Unpublished thesis data

Identifies pre-publication thesis manuscripts, drafts and thesis datasets - unpublished theses, thesis data/manuscripts/drafts/chapters, dissertation drafts and embargoed thesis research - when the phrase sits with populated candidate/thesis fields and draft or dataset fields.

Type: regex
Engine: boost_regex
Confidence: medium
Confidence justification: Medium: enforce tiers need a populated candidate or thesis field; 85 also needs a draft/dataset field and confidentiality evidence. Graduate-school guidance, repository pages and press releases stay at 65.
Detection quality: Topic false positive
Jurisdictions: global
Regulations: Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), GDPR, Patents Act 1990 (Cth)
Frameworks: ISO 27001, ISO 27701
Data categories: pii
Scope: wide
Risk rating: 8
Platform compatibility: Purview: Compatible, GCP DLP: Compatible, Macie: Compatible, Zscaler: Compatible, Palo Alto: Degraded, Netskope: Unsupported

Pattern

(?i)\b(?:unpublished\s+(?:thesis|manuscript)|thesis\s+(?:data(?:set)?|manuscript|draft|chapter|examination)|dissertation\s+(?:draft|data|manuscript)|(?:masters|master's|doctoral|PhD)\s+thesis|embargoed\s+(?:thesis|research))\b

Corroborative evidence keywords

not for circulation, confidential draft, examiner report, patent pending, restricted access, raw data

Proximity: 300 characters

Should match

PhD thesis - confidential draft, not for circulation Candidate: Avery Teston Student ID: 40912876 Principal supervisor: Prof. Jordan Staffson Chapter: 4 - Field trial results Dataset: trial-cohort-v7 (raw data) Embargo until: 01/02/2027 (patent pending) — Populated thesis draft with candidate, draft/dataset fields and confidentiality evidence (85)
Thesis manuscript lodged for examination Candidate ID: DC-118 Thesis title: Groundwater Recharge in Fractured Basalt — Thesis lodgement with labelled candidate/thesis fields only (75)
Masters thesis - examination record Candidate number: MR-22814 Thesis title: Coastal Sediment Transport Modelling Examiners: Dr K. Vasquez and Prof L. Okafor Submission status: Under examination Repository hold: Restricted access for 24 months (commercial-in-confidence industry partner). — Masters thesis examination record with candidate number, examiners, repository hold and restricted-access evidence (85)

Should not match

unrelated generic text without domain phrases — No relevant topic phrases present
placeholder value 12345 — Random text should not match topic-specific regex
student grant — Generic word pair from old broad template should not match
The finance dashboard reports preliminary quarterly revenue for three regions. — Operational financial results contain no thesis-topic phrase
Policy guidance: this procedure explains how unpublished thesis manuscripts and thesis data are collected, stored and shared, who may access them and how long they are kept. Staff should read the privacy section before completing any form. It contains no details about any individual. — Policy/guidance text naming the topic without any populated record (65 discovery at most)
Thesis submission form Candidate name: ____________________ Student ID: ____________________ Thesis title: ____________________ Embargo until: ____________________ Signature: ____________ Date: __/__/____ — Blank form with unpopulated labelled fields (placeholder guard keeps it below 75)
A university press release summarizes preliminary results from a completed public opinion poll. — Press release with university-adjacent vocabulary and no thesis record (no enforce tier)
News: the graduate school will require every doctoral thesis to be deposited in the repository, with an embargoed thesis released after two years. — News/training prose about the topic without a populated record (65 discovery at most)

Known false positives

Common words and phrases related to unpublished thesis data appearing in policy documents, training materials, HR templates, or compliance guidelines without actual personal data. Mitigation: Require corroborative evidence keywords within the proximity window to confirm sensitive data context rather than general discussion.
In English (as the primary international business language), similar terminology used in formal or administrative contexts (education, professional documentation) that does not constitute sensitive data collection. Mitigation: Layer with additional contextual signals such as structured identifiers, form fields, or database column headers to distinguish sensitive records from general references.
High-frequency pattern matches in large document corpora due to broad regex anchors. Expected match rate is significantly higher than specific identifier patterns. Mitigation: Tune confidence thresholds for bulk scanning. Consider using this pattern primarily as a pre-filter with secondary validation.