Atrium Institutional Repository

To use the Atrium, you (the author(s) or copyright owner) grant the University of Guelph the non-exclusive right to make available, reproduce, translate, and distribute your submission worldwide in any format or medium. Please review the Digital Repositories Policy or make a Publishing and Author Support Request for more information.

Please review the Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies’ (OGPS) Thesis Completion Guide prior to beginning the submission process.

Additionally, before beginning your submission, please ensure your file is saved in PDF/A format. The file name should contain only alphanumeric characters and underscores and should not include any spaces, hyphens, or accented characters. The following file naming convention is mandatory for thesis submissions:

familyname_firstname_finalsubmissionyearmonth_degree.pdf

• An example of a file name for a Master of Science thesis authored by Seán O’Leary-Jones in May 2022 would be: OLearyJones_Sean_202205_MSc.pdf
• If you wish to include supplemental files (e.g., images, audio, videos, etc.) with your thesis submission, these files must be uploaded in non-proprietary, stable, and widely supported formats. Please make a Publishing and Author Support Request if you have questions about appropriate file formats for your supplemental files.
• Supplemental research data files should be deposited in the University of Guelph Research Data Repositories to improve access and discovery of your data. For more information regarding depositing your data in the U of G Research Data Repositories, please make a Publishing and Author Support Request.

