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Issues around the Submission
of Electronic Theses
Annette Moore - 20th October 2010
Open Access Week
Issues around the submission of electronic theses
Benefits of e-thesis submission
The key issues in making e-theses open access
The likely impact of these issues
How we can address them
Where to go to for help?
Benefits of e-thesis submission
Personal reward – knowing your research is being read
Contribution to the body of knowledge – theses have traditionally
been hugely underused only available on microfilm or for use in the
Library . E-thesis submission will make a huge, hidden body of
knowledge accessible.
Individual theses will gain more readers and students will enjoy
increased visibility as a researcher
Educating authors for the digital age
Open access e-theses are globally accessible - representing
the scholarship produced at the institution
E-theses are already a reality
80 e-theses are already available in Sussex Research
Online for 09/10 submissions. 700 Sussex theses have been requested through the
British Library’s EThOS service - digitised over the last 18
months (from 1967 – 2009). 38,000 UK doctoral theses have been digitised and are
freely available on EThOS - 113 university members
E-theses are already a reality
The Library Catalogue
links through to EThOS
for all Sussex theses
digitised through the
EThOS service.
The earliest Sussex
thesis digitised is from
1967.
British Library : EThOS
EThOS replaces the British Library’s microfilm thesis service traditionally used for Interlibrary Loan.
Past doctoral theses digitised on demand
113 member universities, over 50% open access.
EThOS acts as a central hub harvesting e-theses from members’ Institutional Repositories.
Metadata complies with the UKETD-DC standard
EThOS offers a ‘single point of access’ to all theses produced by UK Higher Education
What are the key issues?
Most of the issues are not new but they are made more
visible in an open access environment. Confidentiality – a thesis including material obtained under
a promise of confidentiality, allowed only for examination purposes
Commercially sensitive material – the most frequently
cited reason for requesting an embargo for science and
technology disciplines.
Potential publication – a thesis due for publication where
the publisher has advised against making it freely available prior to
publication
What are the key issues?
Sensitive personal information – a thesis containing
sensitive information about an individual or individuals that may
endanger their physical or mental well-being. Less significant in
numbers and mostly related to theses from the social sciences,
humanities, psychology and medicine
Third party copyright material (including the author’s
own) – inclusion of long texts from published material, images,
photographs, tables and maps. Traditionally accepted in the
thesis for examination purposes, but may require permission from
the rights holder for e-theses submission, as this is considered a
form of publishing.
3rd Party Copyright
Under Fair Dealing for Criticism or Review (CDPA 1988) less than a substantial part of a third party work may be copied or quoted without permission or infringement of copyright.
For example, a short extract of text or an illustration or figure that is integral to the argument of the thesis, may be counted as fair dealing and copyright permissions may not need to be obtained.
3rd Party Copyright
Substantial is not defined under the law, neither is Fair Dealing !
Substantial is judged by quality and quantity
Fair Dealing is often interpreted as:
‘copying as long as the copyright does not harmThe copyright owner [economically ] but nevertheless benefits either the individual or society in general’
Examples of 3rd Party Copyright issues
Archaeology researchers unable to gain permission from a
museum to use photographs (taken themselves) of artefacts in the
museum for inclusion in their e-theses. Art History – including many images from one artist Creative Writing – poetry and authors own creative writing
(may already have been published or expecting to publish) Media Studies researchers – inclusion of film stills is likely to
be a problem – considered ‘high risk’ area Any thesis including maps and charts from another work Any thesis including substantial quotes from another work
What is the likely impact of these issues?
Increase in the number of requests for embargoes - creating a conflict with the open access initiative Additional workload for researchers seeking permission to include 3rd party material Potential costs involved in obtaining permission from rights holders Potential risk of 3rd party rights holders complaints Concerns over possible increase in plagiarism Concerns that publishers will not want to later publish open access theses
How can we minimise the effects?
• Provide training and guidance around the key issues from early
on in the research
• Encourage students to seek copyright permissions (if needed) at
the earliest opportunity
• If publishing their own material that may later be included in their
thesis, encourage student to negotiate terms with publisher
• Look for Creative Commons images to use – World Image
database for example
• Establish effective procedures for dealing with theses where
permission to include 3rd party copyright has been refused, is too
costly or it has not been possible to contact the rights holder –
• Have an effective take-down policy in place in SRO
Where can you go for help?
The Doctoral School - handbook and website
Student Progress and Assessment (SPA) office
Directors of Doctoral Studies within each School
Supervisors
Library Copyright Guidance ‘Complying with Copyright’ webpage
Email: library.copyright for advice on a specific query