Is it good practice to share pre-print of PhD thesis?

Question

I know it's common practice for researchers to share the pre-prints of their papers on online repositories such as ArXiv , SocArXiv, SSRN, OSF. This practice helps speed up the process of receiving feedback from more people and it helps drawing more attention to the study.

Now, I've just submitted my PhD thesis to university/examiners and the whole process will take a while until I get my PhD defence (viva), eventual corrections etc until the university puts my thesis available online. My question is: is it Ok to share the submitted thesis manuscript as a pre-print online before having the PhD defence?

edit: I've recently been informed that The Center for Open Science (the same group behind SocArXiv and OSF) also has a preprint repository devoted to theses called Thesis Commons.

Answer 1

I think that question can only be answered by your University and your advisor. It is conceivable that they have some rule prohibiting it. I think that is unlikely, but you should learn first. Even if it is not forbidden, your advisor can give you feedback on whether it is advisable in your case.

If you were submitting to a formal publication, on the other hand, their rules might also be important to consider.