The enhanced full-text linking service from Index to Theses (www.theses.com) from this month provides links to 50,000 full text theses available online for free downloads from university repositories as well as the EThOS site.
The enhanced full-text linking service from Index to Theses (www.theses.com) from this month provides links to 50,000 full text theses available online for free downloads from university repositories as well as the EThOS site.
Managing Editor, Monty Hyams, comments,
"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. Around 70% of these online theses are linked via the EThoS service, a further 15% via a choice of EThOS or the university repositories covered by EThOS, and the rest via university sources we harvest in addition. Users can link from our database entry, which normally includes an abstract."
He adds:
"With so many theses now `born digital,' plus ongoing backlog conversion, there could be 50% more online theses for us to link to by the year end. Meanwhile for those items not online, there is probably an Index to Theses abstract. With just the title to go by, it can be hard to judge if you really want to obtain the full thesis, but much easier after reading a summary - and we offer over 320,000 of those, vastly more than any other service."
Where a thesis is not yet available online, Index to Theses describes alternative routes for obtaining the full text, whether by loan or digitisation. An explanation of the linking feature can be seen at: www.theses.com/obtain.html
With over 550,000 entries - 320,000 of which include abstracts - Index to Theses continues to update its web-based material 8 times per year with over 16,000 new theses added annually. As such, Index to Theses remains the most comprehensive listing of theses accepted for higher degrees by British and Irish universities and provides an exceptional reference tool for the hundreds of libraries and their patrons throughout the world who subscribe to both the print and online versions.
Index to Theses is available both as a print and online product. The print version publishes twice a year with abstracts on an accompanying CD-ROM. Over 16,000 new theses are indexed and in most cases abstracted per annum. Editorial scope is research theses from all UK and Irish Universities.
Apart from searching by keyword or bibliographic data, users can limit their query to any of 11 subject Divisions (e.g. Chemistry), 74 Sub-Divisions (e.g. Organic Compounds) or 369 subject headings (e.g. Terpenes).
Index to Thesis is also available on the ProQuest platform, enabling cross-searching with other ProQuest databases such as the ProQuest Dissertation and Theses database.
Index to Theses, established at the initiative of academic libraries in the UK, is published by Expert Information Ltd, who have developed and enhanced their service in several ways through the years:
- the addition of a web-based service - www.theses.com - with multi-level search options, offering subscribers a greatly enhanced research resource
- the development and publication of an extensive backfile offering coverage dating back to 1716 up to the present day
- the addition of over 44,000 retrospective abstracts, with abstracts now included for almost every current entry since 1986. The majority of the 16,000 new entries added annually also include abstracts
- the introduction of a range of subscription options and perpetual licensing, offering greater flexibility for users
- an increase in online publication frequency - now 8 times per year - to manage the increasing level of submissions
- availability through ProQuest
E: contact@theses.com