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FAQ: Delivering ETDs in ETD Administrator

After an ETD is approved in ETD Administrator, you have one more step to do: Deliver that ETD to load it into the ProQuest database and the RUcore repository.

All Rutgers ETD Administrator sites are configured to have student data and PDFs sent simultaneously to ProQuest Publishing and to Rutgers when you deliver ETDs. After an ETD is approved, it will have a status of “Ready for Delivery”. Once delivered, the status of the ETD changes to “Delivered to ProQuest”. The status may say “Delivery in Progress” for a short period of time as the file is being transmitted.

It can take between one and four months to complete the publishing process and have the ETD become available in the ProQuest database and the Rutgers repository. In the event that a delivered dissertation or thesis needs revision after it has been delivered, including changes or extensions to an embargo, the reviewer or the author should notify ETD Support at Rutgers (etd_support@libraries.rutgers.edu) and contact the ProQuest Author and School Relations group (disspub@proquest.com, 800-521-0600).

There are two ways to do a delivery, and each has its pros and cons.You can use whichever method you want or use each method at different times.

Delivering by batch

Batch delivery can be done on a particular date or in a particular month (for example, early in the month after the graduation for which a group of ETDs have been approved).It allows you to do an activity once for many ETDs rather multiple times for individual ETDs. It also enables Rutgers repository staff to better anticipate workload and schedule cataloging and ingest tasks throughout the year.

To deliver by batch:

  1. From the Manage Dissertations & Theses tab, click the Deliver ETD Batch tab.
  2. All graduate works that are ready to be delivered appear in a list.You can sort the list by clicking on any column heading.
    Hint: Sort the list by Degree Date so all ETDs for each degree date are grouped together. Do this by clicking on the Degree Date column heading, which sorts the list ascending. Then click on the caret (up-arrowhead) next to the Degree Date column heading to sort the list descending (latest degree date at the top of the list).
  3. Click the checkbox next to “Select all” to select all ETDs in the list or select multiple individual ETDs (e.g., all for a specific degree date) by checking the boxes at the beginning of the lines on those ETDs.All selected ETDs will be delivered at once.
  4. Click the Deliver button and they will be transmitted to ProQuest and Rutgers.
  5. See the section below on “Checking for errors”.

Delivering individual ETDs

Individual delivery of an ETD can be done any time after it is accepted rather than grouping ETDs in a batch.They don’t have to be held for a batch delivery.Also, individual delivery can be done for accepted ETDs that are submitted after a batch delivery.

To deliver individually:

  1. From the Manage Dissertations & Theses tab, click the title of the ETD you want to deliver (status must be Ready for Delivery).
  2. On the next screen, you will see the link Deliver to ProQuest in the left sidebar. Click that link.
  3. On the resulting page, click the confirmation Deliver button and the ETD will be transmitted to ProQuest and Rutgers.
  4. See the section below on “Checking for errors”.

Checking for errors

Sometimes when you deliver, there may be an error which prevents the completion of the delivery.  One frequent reason for this is if the student selected Other for either the ProQuest or Rutgers IR embargo instead of entering a valid term (6 months, 1 year, 2 years), and it wasn’t changed when the ETD was reviewed.

To check if an error occurred which prevented delivery of one or more ETDs:

  1. From the Manage Dissertations & Theses tab, click the Deliver ETD Batch tab.
  2. If an ETD is still in the list but should have been delivered, check the box at the beginning of that line and click the Deliver button.
  3. Scroll up to see if there is a pink text box that says an error occurred.If so, click on the link to display the error(s).
  4. The error will include the ID # of the ETD, which is a link to the details that the student entered for that ETD.Click on that link.
  5. Using the information in the error message and the ETD details, correct the error.For instance, if the error says there is a problem with the embargo and the ETD details include the value of “Other” for the embargo under ProQuest Publishing Setting & Copyright, you’ll have to set a valid value for that embargo.To determine what the setting should be, find the embargo setting under Institutional Repository (IR) Publishing Options in the ETD Details.Then on the left of the screen, under Revisions/Changes, click on “Revise PQ publishing options”.On the next screen, select the same embargo setting as you saw on the ETD details for the IR Publishing Options.Click on Save Changes.
  6. Go to the Deliver ETD Batch tab.
  7. Find the ETD you just changed, check the box at the beginning of that line and click the Deliver button.
  8. Check to make sure there are no errors displayed at the top of the screen.

Viewing Delivered ETDs

To view ETDs that have been delivered:

  1. From the Manage Dissertations & Theses tab, click the View ETD List tab.
  2. Choose “Delivered to ProQuest” from the Status dropdown.
  3. Click the Search Button.