diff --git a/webapp/web/templates/edit/specific/ontology_retry.jsp b/webapp/web/templates/edit/specific/ontology_retry.jsp
index c45ae9ecc..b105d101c 100644
--- a/webapp/web/templates/edit/specific/ontology_retry.jsp
+++ b/webapp/web/templates/edit/specific/ontology_retry.jsp
@@ -1,17 +1,17 @@
 <%-- $This file is distributed under the terms of the license in /doc/license.txt$ --%>
 
 <%@ taglib prefix="form" uri="http://vitro.mannlib.cornell.edu/edit/tags" %>
-<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jstl/core" %>
-
-	<tr class="editformcell">
-		<td valign="bottom" colspan="3">
-			<b>Ontology name</b><br/>
-				<input type="text" name="Name" value="<form:value name="Name"/>" size="40" maxlength="120" />
-		</td>
-	</tr>
-	<tr class="editformcell">
+<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jstl/core" %>
+
+	<tr class="editformcell">
 		<td valign="bottom" colspan="3">
-            <b>Namespace URI*</b><br/>
+			<b>Ontology name</b><br/>
+				<input type="text" name="Name" value="<form:value name="Name"/>" size="40" maxlength="120" />
+		</td>
+	</tr>
+	<tr class="editformcell">
+		<td valign="bottom" colspan="3">
+            <b>Namespace URI*</b>&nbsp;<span class="note"> (must begin with http:// or https://)</span><br/>
              <c:choose>
                <c:when test="${_action eq 'update'}">
                     <i>Change via the "change URI" button on previous screen</i><br/>
@@ -24,9 +24,9 @@
               <c:set var="URIError"><form:error name="URI"/></c:set>
               <c:if test="${!empty URIError}">
                   <span class="notice"><c:out value="${URIError}"/></span>
-              </c:if>
-		</td>
-	</tr>
+              </c:if>
+		</td>
+	</tr>
 	<tr class="editformcell">
 		<td valign="bottom" colspan="3">
 			<b>Namespace prefix</b><br/>
@@ -37,4 +37,16 @@
             </c:if>
 		</td>
 	</tr>
-
+<script  type="text/javascript">
+    $('form#editForm').submit(function() {
+        var str = $('input[name=URI]').val();
+        if ( str.indexOf('http://') >= 0 || str.indexOf('https://') >= 0 ) {
+            return true;
+        }
+        else {
+            alert('The Namespace URI must begin with either http:// \n\n or https://');
+            $('input[name=URI]').focus();
+            return false;
+        }
+    });
+</script>
diff --git a/webapp/web/templates/edit/specific/renameResource_retry.jsp b/webapp/web/templates/edit/specific/renameResource_retry.jsp
index 6614a7efc..8512ebdd4 100644
--- a/webapp/web/templates/edit/specific/renameResource_retry.jsp
+++ b/webapp/web/templates/edit/specific/renameResource_retry.jsp
@@ -9,9 +9,24 @@
 </tr>
 
 <tr class="editformcell">
-<td>
-<b>New URI</b><br/><span class="warning"><strong>${epo.attributeMap['errorMsg']}</strong></span>
-<input type="text" size="95%" name="newURI" value='<%=request.getParameter("oldURI")%>'/>
-</td>
+    <td>
+        <br/>
+        <b>New URI</b>&nbsp;<span class="note"> (must begin with http:// or htts://)</span>
+        <br/>
+        <span class="warning"><strong>${epo.attributeMap['errorMsg']}</strong></span>
+        <input type="text" size="95%" name="newURI" value='<%=request.getParameter("oldURI")%>'/>
+    </td>
 </tr>
-
+<script  type="text/javascript">
+    $('form#editForm').submit(function() {
+        var str = $('input[name=newURI]').val();
+        if ( str.indexOf('http://') >= 0 || str.indexOf('https://') >= 0 ) {
+            return true;
+        }
+        else {
+            alert('The New URI must begin with either http:// \n\n or https://');
+            $('input[name=newURI]').focus();
+            return false;
+        }
+    });
+</script>