Doctoral thesis rejected after inclusion of Arabic script

A PhD candidate is hoping the University of Alberta in Canada changes its practice on publishing theses after hers was rejected for spelling her name in Arabic script, writes Stephen David Cook for CBC News.

Sarah Shakil, a doctoral candidate in biological sciences and ecology, successfully defended her thesis in January – the culmination of years of hard work and the final hurdle for getting her PhD. The next step was to deposit the thesis through an online system, after which it would be published and forwarded to various Canadian theses collections.

But the document previously reviewed by her supervisor and multiple examiners was rejected for including her name in Arabic script on the title page, with her name in Roman script in a smaller font just below.
Full report on the CBC site