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File Your Electronic Thesis or Dissertation (ETD)
Before you File
Accessibility requirements
As of April 2026, all electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) must conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA web accessibility requirements prior to submission in order to comply with nondiscrimination provisions outlined in Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. These requirements ensure that your ETDs are accessible to individuals with disabilities, including visual disabilities.
PDFs should contain code or markup language that ensure that the content is navigable and readable by screen readers or other assistive technology. You can confirm that your PDF meets these requirements by using an Accessibility Checker such as those included in Adobe Acrobat Pro or in Microsoft Word.
As part of the filing application, students will be required to certify that their manuscript PDF meets accessibility requirements.
Key accessibility components
The following are the key components of accessible PDFs.
Important note: It is easier to apply these components to your manuscript in your authoring tool (e.g. Microsoft Word) before you convert the document to PDF. While it is possible to remediate PDFs for accessibility, this is usually a more cumbersome process.
- PDF tags: Ensure that a PDF document can be read and navigated by assistive technology. Tags include Headings, Lists, Links, Tables, Paragraphs, and other document elements.
- Tables: PDF must have table headers for columns and rows.
- Reading order: Ensure that tags and headings are ordered to support the logical reading order.
- Alternative text (“Alt-Text”): Ensures that all images, figures, or other visual elements are described. Refer to the Section 508 guide to authoring meaningful alternative text for best practices.
- Colors: Choose colors with sufficient contrast, and do not rely on color alone to convey information. Use a contrast checker like this one from Web AIM.
- Metadata (file properties): Add document description such as author, title, and language.
Making Accessible ETDs
- Use our accessible templates for Microsoft Word (on UCLA Box)
- You may create an accessible Word document without using the template by following Microsoft’s step‑by‑step accessibility guidance.
- Convert your final MS Word document to PDF using “Save As” and then choose “PDF” to preserve all accessibility settings.
- Use the LaTeX Tagging Project to generate a properly tagged, accessible PDF from LaTeX.
- Review Overleaf’s overview of tagged PDFs to understand accessibility challenges specific to LaTeX and TeX engines.
- Review our Creating Accessible PDFs guide (on UCLA Box) to ensure your manuscript is accessible.
- Use our Accessibility Checklist (on UCLA Box) to ensure your manuscript and supplementary files are accessible.
Additional accessibility resources
- PDF Accessibility (Web Accessibility in Mind)
- Create accessible digital products (US General Services Administration: Section 508)
- Download Adobe Acrobat Pro (Adobe Pro Creative Cloud) from UCLA Digital and Technology Solutions for free, which also allows you to add accessibility components to PDFs.
- Review helpful resources recommended by the UCLA Disabilities and Computing Program.
UCLA Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Manual
Review the formatting requirements for filing theses and dissertations and University policy regarding graduate thesis and dissertation public dissemination in the UCLA Thesis and Dissertation Manual.
Filing Deadlines
Applies to registered students and students on filing fee. Deadline to submit the manuscript via ProQuest and receive committee member approval:
- Fall 2025:
- Winter 2026:
- Spring 2026:
- Summer 2026:
Last day for doctoral students to complete degree requirements* for participation in the Spring 2026 Doctoral Hooding Ceremony and inclusion in the hooding booklet:
- Deadline:
*Complete degree requirements includes:
- Completion of the online ETD Filing Application (button above)
- All committee members have reported approval of the manuscript and the passing of the final oral examination (if applicable) to the Division of Graduate Education via go.grad.ucla.edu (staff and faculty access only)
- Submission of a final PDF via ProQuest including requested changes from the Division of Graduate Education
- Receipt of the Division of Graduate Education confirmation email of the official completion of filing requirements.
The degree award date is the last day of the term in which degree requirements are completed and is the same as the deadline to submit manuscripts and to complete graduate degree requirements for the term.
Deadlines for previous academic terms are available in the Registrar’s Office online calendar archive.
Ready to File?
To begin the ETD filing process OR check the approval status of your ETD:
During the filing process, you may choose your publishing agreement and register your copyright. You may order hard copies of your manuscript through the UC Bindery.
Preparing to file your ETD
- Ensure you are registered and enrolled for the term, or applied for Filing Fee
- Review Graduation Requirements
- Verify and update your Lived and Legal Name for publication on your Thesis or Dissertation
Thesis and Dissertation Committees
- Thesis Committee Regulations
- Minimum Standards for Doctoral Committee Constitution
- Change Committee Members
Additional ETD Resources
- ETD Workshop Presentation Slides
- Video: Formatting Tutorial
- UCLA Library Scholarly Communication Services (Copyright Assistance)
ETD and Filing FAQs
- Review the ETD and Filing FAQ Knowledge Base article