Index to Theses

Index to Theses, which is published by Expert Information, is launching a new feature that identifies and links to the full text of theses available online.

The number of Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) remains limited to date. However, Index to Theses’ new service is in response to initiatives that are encouraging UK and Irish universities to build their own institutional repositories or to participate in projects such as EThOSnet to host the full text of theses online.

‘Via our own research and with help from universities, we have identified some 3,000 doctoral ETDs to date and this figure is growing at around 100 per month,’ said Peter Hyams, assistant managing editor. ‘We expect this rate to increase significantly in the medium term to represent an important percentage of the 1,500 theses we currently process each month. As digitisation of past theses starts to take place, we will also provide appropriate links. Our records will be regularly reviewed and updated throughout the subscription year, reflecting current ETD availability.’

Where an ETD is not yet available, the new Index to Theses feature will describe alternative routes for obtaining the full text of theses from that university, including specific reference to the British Library’s British Theses Service.