Abstract
This article discovers the collection diversity of electronic thesis and dissertation (ETD) repositories based on key parameters such as regional distribution, subject classification, language diversity, etc. and identifies the critical management issues of the ETD repositories related to collection management, software management, content management and metadata policies. The ETD repositories were identified in the Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR). The required data were manually collected from the OpenDOAR and websites of repositories to achieve the prescribed objectives of the study. The data were later tabulated, analysed and interpreted using simple arithmetic techniques. The study was limited to the ETD repositories available in the OpenDOAR, and findings cannot be generalized across repositories and directories. It provides insights about ETD repositories worldwide, highlights their critical management issues and suggests mechanisms for their sustainable growth and development. This article is purely based on research and its findings are valid for scholars, faculty members, institutions – as well as administrators and managers of the ETD repositories.
Highlights
‘Theses and dissertations are the most useful kinds of invisible scholarship and the most invisible kinds of useful scholarship because of their high quality and low visibility.’[1]
The findings are consistent with the study conducted by Loan and Sheikh[20] on health and medical repositories, in which the results reveal that the highest number of repositories store articles, followed by theses
The study conducted by Yaseen, Loan and Jan[24] confirmed that more than 96% of all the Electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) repositories are fully operational whereas a small percentage of repositories are available on a trial basis (1.9%, 25) and 2% are non-functional
Summary
‘Theses and dissertations are the most useful kinds of invisible scholarship and the most invisible kinds of useful scholarship because of their high quality and low visibility.’[1]. Electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) are primary, rich, unique and valuable sources of scholarly information, which is the outcome of focused, extensive and in-depth research work of several years, involving intellectual labour by scholars and their supervisors These ETDs were historically always kept under lock and key by vigilant information managers, possibly to avoid plagiarism and theft. The emergence of electronic sources, developments in open access (OA) and the creation of the digital repositories all make possible the best use of scholarly information sources including theses and dissertations These repositories have become showcases of the intellectual achievements of scholars and their institutions by making their research output available globally in various forms, including ETDs. Since the digital repositories have started to archive ETDs, their usage statistics have been positively affected. Data from these repositories suggest a dramatic increase in the use and citation of doctoral theses in current research activity
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