Index to Theses

Theses database, Index to Theses, now provides links to more than 50,000 full text theses. These are available online for free downloads from university repositories as well as the British Library EThOS website.

'When we started monitoring theses available for full text downloads in 2008, there were only 3,000 for us to link to, whereas we shall pass the 50,000 mark this month,' said managing editor, Monty Hyams. 'Around 70 per cent of these online theses are linked via the EThoS service, a further 15 per cent via a choice of EThOS or the university repositories covered by EThOS, and the rest via university sources we harvest in addition.'

Hyams asserts that come the end of the year, at least 50 per cent more theses could be available online due to ongoing backlog conversion as well as many now being 'born digital'. 'Meanwhile for those items not online, there is probably an Index to Theses abstract,' he adds.