Refusing to Publish: ProQuest, Embargos, and Intellectual Property

As you may know, when you finish a dissertation of thesis, you’re required to publish your research through ProQuest, a for profit library service company, which raises the question of intellectual property and ownership. One student, Rob Schlesinger has pushed back. Mr. Schlesinger is a lawyer and administrative professional who’s worked in higher education for 25 years, but decided to finally follow his dream of obtaining an Ed.D from Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y. and defended his dissertation proposal, “Ethics Education in the Undergraduate Curriculum: An Action Research Analysis” early this year.

Upon learning of the publication requirement, Schlesinger objected, arguing that this requirement places vulnerable students’ and researchers’ privacy at risk, while also asserting his right to decide when and how to publish his dissertation – that it is his property and not institutional property. This publication requirement is nearly universal in the United States. Before ProQuest and the internet, dissertations and thesis were printed and bound and housed in university libraries. Now, however, there’s concern that publishers will not want to publish material available online through ProQuest’s thesis and dissertation database.

Though research is published in affiliation with a university through an online service, authors retain copyright. Scholarship benefits from making research available and scholars and institutional programs benefit from the increased visibility. ProQuest also pays authors royalties on sales. I spoke with the authority at NIU on publishing with ProQuest, director of the Thesis and Dissertation Office in the Graduate School, Carolyn Law, to learn her opinion on this dispute and she raised important points. Carolyn notes that “though the definition of public has changed in the digital age, this does not mean that publishing exposes students to risk anymore than it has in the past. Good for knowledge does not mean bad for the author’s career or privacy. Research has always been published for public review.” Carolyn also cites protections in the form of embargos which make a work unavailable, and creative commons licensing access options.

While technology continues to change, publishers like ProQuest, academic institutions, and students definitely need to continue to ensure intellectual property rights are protected. Manhattanville's School of Education has now altered its policy to allow students to petition to publish a physical bound copy rather than an electronic copy. Schlesinger also asserts that dissertations are not much help to researchers unless condensed into article form, which is how he plans to share his research with others.

I’ve published one chapter of my dissertation and also plan to publish one or two other chapters, if not a book. Personally, I’m not concerned about publication with ProQuest effecting my chances of publication. Most academic publishers are aware research material may have been published previously as part of a dissertation and that the format of a dissertation differs vastly from that of a book. The research of other graduate students in my field has been an invaluable resource for me writing my thesis and dissertation. I’ve consulted ProQuest to find work in my specific area of Southern Studies to get an understanding of current trends, formatting, the breadth and scope of study, and methodology because a dissertation is a new genre to me. I’m grateful to have access, happy to offer my dissertation as a resource to others, and not threatened by publishing through ProQuest, but absolutely defend my right and the right of any dissertator to retain the copyright to an original work. Let me know your thoughts.

-Tiffany