Electronic Theses and Dissertations, or ETDs, are openly published in UTA's institutional repository, called MavMatrix (formerly UTA ResearchCommons).  The UTA institutional repository offers metrics about how many users are engaging with your ETD in a variety of ways. For example, Alyssa Compton’s dissertation has garnered over 4,500 downloads and Justin McCloskey’s thesis has amassed over 5,000 downloads since 2024. Make sure to check back after graduation to see what impact your thesis or dissertation is making in the world! 

Before any submission can be made, please send an email to thesisdissertation@uta.edu with the following information: 

• Your First and Last Name
• Name of Your Department
• Name of Your Degree

Once you email us with that information, you will receive a reply containing the materials needed to submit your thesis/dissertation: a submission guide, a revision guide, and a follow-up reply containing accessibility resources. Once you've reviewed the submission materials and you feel ready to submit your work, you may do so in MavMatrix by submitting your work to the correct collection. Please ensure that your document contains all of the necessary formatting elements and clears the applicable accessibility checks. 

Per a legal mandate from the U.S. Department of Justice, all digital content published starting April 2026 must comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). For graduate students, this includes Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) published in UTA's institutional repository, MavMatrix. Creating an accessible document not only improves the readability of your work but also promotes inclusivity by allowing your research to reach a broader audience. We want to ensure that our students are equipped with the resources that they need to format documents that prioritize accessibility. We appreciate your collaboration in making UTA's published content accessibility friendly! 

General Accessibility Requirements

• Guide to Accessible Documents
• Digital Accessibility Skills

For more information about formatting an accessible document, you can also consult the UTA's accessibility office's Accessibility Toolkit or email them at accessibility@uta.edu.

Microsoft Word Formatting Resources for Accessibility

• Microsoft Word Training Guide for Windows 
• Microsoft Word Training Guide for Mac
• Format Heading Styles in Microsoft Word
• Authoring Meaningful Alternative Text
• Creating Accessible Tables 
• Microsoft Office Equation Editor
• Exporting Your Word Document as a PDF to Maintain Accessibility

For students using Microsoft Word to format their theses/dissertations, please use Word's built-in accessibility checker to check the accessibility compliance of your document. 

LaTeX Formatting Resources

• General Considerations for Accessibility in LaTeX 
• LaTeX Accessibility Guide for Theses and Dissertations
• LaTeX Template for Theses and Dissertations
• LaTeX Checklist for Theses and Dissertations
• Equation Formatting for Accessibility

For students using LaTex to format their theses/dissertations, please use Adobe Acrobat’s built-in accessibility checker to check the accessibility compliance of your document. 

We highly encourage students to submit their work before the final deadline date to provide ample time for any corrections that need to be made. Please be advised that waiting until the deadline day to submit your work may cause some delays in the processing of your thesis/dissertation as we receive the highest volume of submissions on deadline days. 

If you’re having trouble meeting the submission deadline, please complete the extension request form using the following link: Thesis/Dissertation Extension Request. If you are granted an extension, you can submit your thesis/dissertation within If you have further questions, you can contact the graduate school at gradteam@uta.edu. 

After you submit your work to the Libraries, you’ll receive an email of either the acceptance of your submission or a request for corrections to the formatting of your document. If corrections are required, follow the instructions for submitting your revised document in the email sent to you. If your document is accepted with no need for further corrections, your submission will be posted to MavMatrix. 

For master’s students, the completed thesis milestone will be added to your MyMav account upon acceptance of your thesis. For doctoral students, before the milestone can be added to your MyMav account, you must also complete the Survey of Earned Doctorates and email the completion certificate to thesisdissertation@uta.edu. The survey can be found on the SED website at this link: https://sed-ncses.org/login.aspx?redirect=true. Once you submit your SED, the completed dissertation milestone will be added to your MyMav account.  

An embargo is a delayed release or temporary access restriction to the full-text PDF of your work. Common reasons to request an embargo include:

1. If your thesis or dissertation material is to be published in a journal that requires no prior publication
2. If you plan to file for a provisional patent relevant to the work published in your thesis or dissertation

Please note that you RETAIN your copyright as author of your thesis or dissertation when you sign the Non-Exclusive Copyright Release. This means that you are free to publish your work anywhere else you see fit without permission from UTA. Most journals and publishers today are aware that theses and dissertations are already published by universities in their institutional repository and/or must abide by mandates for federally funded research to openly publish outcomes and data.

Embargoed works are still visible as an entry in the UTA institutional repository with title, author, date, and abstract details. For those requesting an embargo for patent-filling reasons, please ensure that your abstract is written without revealing patent-relevant information or trade secrets.

