According to the Degree Regulations and Hiroshima University Degree Regulations, individuals who have been awarded a doctoral degree are required to publish their doctoral dissertation on the internet via the Hiroshima University Institutional Repository (HiR) within one year after obtaining the degree.

However, if there are Unavoidable Circumstances that prevent the full text of the doctoral dissertation from being published, it is possible, with the university’s approval, to publish a summary of the dissertation instead. In such cases, once the Unavoidable Circumstances have been resolved, the full text of the doctoral dissertation must be published in HiR.

In addition, all doctoral dissertations are collected by the National Diet Library. Even dissertations that cannot be publicly disclosed will still be available for viewing and use within Hiroshima University and the National Diet Library.

• Submission Method
• Required Documents
• Unavoidable Circumstances
• FAQ

• Destination: Student Support Office of your graduate school
• Method: As specified by your graduate school
• Deadline: As specified by your graduate school

• Doctoral Dissertation Submission and Publication Confirmation (Application Form) (hereinafter referred to as “Confirmation Form”)
• Electronic file of the full text of the doctoral dissertation
  Please submit this even if there are unavoidable circumstances.
• Electronic file of the dissertation abstract (hereinafter referred to as “Abstract”)
• Electronic file of the dissertation summary (hereinafter referred to as “Summary”)
  Submit only if there are unavoidable circumstances.
• Other documents specified by the graduate school
  Submit only if required by your graduate school.

Please submit the electronic data in PDF format. For long-term preservation, ensure that the following requirements are met:

• Embed all fonts
• Do not apply encryption, password protection, or printing restrictions
• Comply with PDF/A (ISO 19005) standards
  Note: In Microsoft Office products, you can select the option to comply with PDF/A when saving as PDF.

The main reasons recognized as “Unavoidable Circumstances” are listed in the Confirmation Form. If you have other reasons, please consult the Student Support Office of your graduate school.

Please pay special attention to the following items, as omissions in these checks occur frequently.

• If the content of your doctoral dissertation has already been published in an academic journal or similar, please carefully review all related documents (such as submission guidelines and copyright transfer agreements). Depending on the terms of these agreements, publication is not acceptable. 
   
• If copyright has been transferred, confirm whether the following are permitted:
  ・Use of the submitted or published paper in your doctoral dissertation
  ・Registration of the doctoral dissertation (which includes the submitted or published paper) in the institutional repository
  
  This information may be stated on the publisher’s website or in the copyright transfer agreement. If unclear, please contact the editorial office.
  Additionally, obtain permission from the copyright holder (e.g., publisher) when necessary for inclusion in your dissertation or for its publication.
   
• Even if a publisher makes a paper freely available online, this does not necessarily mean it can be published in an institutional repository. Always check the contract and rights carefully.

• If your dissertation includes content from joint research, please confirm whether any confidentiality obligations apply.
   
• If your dissertation contains results from surveys or clinical studies, ensure that the personal information of participants is protected and that consent for publication has been obtained from the participants.
   

• Once your doctoral dissertation is published, it may be considered as a previously published work, which could make it impossible to submit or publish the same paper in an academic journal. Please check the submission guidelines of your intended journal and take appropriate measures.
   
• Patent applications should, in principle, be filed before applying for the degree. Filing a patent after the public hearing may involve restrictions or may not be allowed. Please consult with the relevant department in advance. Only consider “Unavoidable Circumstances” if withholding publication of your dissertation is necessary to avoid disadvantages to yourself.

If your case falls under Unavoidable Circumstances and you entered “not yet determined” in the “Assumed date of publication” field of the Confirmation Form, please resubmit the Confirmation Form to your graduate school promptly once the circumstances have been resolved.

• Format and Content of Submission
• About Copyright
• About Unavoidable Circumstances
• About Patents

Q１．Do “the paper submitted as a doctoral dissertation” and “the paper published in HiR” need to be identical?

Yes. They must be identical. 
The dissertation approved by the faculty council for conferral of the degree will be published as is. No modifications are allowed.

Q２．If the publisher’s version of a previously published paper was submitted as your doctoral dissertation, is it acceptable to publish the author’s accepted manuscript (AAM) as the full text in HiR?

