UNB News
News and stories from one of Canada’s top universities

There have been reports recently that the University of New Brunswick (UNB) was intentionally not releasing an embargoed PhD thesis. We would like to clearly and unequivocally state that this is not the case. We are committed to academic rigor and integrity and upholding the standards of research excellence deeply rooted in our institution for more than 200 years.

At UNB, any graduate student can request an embargo on their thesis with a detailed justification, support of the supervisor and approval of the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies. The standard length of an embargo is up to four years. When an embargo is in place, requests for access are denied.

Recently it was brought to our attention that the embargo on a PhD thesis had extended past the maximum time. Upon inspection, it was identified that a request for an extension on the embargo was mistakenly processed due to a clerical error.

The student was notified upon uncovering this error in August 2022, and the embargo was lifted.

We acknowledge that the extended embargo was contrary to the practice and academic principle of scholarly activity and did not adhere to UNB regulations and guidelines for preparing and submitting graduate student thesis, dissertations and reports.

Again, we are dedicated to the highest academic rigor and integrity standards. For that reason, once this error came to light, we took the immediate and appropriate steps and lifted the embargo. This case has prompted us to review the internal processes and procedures that led to this clerical error.

We reaffirm our commitment to our students and the UNB community to continue striving for nothing less than academic excellence in all that we do.