If you require an embargo, they are requested when you submit your ETD to the Digital Publishing Team. You can add an embargo period of 6 months, one year, or two years. Two years is the maximum embargo time unless there are extenuating legal circumstances.

To request an embargo extension, consult either the Graduate School or the Office of Innovation and Commercialization (for patent/legal needs) to provide clear rationale as to why your work should be embargoed for longer than 2 years. That information can be provided to thesisdissertation@uta.edu.

FAQ: I just defended my thesis or dissertation. How do I submit my documents to fulfill the requirements of the Graduate School?

Answer: Please first review the information provided above. If you have not found information you seek, please contact thesisdissertation@uta.edu.

FAQ: How to access past theses and dissertations of UTA Students?

Answer: Older theses and dissertations are searchable in the library catalog here: https://uta.summon.serialssolutions.com . These are physically bound and available upon request.Newer theses and dissertations are only available in the UTA institutional repository. Browse to your department and refer to the theses and/or dissertations sections to find recent examples.

FAQ: I need to see examples of article-based dissertations.

Answer: For several years, all dissertations produced at UTA have been published openly in the UTA institutional repository. On the home page, use the search bar to search “article-based” or “article-based” AND a keyword from your discipline/topic to find an example closer to your field. For example, you could find “Smoking Cessation within the Federal Employee Population, an article-based dissertation by Brenda Ross Swilley from 2020.

FAQ: Does the Library have a template for theses and dissertations?

Answer: The Library does not have any official templates for theses and dissertations. Each discipline has different requirements that they follow. Students need to contact their department for specific information about what their dissertations should and should not have. The Graduate School does have guidelines of elements that should be included in its manuals. Please note: these are only to be used as a guide or starting point. As stated above, each department has specific guidelines that the student must follow. 

FAQ: Does the Library provide formatting and manual check services for theses and dissertations?

Answer: No, the Library does not provide these services. We encourage students to reach out the UTA Writing Center and/or the Graduate School for guidance on formatting and manual checks. There are Plagiarism Checkers freely available through services like Canvas, the Learning Management System used at UTA.

FAQ: I’m submitting my thesis or dissertation. Do I need to select an embargo?

Answer: Please refer to the information on embargoes offered above. Only select an embargo period if you want a delay in publication for your thesis or dissertation on the UTA institutional repository because you plan to publish in a venue that requires no prior publications or apply for a patent within two years. Most students select the “NONE” option to not request an embargo.

Please note that most academic publishers are now aware that high-level research institutions like UTA require all theses and dissertations to be made openly accessible via an institutional repository and therefore the stipulation that work cannot be published elsewhere does not apply if it was a thesis or dissertation in an institutional repository. If you would still like to embargo your work, please note that the embargo only applies to the PDF of your full text. The title, authorship, and abstract of your work will still be visible (per our policies with the Graduate School). You have the following embargo options:

Publication/Patent Hold 6 months - The full text of this work will be held/restricted from worldwide access on the internet for six months from the semester/year of graduation to meet academic publisher restrictions or to allow time for publication.

Publication/Patent Hold 12 months - The full text of this work will be held/restricted from worldwide access on the internet for twelve months from the semester/year of graduation to meet academic publisher restrictions or to allow time for publication.

Publication/Patent Hold 24 months - The full text of this work will be held/restricted from worldwide access on the internet for twenty-four months from the semester/year of graduation to meet academic publisher restrictions or to allow time for publication.

FAQ: What is ORCID? Do I need an ORCID iD to submit my thesis or dissertation?

Answer: ORCID is a “persistent digital identifier” that many researchers use to increase the visibility of their research across multiple platforms like Web of Science, publisher websites, and institutional websites. An ORCID is meant to serve as an overarching way to identify yourself as a researcher in the global scholarly community. When you create an ORCID, you receive a webpage listing all the publications you have published under your iD. It is free to sign up for one and add to your manuscript; however, it is not required to submit a thesis or dissertation.  

FAQ: I found errors in the thesis or dissertation I submitted to the institutional repository and I need to resubmit. How do I do that?

Answer: Congratulations on completing your thesis or dissertation! Do not submit a new ETD. For revisions, please contact thesisdissertation@uta.edu for information about changes.

FAQ: Does the library offer a service for binding of UTA theses or dissertations?

Answer: No. Effective January 1, 2024, UTA Libraries no longer provides this service due to a lack of requests. 

After your initial submission, be sure to check your email to receive either an acceptance of your submission or a request for required changes and resubmission.

If an extension is required, please complete the online extension request form. If you have further questions, contact your advisor or the Graduate School at gradteam@uta.edu.