No, you cannot. 
As stated in Q1, the dissertation submitted and the version published in HiR must be identical, so different versions are not permitted.
If the publisher does not allow the publisher’s version to be made publicly available in the institutional repository, please submit the “Summary” instead of the full text of the doctoral dissertation.

Q３．When should I submit the PDF file of the full text of my doctoral dissertation?

The timing of submission varies by graduate school, so please check with the Student Support Office of your graduate school.
As a general rule, we ask for your cooperation in submitting the full-text PDF to the university before the degree is conferred.

Q４．Although some academic societies impose copy or print restrictions on PDFs, does HiR publish dissertations in a reusable format?

Yes, it does.
Doctoral dissertations for which degrees were conferred in FY2013 (2013 academic year) or later are published in a reusable format.

Q５．What is the difference between “Abstract” and “Summary,” and what format is recommended for each?

• Abstract：Used for the examination process and may follow the format specified by each graduate school.
• Summary：Published as a substitute for the full text when there are Unavoidable Circumstances preventing full-text publication. Ideally, it should present the entire dissertation in a compact form with chapter structure, allowing readers to understand the overall content and flow. However, Hiroshima University does not require a strict format, as dissertation structures vary by discipline. Each graduate school should determine the appropriate format.

Q６．If the publisher’s policy does not allow institutional repository registration for a certain period (embargo), should I delay my degree application?

No. There is no need to delay your degree application. 
It is possible to set the publication of the full text of the doctoral dissertation to occur after the embargo period ends.
However, the procedure will differ depending on whether the Assumed date of publication exceeds one year from the date of degree conferral.

【If the Assumed date of publication exceeds one year from the degree conferral date】

• This falls under Unavoidable Circumstances.
• Enter the date in the Confirmation Form under Assumed date of publication: YYYY/MM/DD.
  The dissertation will be published automatically once the scheduled date arrives.
  
  If the exact publication date is unknown, check “not yet determined” in the “Assumed date of publication” field of the Confirmation Form and submit it. Once the date is determined, promptly resubmit the Confirmation Form to the Student Support Office.

【If the Assumed date of publication is within one year】

• This does not fall under Unavoidable Circumstances.
• For students in the Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences or the Graduate School of Biomedical & Health Sciences, please write the publication date in the margin of the “Items to be Verified Before Publication in the Hiroshima University Institutional Repository.”

Q７．Is it common that permission for online publication cannot be obtained? What should I do if permission is not granted?

Yes, this is quite common. 
If permission cannot be obtained, your case falls under Unavoidable Circumstances. Please complete the Confirmation Form and proceed with your degree application. You must also submit the “Summary” as a substitute for the full text.

Q１．If I use figures or tables from a paper submitted to a journal, do I need permission from the publisher?

If the use falls within the scope of “quotation,” permission is not required.
However, if the use exceeds quotation (e.g., full-page reproduction), permission is necessary. If you hold the copyright yourself, there is no issue, but if the rights have been transferred to an academic society or publisher, you must follow their policies.
Since rules vary by society and publisher, always confirm their guidelines.

Q２．If I created my doctoral dissertation using figures from previously published papers and, after submission, I find that permission for one figure cannot be obtained for institutional repository publication, does that mean the full text can never be published? Can I revise the dissertation by removing that figure?

No, you cannot revise the full text of the doctoral dissertation after submission.
However, you may submit a “Summary” that excludes the parts that cannot be published in HiR. If this is approved by your graduate school, you can make as much information public as possible. In such cases, we recommend adding a note such as:
“This summary excludes Figure XX from the original dissertation.”

Q３．If I confirmed on the publisher’s website that publication in an institutional repository is allowed, do I still need to request permission from the publisher?

No. If it is clearly stated on the publisher’s website, in the submission guidelines, or in the Copyright Transfer Agreement, you do not need to request permission.
However, if the policy states conditions such as “registration in an institutional repository is allowed only with prior inquiry,” this does not apply.

Q４．When publishing online, is it possible that permission requires a fee?

Yes, it is possible. 
In such cases, the library does not cover these costs. If you cannot pay the fee, your case falls under Unavoidable Circumstances, and you may publish the “Summary” instead of the full text of the doctoral dissertation.
However, the determination of Unavoidable Circumstances varies by graduate school, so if a fee is required, please consult your graduate school first.

