EThOS
From the end of January 2009, access to UK doctoral theses in electronic form was made available to all customers/researchers worldwide through EThOS.
This Web-based service will replace the British Library’s process of supplying microfilm copies of theses on inter-library loan.
The aim of EThOS is:
- To offer a 'single point of access' where researchers the world over can access ALL theses produced by UK Higher Education
- To support Higher Education Institutions through the transition from print to e-theses
- To help UK Higher Education Institutions expand available content by digitising paper theses
- To demonstrate the quality of UK research and help attract students and research investment into UK HE
Many UK institutions support Open Access to their theses, so download of their digital and digitised theses is free to the researcher. A small number of participating institutions may not be able to offer Open Access and in this case the researcher may have to pay for the digitisation.
Researchers are defined as individuals (or institutions) who use EThOS to access the e-theses. Researchers do not need to be registered with the system to access the EThOS central hub database. However, they do need to have registered to be able to order theses. Registration is ‘light’ i.e. the minimum information is requested to allow the researcher to use the system with maximum efficiency.