Electronic Theses and Dissertations
What is the ETD Repository?
Emory's ETD Repository is a searchable, full text database of all theses and dissertations submitted to the Laney Graduate School from fall semester 2008 and on
ETD and Access
Theses and Dissertations in the ETD will be accessible to internet searches, but you can control several aspects of this. Read our document "Making Informed Decisions about Access and Restrictions."
This format for storing and accessing theses and dissertations creates tremendous opportunities for the work of Emory scholars to be distributed in a broad and timely manner. The ETD repository is based on universal access to full texts, but each author can prevent his or her dissertation text from being available.
Making Informed Decisions About Access
The move to electronic storage and access creates new parameters for copy-right and publishing, and it is important to make informed decisions about the terms of access to each dissertation or thesis.
Three issues need careful consideration:
- If your dissertation raises copyright issues — perhaps it contains images published elsewhere, or an article you published in a journal — then those must be resolved before you submit your dissertation. Since that may take some time, it is important that you start early.
- If a dissertation contains articles that were published in scholarly journals or elsewhere, it is important to ensure that the terms of access the author stipulates with the Emory ETD Repository and ProQuest/UMI are compatible with the permissions granted by those journals or other entities. Don’t assume that articles you have published can be placed in a dissertation and then made available online.
- If you plan to publish some or all of a dissertation/thesis, it is important to find out whether the journals and publishers who would be likely to publish the work regard an electronically accessible dissertation as a prior publication.
The policies on both these issues vary widely across fields and publishers, and are changing fast. Take the time to investigate the conditions in your field, and make decisions with accurate and up-to-date information — and in consultation with your advisor.
The Library offers regular information sessions on copyright and intellectual property. Dates and times are on the ETD website. These sessions teach about issues that will be important throughout a scholarly or other professional career, and are well worth the time of attending.
ETD and the ProQuest/UMI Dissertations and Theses database
Emory submits dissertations to the ProQuest/UMI Dissertations and Theses database. The terms of that submission are explained in the ETD submission form, and the access restrictions you choose in Emory’s ETD will be mirrored in the ProQuest database. For full access, you need to log in through Emory’s library website.