Redacted text in a thesis

[Becky Thoms]

We recently received a thesis submission that is heavily redacted. The student and advisor do not want to go the embargo route because they don't ever want this information to be publicly available. Neither the library nor graduate studies has any documentation or policy about redaction. I have found a few examples of policy language and guidance about small amounts of redaction (for signatures or other personally identifying information) but nothing about substantial portions of the actual data or research of a paper. Has anyone else dealt with this and/or does anyone have any policy language they would be willing to share?

Thanks in advance!

Becky

Becky Thoms 

Head of Digital Initiatives

Utah State University Libraries

3000 Old Main Hill

Logan, UT 84322-3000

435.797.0816 (office)

[John O'Connor]

Hi Becky,

I've never dealt with such a request, but I can speak to my views on the issue.

A student and faculty member insisting that the university archive a redacted thesis would be a huge red flag for me. It is possibly indicative of fraud or that the work does not meet the minimum requirements of the university for approval. Or it could be indicative that the research was unethical or conducted in such a way as to violate other laws, norms, or standards in the field.

More importantly, a thesis is a legal document of sorts. It is proof that the student completed that requirement for being granted a degree. The university could, theoretically, be compelled by a court to produce the document as part of a legal proceeding (perhaps a subject alleges that the study was unethical in nature, or a high profile employer sues for alleged inflation of credentials later in this person's career, or the university becomes party to an accusation of widespread fraud related to "paper classes" that never met and the accrediting organization demands this along with many other theses to investigate a pattern, etc.). If the university can only produce a heavily redacted document, that would be problematic to say the least. Imagine a university that can only produce a transcript with a list of courses taken, but the grades are completely unavailable, or vice versa. This is a slightly far fetched example, but not outside the realm of possibility. Universities have been compelled by courts to produce items in their closed archives in the past.

If the student and faculty member can articulate a reasonable case for the content of the thesis never being available to the general public (for example, protection of potentially vulnerable persons or populations, research that is considered classified by the federal government, etc.), then a permanent embargo is certainly warranted. But I, personally, would strongly insist that an unredacted copy be submitted for archiving and would have no qualms taking that insistence to the dean or even the provost.

In a very innocuous reading of the circumstances, it might simply be that the student and faculty member don't trust the libraries to actually respect an embargo. Perhaps this is a good opportunity for education on the standards of conduct in archives with respect to privacy, compliance with donation agreements, access controls, etc.

Good luck!

John O'Connor

Scholarly Communications Librarian

O'Neill Library, Boston College
orcid.org/0000-0002-0150-2083

john.oc...@bc.edu

+1 617-552-1943

(he, him, his)

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[Gail McMillan]

At Virginia Tech we have a few ETDs that may be similar to your situation. They are not heavily redacted, but entirely and indefinitely embargoed. These ETDs are not submitted through the usual Graduate School online submission system, but are reviewed by a GS representative in a highly secured area. These ETDs do not come to the library as it is not our intention to host works that will never be publicly available. I know of about 4 of these in >20 years and these ETDs are controlled by ITAR: International Traffic in Arms Regulations.

I'm happy to answer any questions about these or put you in touch with the Graduate School representative.

Best, Gail

Gail McMillan

Director, Scholarly Communication

Professor, University Libraries

Virginia Tech
orcid.org/0000-0001-8817-3819

On Sat, May 30, 2020 at 12:20 PM Becky Thoms <becky...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Sally R. Evans]

I've never dealt with a redacted thesis or dissertation, but George Mason University does offer an option to make a work unaccessible for the embargo term.

The substantial majority of our embargoed documents fall under the campus-only umbrella, which means that the only way any user can see a document before its embargo lifts is to come to Fairfax, Virginia, go to the Special Collections Research Center in Fenwick Library, and request the document. They can then sit in the reading room and view that ETD, but they cannot print it, email it to anyone, or download it from the provided device. (University Libraries IT handles the hardware side; I only know about the requests themselves.)

In addition to applying a 2-year, 5-year, or 10-year embargo, a student has the option to petition to opt out of campus-only access. They have to submit their Embargo Request Form to the Associate Provost for Graduate Education, along with a letter of rationale explaining why their document should not be accessible for the duration of the embargo period. If the APGE denies the request, there is no option to appeal the decision.

Of the approximately 15 requests, only 1 has been granted. The standards for allowing a total embargo are rigorous. The author essentially has to provide credible evidence that physical, professional, academic, and/or financial harm will come to them and/or others before the APGE will approve this expanded embargo.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

Best,

Sally

Sally Evans

Coordinator

University Dissertation & Thesis Services

George Mason University

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[John Fudrow]

We have had to remove ETDs due to volatile information, which forced us to place it in our dark archive. We have redacted some images from the publicly available version by the request of a copyright holder that didn't want the content to be published. We allowed the student to submit two copies and placed the full version for University of Pittsburgh users only, while the other file was made available to the world and ProQuest for harvesting. Typically any portion of text that would require redaction should be omitted from the document before it was approved by their committee. We do allow for a patent disclosure period of one year in our dark archive, but the information must be made available after that period expires and the limited embargo that may accompany it. 

For any ETD that is placed in the dark archive, but was once available, it has a tombstone URL that directs them to speak with the Repository Administrator. In the notes field of the record we state the reason it was removed so that they can communicate this to any interested party.

Sincerely,

John Fudrow

Repository Librarian
University of Pittsburgh

On Sat, May 30, 2020 at 12:20 PM Becky Thoms <becky...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Larry Tague]

Hi Becky,

When you say redacted, I assume that you mean words/sections removed or made unreadable; not simply embargoed. We have never had such a request. However, we do have a couple of permanent embargos, but the university has private access to the completed documents. I agree with John, this does not sound right. 

Larry

Larry Tague

Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs

College of Graduate Health Sciences, University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Memphis, TN

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[Becky Thoms]

Thanks so much to all of your for the helpful feedback! The thesis in this particular case is from a student in Anthropology, and the redacted information was described as "culturally sensitive." We were able to get an unredacted copy from the student/advisor (that we're currently just "holding" until we can figure out what to do), and from I what I see the information primarily pertains to the location of archaeological sites with cultural significance. Our students can choose an embargo, and that's for five years. We don't have a policy or an option for either permanent embargo or campus-only access. It seems like the best route might be a process similar to what Gail and Sally describe--essentially the student would petition the Graduate School for a permanent embargo. 

I really appreciate everyone taking time to provide thoughtful responses!

Becky

Becky Thoms 

Head of Digital Initiatives

Utah State University Libraries

3000 Old Main Hill

Logan, UT 84322-3000

435.797.0816 (office)