Restricting the master's thesis
Restriction of the master's thesis usually means blocking access to the thesis. The master's thesis must be restricted if it contains information that is subject to a duty of secrecy.
The agreement on restriction is signed at the institute or faculty where the master's thesis is submitted. The request for restriction should be filled in and submitted together with the thesis.
Requests for restriction
Restriction required by law
Master's theses that contain information that is subject to a statutory duty of secrecy shall be restricted. Theses that are restricted on this basis may not be accessed without special permission, and for this reason they may not be loaned out.
The rules about secrecy are set out in section 13 of the Norwegian Public Administration Act and apply to the following information:
- information about an individual’s personal affairs*,
- information about technical devices and procedures as well as operational or business matters which for competitive reasons it is important to keep secret in the interests of the person whom the information concerns,
- information subject to a duty of secrecy which the researcher obtains from an administrative agency, information received from private sources upon pledge of secrecy in connection with the research, and
- information concerning persons who are dependent upon the body (school, hospital, institution, enterprise, public authority etc.) which has arranged for their contact with the researcher.
* The duty of secrecy according to section 13 shall not prevent information from being used when no legitimate interest indicates that it should be kept secret, for example when it is generally known or generally accessible elsewhere (point 3 of section 13a).
Restriction for other reasons
The student has the right to dispose of his own work under the provisions of the copyright act § 2. The student may therefore decide that his or her master's thesis should not be published. For example, if the student wishes to continue to work with the material with a view towards a PhD, or other publication.
When submitting the thesis, the author may state that the thesis can be published after a certain number of years (up to five years), or that it should not be published.
Pursuant to section 27 of the Copyright Act, cf. section 2 and no. 6 of section 6 of the Freedom of Information Act, libraries can give researchers and students access to the thesis, but the person who loans the thesis cannot use or quote from the thesis in their own work without obtaining the author’s permission.
Safekeeping restricted theses
Restricted theses are kept in the University Library’s archives.
- Restriction due to a statutory duty of secrecy means that access to the thesis is not granted, and that the thesis is not loaned out.
- Restriction due to other reasons means that access to the thesis can be granted, but that it cannot be quoted without authorisation from the author.