Q５．I want to include a commonly used model diagram in my dissertation. If I cannot obtain permission for that diagram, can I redraw it and include it in my dissertation?

If the model is such that anyone would produce the same diagram, it may not qualify as a copyrighted work, and you may be able to include it without permission.
Even if it is considered a copyrighted work, under copyright law, if the diagram represents a widely used model in the field, redrawing it and including it in your dissertation is unlikely to cause issues.
However, to avoid any problems, the most reliable approach is to confirm with the copyright holder whether you may include a redrawn version.

Q１．If the Assumed date of publication is specified under “Unavoidable Circumstances”, do I need to resubmit the Confirmation Form once the circumstances are resolved?

No. Resubmission is not required. The dissertation will be published automatically once the scheduled date arrives.

Q２．If my case falls under “Unavoidable Circumstances” because I plan to submit or publish a paper, and I cannot predict how long peer review will take, what should I do if I cannot estimate the Assumed date of publication?

Please check “not yet determined” in the “Assumed date of publication” field and submit the Confirmation Form.
Once the publication date is determined, you must promptly resubmit the Confirmation Form to your graduate school.

Q３．Is it possible that parts scheduled for submission to a journal are completely omitted from the “Summary”?

Yes. Since the “Summary” should only include content that can be made public, it is acceptable to provide only chapter titles without any details of the content.

Q４．For sections scheduled for submission to a journal, should they also be omitted from the “Abstract” and the “Examination Summary”?

If including such content could compromise novelty, it is better not to include it in either the “Abstract” or the “Examination Summary.”
However, please note that the “Abstract” is used for the examination process, so ensure that it contains sufficient information as an abstract while balancing the need to maintain novelty.

Q５．When the “Summary” is published, there may be copyright concerns if it is too similar to the original dissertation. Is there a standard for the content or length of the summary?

The content and length of the summary are determined by each graduate school. However, we recommend providing detailed descriptions for sections that do not pose copyright issues.
As for how much detail can be included without causing problems, this depends on disciplinary practices, so please consult with your academic advisor.

Q６．If permission for online publication cannot be obtained from the copyright holder and the “Summary” is published instead, does that mean the full text of the doctoral dissertation can never be published?

The full text cannot be published until permission is obtained or the copyright protection period has expired.

Q１．Regarding patents, when a dissertation is published in HiR, what date is considered the date of public disclosure? Is it correct to assume that the public hearing date is the disclosure date?

If your doctoral dissertation is based on a paper presented at a conference or submitted to a journal, the date of publication in the journal or presentation at the conference will be considered the disclosure date. Therefore, you must file any patent applications before submission or presentation.
If your dissertation includes new content not previously disclosed, the public hearing date will be considered the disclosure date. In this case, all patent applications must be completed before the public hearing.
We recommend consulting with your academic advisor or the Intellectual Property Division of the Hiroshima University’s Vision of Industry-Government-Academia Collaboration and filing your applications as early as possible.

Q２．It takes about a year from obtaining a patent to its publication. If the doctoral dissertation is published during that time, should this be treated as “Unavoidable Circumstances”?

Patent applications take about 18 months from filing to publication. Since “novelty” in patents is judged based on the patent filing date, the full text of the doctoral dissertation can be published in HiR after the patent application has been filed, even before the patent is published.
However, if publishing the dissertation before the patent publication would cause disadvantages, you may treat this as Unavoidable Circumstances (H).

Q３．If a case falls under Unavoidable Circumstances and the full text file is made available for on-demand viewing, does this constitute “publication” under copyright law or “public disclosure” under patent law?

We consider that making the dissertation available for on-site viewing upon request does not constitute “publication” under copyright law.
In patent practice, the date of public disclosure is typically the date of the conference presentation, journal publication, or the date of the doctoral dissertation public hearing. Therefore, please ensure that you file your patent application before any such disclosure takes place.

Q４．HiR does not display the publication date. If Unavoidable Circumstances are resolved and the full text is published later, will the publication date of the full text be backdated to the degree conferral date or the date the “Summary” was published? Would that cause copyright or patent issues?

No, there will be no copyright or patent issues.
HiR stores the publication date as data, and the publication date of the full text will not be backdated. Please rest assured.