editing program such as Microsoft Word or Notepad:
- Your name
- Name of your advisor
- Title of your work
- Full abstract
- One or more subject categories that describe your work
- A few keywords exactly as you wish them to appear
You should also save the final, approved version of your dissertation, doctoral project, or thesis as a single PDF file, including any appendices. Although ProQuest can convert your document into a PDF during the submission process, this is not recommended since it often results in poor formatting and a loss of special characters. If your work includes supplemental files such as images, data, or a computer program, it is helpful to have those saved in a handy location as well. Once you have prepared these materials, you are ready to move forward with submitting your work to ProQuest.
Submission Process
You will be asked to make choices about how your dissertation, doctoral project, or thesis will be published and made available in ProQuest during the submission process, as set out below.
Publishing Options
Select Type of Publishing
Choose which publishing and access options you want applied to your dissertation, doctoral project, or thesis. Read more about your options on our Publications Options page.
Access Options | Delaying Release in ProQuest
Choose whether you want to make your work available in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global immediately, or place an embargo on it so that it cannot be accessed for a period of time. One important thing to note is that any embargo option you choose here will only apply to your dissertation, doctoral project, or thesis in ProQuest. You will also need to make a separate request for an embargo for DigitalGeorgetown, the University’s institutional repository. To do so, send your request to gradstudentservices@georgetown.edu.
Before making your choice in the “Delaying release in ProQuest” section, read our Embargoes page for more information on why you might want to embargo your work and the types of embargoes that are available to you. If you are considering revising your dissertation to be published as a book, in addition to the Embargoes page, read Revising Your Dissertation for Publication for information about publishing your first book.
Search Engine Discovery
By default, your dissertation, doctoral project, or thesis in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global will be discoverable and accessible through Google Scholar. It will also be discoverable through other search engines as the metadata from Google Scholar becomes available. If you are embargoing your work, ProQuest will not make your work available for indexing in Google Scholar until the embargo end date.
If you prefer that your work in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global is not discoverable through search engines, check the box next to the statement, “I DO NOT want my work to be discoverable in ProQuest through Google Scholar and other major search engines.
Note that even if your work is not discoverable through ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, scholars, researchers, and others will still be able to find your work in DigitalGeorgetown. Read more on our Google Scholar and Search Engines page.
ProQuest Agreement
ProQuest will provide an agreement based on the type of publishing option you chose in the "Type of Publishing" section. You will need to accept the agreement to move on to the next page.
Contact Information
This screen contains a form that you will need to complete with your contact information. It is important to enter all information accurately, as this is the information that ProQuest will use to contact you with issues related to your dissertation, doctoral project, or thesis. It is important that you enter email and mailing addresses that are not temporary, and that will not change after you graduate.
On this form, you have the option to either enter or create an ORCID iD. An ORCID iD is a unique 16-digit identifier that ensures that all your scholarly work and research is properly associated with you and is not confused with others with the same or similar name. ORCID iDs are used worldwide for manuscript submissions, grant applications, and patent applications. In addition, there are a number or tools and services that use ORCID iDs to import your works into their systems.
We strongly recommend that you create an ORCID iD, unless you already have one. If you are unsure whether you already have an ORCID ID, you can click the “Look up” button and you will be given a list of names similar to what you entered into the form. If you find yours, copy and paste it into the ORCID iD box in the ProQuest form. If you do not have an ORCID iD and would like to create one, click the “Create” button and you will be taken to the ORCID website so you can generate an ID for yourself. Read more about ORCID iDs on our Manage Your Scholarly Identity With ORCID page.
Dissertation/Thesis Details
In this step, you will enter information about your dissertation, doctoral project, or thesis. This is where it is very helpful to have the required information ready at hand, so you can simply copy and paste the information into the form. This not only expedites the process, but minimizes the chance that typos will appear in the metadata, or information, about your work. Enter the required and optional information about your work, keeping in mind that what you type in is exactly what will appear. For example, if you copy the title of your dissertation, doctoral project, or thesis directly from your PDF, it will appear in all capital letters in the metadata, which is not generally desired.
PDF of Your Thesis or Dissertation
In this step, you will upload the PDF of your dissertation, doctoral project, or thesis. Although it is not required, we recommend that you name your PDF with a descriptive file name, including your last name, the title, and the year. For example, Lastname_Title_2022. Click the “Upload File” button to browse for your document and open it. Once the upload is complete, you will see a green “success” message and your file will appear on the screen. You also have the option to submit copyright permission documents related to your dissertation, doctoral project, or thesis on this page.
Supplemental Files
In this step, you have the option of uploading any supplemental files related to your work. Most students have only a single PDF of their work, but if you have a separate collection of images, a data file, or a computer program, you can upload it here and describe the file.
Notes to Administrator
In this step, you may enter a note to administrators at the Graduate School if you have any information you would like to convey.
Register U.S. Copyright
In this step, you have the option to register the copyright for your dissertation, doctoral project, or thesis through ProQuest for a fee or waive that option. Before making your decision, read our Copyright Registration page for more information on the options that are available to you.
Order Copies
You have the option of ordering bound copies of your dissertation, doctoral project, or thesis. This is completely voluntary, and you will be responsible for paying the associated costs. If you do not want to order bound copies, click the “Decline - do not order” button. If you would like to order one or more copies for your personal use, select the type of binding and the number of copies you would like, and click the “Continue with order” button. You will then proceed to the next page, where you can enter your shipping address.
Pay for Your Order | Review Submission Summary
If you requested bound copies, open access publishing, or copyright registration, you will need to add a shipping address and pay the applicable fees before you can proceed with submitting your work.
The Submission Summary page is your last chance to make changes to your dissertation, doctoral project, or thesis file and the information you entered about your work, so make sure to review everything carefully.
Submit Dissertation/Thesis
When you click the "Submit Dissertation/Thesis" button, your work will be routed to the Graduate School for final approval. If any changes are needed, you will be contacted by staff at the Graduate School with instructions on what you need to do. Otherwise, your submission is complete!