Overview
This guide provides essential information for submitting a thesis to ECU's institutional repository, Research Online. It outlines the steps for finding and submitting the online thesis submission form, searching for ECU theses and those from other universities, placing an embargo on a thesis, understanding copyright information, and publishing your dataset.
- ECU Library collects First Class Honours, Masters by Research, PhD and Professional Doctorate theses
- A full electronic version is saved in the University's records management system for archival purposes
- An electronic copy is added to Research Online, to provide worldwide open access to the thesis
ECU encourages researchers to make their publications openly accessible for the benefit of the wider community and to increase the potential for future research collaborations.
💡 Essential Information
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To submit your thesis, you must complete the online thesis submission form. This form is essential for uploading the electronic copy to ECU’s institutional repository. After submission, the form also allows you to set the access level and choose an embargo period for your thesis. The online thesis submission form can be found here |
🔍 Document AccessibilityWhen preparing documents, it's important to ensure they are digitally accessible to all readers. Check that your file includes readable text, appropriate heading structures, alt-text for images, and clear, legible fonts. These steps support inclusive and equitable access to your work. More information on making your documents accessible can be found here |
Responsible Use of Generative AI in Research
It is important for both supervisors and Higher Degree by Research (HDR) candidates to have a shared understanding of the transparent use of GenAI in their research. Clear acknowledgement of any AI-generated contributions is essential for upholding research integrity, as outlined in the ECU Thesis Preparation Guidelines.Be Transparent. Acknowledge when and how AI tools are used in your research to ensure clarity and accountability. Maintain Academic Integrity. Use AI ethically, ensuring your work reflects your own scholarly contribution and meets academic standards. Apply Critical Thinking. Assess AI-generated content carefully — you must verify its accuracy, relevance, and credibility, and remain accountable for the final work. Follow ECU Guidelines. Adhere to ECU’s guidelines for responsible AI use to support consistent and ethical research practices. More support on Generative AI as tool for research can be found here |
Benefits to Publishing Your Thesis
Research Online is indexed by search tools such as Google, Google Scholar, and the Digital Commons Network. By prioritising search engine optimisation, the repository ensures that research outputs are highly visible and easily discoverable, thereby increasing their potential for citation and academic impact.
While citation metrics reflect how the academic community engages with research outputs, alternative metrics—such as Altmetric and PlumX—capture the broader public impact. These tools track online mentions across sources like news outlets, social media, and library holdings, offering a more immediate measure of influence compared to citation data, which can take time to accumulate. When sharing your research on social media, including the thesis DOI helps ensure that alternative metrics are accurately recorded.
Research Online offers authors an Author Dashboard, a personalised reporting tool for works published in Digital Commons. This tool provides easy access to up-to-date download information for both individual outputs and entire bodies of work. It also offers global insights into readership sources. Authors can explore recent data, all-time statistics, or custom date ranges, and can share data with others or export statistics for external applications.
Repositories provide a secure and reliable archival record of research outputs. At ECU, strict backup and preservation protocols are followed to ensure the long-term integrity and accessibility of these records.
Requests for copies of your research outputs can be directed to the repository, saving you time and effort.
📍 Author Dashboard
To access the author dashboard:
- Visit http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ and click My Account to register or sign in
- Once signed in, navigate to Dashboard tools to view the readership on a world map and the table of hits and download statistics of your open access outputs
- Select the date range of the statistics you wish to view (see top right hand corner)
If you have provided Research Online with open access versions of your outputs but they don't appear on your dashboard, please contact researchonline@ecu.edu.au
