Submitting Your Thesis or Dissertation for Publication

The following guidelines, resources, and templates are here to support graduate students as they format their thesis or dissertation for ProQuest submission, which is required for graduation.

Please direct all questions about thesis and dissertation submissions that are not addressed here to your school-level contact, which you can find listed in the table below.

The University of Kansas requires that all students whose degree programs require the defense of a thesis or dissertation must publish their research in order to fulfill degree requirements. The publication requirement is satisfied by submitting the thesis or dissertation to UMI/ProQuest. Once your submission is approved, the thesis will be available in ProQuest and KU Scholarworks (unless you have requested an embargo.) You may review the policies governing master's theses and doctoral dissertations for more information.

Your thesis or dissertation must meet all of the the KU Formatting Requirements. The title of your work entered in ProQuest must matchexactly with the title as it appears on your other graduation documents, including capitalization and punctuation.

Your school/College administrator will review your thesis/dissertation in ProQuest after your submission to verify it is correctly formatted. If your submission is approved, you will be notified and no further action is required on your part. If corrections are required, your school/College will contact you with a detailed list of required edits, and you must complete and submit all changes by the communicated deadline. Your thesis/dissertation will not be published in ProQuest or KU ScholarWorks until the required edits are completed.

Please note: The final document you submit electronically must contain only your thesis or dissertation and the scholarly apparatus as described in these formatting guidelines. It must not include any prior publications or other scholarly or creative works.

Before you submit your thesis or dissertation, make sure you have gathered the following:

• The Subject Category or Categories under which your research falls—Click to view ProQuest's list of Subject Categories
• Between 6 and 8 keywords to be used as search terms within ProQuest
• Your abstract
• Any documentation of copyright permissions you have been granted, if necessary
• Your credit card, if you would like ProQuest to file your copyright on your behalf (optional)
• Your signed Scholarworks Release (Embargo) Form, to ensure your embargo selections match
  • Scholarwork Release (Embargo) Form (pdf)
  • Scholarwork Release (Embargo) Form (pdf) for Creative Writing MFA/PhD students ONLY (pdf)

The following materials may also be helpful as you prepare your final submission:

• KU ScholarWorks—You can check here to see whether your work has been posted
• Video of Fall 2025 Thesis/Dissertation Workshop