An embargo is a hold placed on the release of your manuscript.

If you plan to publish your work elsewhere, you can delay the release of your manuscript in ProQuest for a period of 6 months or 1-6 years. This is requesting an embargo, and it means that your manuscript will not be cataloged for the UC Irvine Libraries collection, published online through eScholarship, nor published by ProQuest in their databases until after the embargo period concludes.

Some authors request embargoes because they have a patent pending, plan to publish in a journal that prefers to publish their work first, or because of sensitive content included in the manuscript. For more details, refer to the Open Access and Embargoes section of the UC Irvine Thesis & Dissertation Formatting Manual.

Related Questions:

• How can I limit access to my thesis or dissertation?
• Is there a way to prevent my thesis from being published indefinitely?
• What if I don't want my thesis published right away?