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Submit your eThesis

You must upload your final successful PhD thesis to White Rose eTheses Online (WREO).

Submitting an eThesis is a great way to raise your research profile, increase the impact of your work, preserve your work for the future and fulfil any funder open access requirements.

You should only upload your eThesis after your internal examiner has approved any editorial and presentational corrections or minor deficiencies identified at your examination.

You must also discuss the retention of thesis arrangements with your supervisor(s) so that, if necessary, an embargo period can be agreed. You must ensure you are uploading the correct version that has been approved by your internal examiner.

Please note that any changes after deposit are only agreed in exceptional circumstances and need to be requested by emailing the PGR and Operations team via rp_examinations@adm.leeds.ac.uk.

How to upload your thesis

Follow our step-by-step guide to uploading your thesis below.

You can also find further advice and guidance on the Student Education Service eThesis page.

Step 1: Create an account on WREO

  1. Go to White Rose eTheses Online (WREO).
  2. Select “Create Account” from the Deposit box.
  3. Enter your name. This must be your full legal name as held in the University's registration records, including forename and all middle names.
  4. Select your institution.
  5. Enter your student ID number.
  6. Use a long-term personal email address. You may need to be contacted about your eThesis after your student email address has expired. Choose a memorable username and password.
  7. Enter the words displayed when prompted.
  8. Click “register”.
  9. Activate your account from the confirmation email.
  10. Enter your username and password.

Step 2: Add the details of your thesis

  1. Select “Your thesis”.
  2. Click on “Create thesis (start here)”.
  3. Follow the steps on each screen, completing all the required fields (those with the asterisk symbol).
  4. Ensure that you add a long-term personal email address.
  5. Ensure that you add the names of your supervisor(s) and their email address(es). This is important so that your supervisors receive a copy of the email notification confirming the upload of the eThesis and the embargo information selected.
  6. Check that the abstract displays as intended. Some fonts, scientific symbols and complicated formatting may display incorrectly.
  7. There are two abstract fields: public and restricted. The public abstract will be made available as soon as the thesis is live. A restricted abstract can be used if you are applying an embargo to your thesis and this will not be made available until after the embargo has expired. You do not have to add a restricted abstract if it is not necessary. If you are unsure, consult with your supervisor(s).

Step 3: Upload the file

You must upload the final, examined and corrected version of your thesis as a single PDF file wherever possible. In the interests of long-term preservation it is recommended that you also upload your thesis in its original source format (i.e. Word or LaTex) but only the PDF file will be made available.

In all cases, one complete eThesis file is required. However, in some cases it may also be necessary to provide a redacted version of your eThesis. See advice on when a redacted eThesis might be required and the process to be followed.

If you are a practice-led researcher your eThesis will comprise both the written commentary and the related practice material. You must upload both the written commentary (as a single PDF file) and all the practice material in appropriate electronic files (e.g. jpeg, mp3) to WREO. See further information on the protocol for practice-led research degrees. 

You should give your eThesis a standard filename that follows the format: Surname_INITIALS_School_Degree_year of submission. For example: Smith_ABC_Chemistry_PhD_2015.PDF

To upload a file:

  1. Browse to the file on your computer and upload it. 
  2. Select the correct document type.
  3. Select the correct content type, i.e ‘Final eThesis –complete’ or ‘Final eThesis – redacted’. If uploading material that is labelled ‘Supplementary’ please ensure the material has not previously been uploaded to GRAD as examined content. 
  4. Choose the agreed Creative Commons licence type. If you are unsure, please consult with your supervisor.
  5. Add multiple files if required.

Step 4: Add your embargo period (if applicable)

You are expected to make your eThesis open access immediately in WREO unless there are exceptional circumstances. For example, you may need to apply a temporary embargo if you are planning to publish part of your thesis or if there are issues of confidentiality. Any embargo should be discussed with your supervisor. See information embargos and restricting access to your thesis.

To add an embargo period:

  1. Choose the appropriate embargo period from the drop-down menu.
  2. Specify the reason for the embargo.

Step 5: Deposit item

  1. Add or amend any of the details if prompted.
  2. Check that you are happy with the thesis preview.
  3. Click “Deposit now” or you can choose to save for later.

Next steps

Once the upload process is complete you will receive confirmation via email. A confirmation email will also be sent to your supervisor(s) and to PGR and Operations staff.

If you need to make any changes to your deposit, do not create a new thesis record as this will create a duplicate record. Any changes to your examined thesis need to be approved. 

Please email the PGR and Operations team via rp_examinations@adm.leeds.ac.uk for advice. 

There will be a delay between the thesis being deposited and it going live. Final checks must take place and the pass list on which the thesis appears must be authorised before the eThesis will appear in WREO.