1. Go to the Atrium home page.
2. Click on the ‘Log In’ button at the top right of the page.
3. Enter your U of G central id and password.
4. Click on the profile icon at the top right of the page and select ‘Submissions’ from the drop-down menu.
5. To start a new submission, on the Your Submissions page, drag and drop your thesis/dissertation file onto the 'Drag & Drop your files here or browse' bar or click 'browse'.
6. In the New submission window, select the Theses – Theses & Dissertations – All (2011- collection.
7. In the Edit Submission window, you can enter descriptive information about your thesis/dissertation and apply an end-user license to your work. Use the ‘Save’ button at the bottom of the page to save your work as you go. Use the ‘Save for later’ button if you need to come back to your work later. If you wish to delete the draft submission, click on the ‘Discard’ button.
8. Describe: Complete all mandatory fields (*) and any other fields that are applicable to your submission.
   • Authors*: Enter the Last name and First name of the author as listed on the title page of the thesis/dissertation. Please enter only your own name as the author of the thesis/dissertation.
   • Title*: Enter the full name by which this thesis/dissertation should be known and cited.
   • Other Titles: Use this to indicate any alternative titles for the thesis/dissertation, such as a translated title.
   • Language: This field is auto populated with the option ‘English’. If your thesis/dissertation is written in a different language, use the drop-down list to select the language of the content of your thesis/dissertation.
   • Programme: Select your program from the drop-down list.
   • Degree: Select the degree that you have earned from the drop-down list.
   • Department: Select your home department from the drop-down list. Please note that upon acceptance into the Atrium, your thesis will be automatically mapped into your home department’s Theses & Dissertations collection. If you do not enter your home department, your thesis will not be mapped.
   • Advisor*: Enter the name of your advisor. If you have multiple advisors, click the ‘Add more’ button to create additional advisor name input boxes.
   • Thesis defense date*: Enter the date (Year, Month, Day) that you successfully defended your thesis/dissertation.
   • Date of copyright*: Enter the date that appears on the title page of your thesis/dissertation. Only the year and month are required. The day should be left blank.
   • Related Publication: If you have published any portion of your thesis/dissertation work (e.g., journal article, conference proceeding, etc.), enter the full citation information including the digital object identifier (DOI) for the publication in your preferred citation style. Use one input field per related publication. For additional input field, click the ‘Add more’ button.
   • Subject keywords: Enter three to five keywords. The more descriptive the keywords are, the easier it will be for users to discover your item. Capitalize terms only when necessary. Use one input field per keyword. For additional input fields, click the ‘Add more’ button.
   • Abstract*: Enter the abstract for your thesis/dissertation. You may copy and paste as plain text directly from your thesis document.
   • Sponsors: If your thesis/dissertation is a product of funded research, select the funder's name from the drop-down list. To select additional funders, click on the ‘Add more’ button to create a new selection field. Please note that this list is not an exhaustive list and only includes the most common funding agencies.
9. Upload files: If you have already dragged and dropped your thesis file, the uploaded file will be visible in this section of the form. Note that you can drag and drop file(s) anywhere on the page to if you would like to include supplemental file(s) in the record. After a file has been uploaded to the submission form, you can describe the file by adding metadata to the file such as a file description or an access embargo. Note that if you wish to request an embargo on access to your thesis/dissertation, you must apply to the Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies (OGPS) stating the reason for your request. Refer to the OGPS Submission Checklist for information about requesting an embargo using the ‘Request to Restrict Circulation of Thesis’ form. If you enter an embargo at the time of submission without first submitting the ‘Request to Restrict Circulation of Thesis’ form to OGPS, the embargo date will be removed from your submission.
   1. Adding an embargo lift date: You can temporarily restrict access to the file(s) attached to your item by setting an embargo lift date (i.e., the date on which the file(s) will become available for viewing and download) on a file. Note that the metadata about the item will remain searchable in the Atrium, but any attached embargoed file(s) will not be openly available until the embargo lift date has passed. To add an embargo lift date to a file:
      1. Click on the ‘Edit file’ button (which looks like a pencil resting on a piece of paper) for the attached file you wish to add an embargo to.
      2. In the ‘Edit file’ window, under the ‘Access condition type’, drop-down menu, select ‘embargo’. 
      3. Under ‘Grant access from’ either enter the date (year, month, and day) on which the file can be openly available for viewing and download or click on the ‘Calendar’ button and use the calendar functionality to select the year, month, and day of the embargo lift date.
      4. Click on the ‘Save’ button.
      5. A tag, ‘embargo until YYYY-MM-DD’, will be added to the file listing which indicates the last day the embargo will be applied to the file. Note that the date that appears here will be the day prior to the embargo lift date added to the file.
      6. Repeat steps I through V for each file attached to the item which requires an embargo. 
10. Creative Commons license: In the Atrium you may choose to reserve all rights, waive all rights, or apply a Creative Commons license. For information about copyright please consult the Intellectual Property Issues guide or the library’s Copyright page. You can also consult the Creative Commons License Chooser or book a Publishing and Author Support Request to learn more.
    1. If you wish to reserve all rights, in the ‘Select a license type’ drop-down menu, select 'No CC License’. You can then move to the next step in the submission form.
    2. If you wish to apply a license to your work, in the ‘Select a license type’ drop-down menu, select ‘Creative Commons’.
       1. By selecting ‘Creative Commons’, you automatically indicate that users must provide attribution (citation/credit) if they use your work. To set additional conditions on use, select a response to the two prompts: Allow commercial uses of your work? Allow modifications of your work? The jurisdiction of your license is set by default (and cannot be changed) to International.
       2. Once you have made your selections, the link to the license deed you selected will be displayed.
       3. Check the box beside “I grant the license above”.
    3. If you wish to waive all copyright to the extent possible under law, in the ‘Select a license type’ drop-down menu, select ‘CC0’ (I.e., Public Domain Dedication - No rights reserved). This also means is that you will no longer hold copyright, and therefore are unable to assign copyright or license rights to a publisher for any future publication of the work.
       1. Once you have made your selections, the link to the waiver deed you selected will be displayed.
       2. Check the box beside “I grant the license above”.
11. Distribution license. Your agreement to this non-exclusive license is required before your thesis/dissertation can appear in the Atrium and Theses Canada (Library and Archives Canada). By agreeing to this license, you grant the University of Guelph and Library and Archives Canada the non-exclusive right to make available, reproduce, translate, and distribute your submission worldwide in any format or medium. After reviewing the Digital Repositories Policy, check the box beside 'I have read and agreed to the full terms outlined in the Digital Repositories Policy’.
12. To complete your submission, click on the ‘Deposit’ button to submit your thesis/dissertation for review.

Your submitted thesis/dissertation will be reviewed by the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (OGPS). While your submission is under review, you will not be able to make changes or edits to it. During the review process, the status of your submission will be tagged with either “Waiting for controller” or “Validation” depending on its position in OGPS’ review queue. 

If any corrections to your submission are required, you will receive an email notification that your submission has been rejected with an explanation of required changes. You can update your submission and resubmit for review.

When your submission has been accepted into the Atrium, you will receive an email notification with a persistent URL (a handle) for your thesis/dissertation, that you can use to cite and share your work.

Automatic mapping of accepted theses and dissertations into departmental Theses & Dissertations collections occurs once a week, on Sunday’s at 3:00am. Depending on when your thesis/dissertation was accepted into the Atrium, please allow up to a week for it to be visible in your department or school’s collection.

The Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies manages the Theses & Dissertations collection in the Atrium. Questions about formatting requirements, submission of required forms, graduate fees, and the status of your submission should be directed to the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. 

If you have questions about the Atrium online submission form or require technical assistance, please make a Publishing and Author Support Request.