About ADT

Since 1998, the University of Queensland has participated in a project with other Australian university libraries to build a distributed digital archive of Australian research higher degree theses (Master of Philosophy, Doctor of Philosophy and professional doctorate theses). The University of Queensland was one of the seven foundation institutions in what is now called the Australian Digital Theses Program.

Under the Program, participating institutions publish digital versions of theses into local Australian Digital Theses Program archives. Metadata is regularly harvested from the records in these archives to progressively build a searchable central database of Australian higher degree theses.

The goal of the Program is to maximize the visibility of students' research, and of the postgraduate research output of Australian universities, by making full-text theses available as widely as possible via the World Wide Web. The Program is managed by the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) and is supported by the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) and the Deans and Directors of Graduate Studies group (DDOGS).

Submitting a digital thesis

If you are a University of Queensland research higher degree student (MPhil, PhD, or professional doctorate) and have submitted your thesis for examination after 1st January 2006 you are required to submit a digital copy of your thesis.

The University Library will arrange for the thesis to be added to the Australian Digital Theses Program.

If you submitted your thesis for examination before 1st January, 2006, the digital deposit is not mandatory for you. However, you are still able to give your digital thesis to the University Library for inclusion in Australian Digital Theses Program.

Send your files via:

email to: ADT Co-ordinator
or
on disc to: ADT Co-ordinator, IAS, University Library, Duhig North Building, St. Lucia Campus

ensuring the Format and Filenames meet the University standards.

Copyright

Communication of your thesis online via the ADT Program carries with it a number of copyright issues that differ in important respects to those applying to a thesis that is written and then submitted for examination, but is not later published. Communication online amounts to "publication" under the Copyright Act 1968.

For more information, please go to Preparation and Presentation of a Research Higher Degree Thesis.

Deposit information

Once your thesis has been examined and approved, you must provide four copies of the thesis, of which one copy must be hardbound, together with an electronic version of the thesis in the prescribed format.

The copies of the thesis will be distributed as follows:

• one to the student;
• one hardcover bound copy and the electronic copy to the University Library;
• 2 to the school with one copy to be offered to the adviser.

For more specific information on the preparation and lodgement of theses, go to Preparation and Presentation of a Research Higher Degree Thesis maintained by University of Queensland Graduate School.

Delayed access

The hardbound copy and the electronic copy of the thesis lodged with the University library are to be available for consultation or copying for the purposes of research or study unless the director, after considering the written request of the author or adviser, determines that there are sufficient academic or commercial reasons to justify delaying access to the thesis.

Delay of access may be approved initially for a period of 18 months. The period of delay of access may be extended up to 3 years (including the initial period).

File formats

PDF files should be generated from the original document.

When creating PDF files, please ensure that conversion settings are such that all fonts are embedded and subset into the resulting PDF files. Fonts must be embedded and subset so that the documents will display identically on any PC on which they are opened. This is important, as we wish our digital theses to match the examined print versions as closely as possible.

PDF files should meet the following criteria:

1. be virus-free
2. be able to be opened (no password protection)
3. not be corrupt or contain corrupt data
4. include the complete text of the thesis, including the first page and all pages following, chapters, and appendices
5. match the paper version of the thesis in terms of content and formatting.

Converting files to PDF

The University Printery manages the UQPDF service which enables documents to be converted to print ready PDF files. The PDF files created using this software are set up for optimum digital print quality.

The software is installed on all of the workstations in the Library or it can be easily downloaded from UQPDF. The software is available for Windows, Macintosh OS 9 and Macintosh OS X.
A brochure detailing how to use the software on a laptop or home is available.
A brochure detailing how to use the software from a workstation in the Library is available.

For detailed help on converting files to PDF refer to AskIT

Finally, do not apply security of any kind to the PDF files.

Abstract formatting

In order for your abstract to be accepted in ADT and appear correctly any characters that interfere with metadata: i.e. " " (double quotation marks), and/or < > (angled brackets) need to be encoded as follows:
&quot; for " (double quotation marks)
&lt; for < (less than angled bracket)
&gt; for > (greater than angled bracket)

Filenames

Create one PDF file called 01front_surname.pdf containing:

• Candidate's Statement of Originality, incorporating Candidate's Statement of Contribution to Jointly-published Work; and Statement of Contributions by Others.
• Acknowledgements
• List of publications and presentations
• Keywords
• Abstract - see note above re abstract formatting
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures & Tables
• List of Abbreviations

Create one pdf called 02content_surname.pdf containing:

• Main text of the thesis
• Bibliography or List of References
• Appendices

Create a third pdf file of all the contents. Call this file 99totalthesis_surname.pdf

Note: Filenames should only contain letters from the alphabet (upper or lower case), or numbers (0 - 99), with the only symbol permitted being _ (underscore). No spaces are permitted.

Note: In order to maintain the desired file sequence the files need to be numbered using the standard 01 - 99 sequence.