E-thesis repositories in the world (PDF)

Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2014 in the subject Library Science, Information- / Documentation Science, grade: 10.0, Savitribai Phule Pune University, formerly University of Pune, language: English, abstract: The present research work deals with the Electronic Thesis Repositories which are a major form of grey literature of any organization. There are various benefits of ETDs like they help in increasing the citation count of the author and the institution, minimum time required for dissemination of scholarly information, various file formats can be incorporated in the electronic form which is not possible in the print theses and dissertations and they provide a solution of long term preservation of theses and dissertations. In spite of the benefits of ETDs, authors hesitate in depositing their research work in electronic format mainly due to fear of plagiarism.

There are various concepts in the whole process of setting up of an ETD Program. The present research work aims to study the various concepts of ETDs by analyzing the E-thesis Repositories in the world and collecting data from the Repository administrators through Web Questionnaire. The fourteen research objectives are divided into nine sections of Background Information of E-thesis Repository; Repository Materials; Hardware & Software;Ways of Providing Access to ETDs; Budget & Human Resource; Metadata & Interoperability Standards; Preservation Policies; Copyright Issues;Language Compatibility, Linkages with various National and International ETD Projects & Currency of Information.

The Review of Literature was conducted exhaustively using various keywords belonging to the area of research from print and non-print sources of information. The major trend observed in the international literature emphasized on importance of ETDs in academic libraries, world wide open access initiatives, overview of country specific ETD Projects, copyright and preservation issues related to ETDs, selection of software and Policy Guidelines framed by international organizations. Trend observed in ETD literature published in India highlight on contribution of UGC, NKC and INFLIBNET towards Open Access and ETDs, selection of software, copyright and IPR issues, developments in open access initiative in India and development of ETD projects in various institutions across India.