Open Access News

News from the open access movement


Wednesday, June 13, 2007

U of Victoria facilitates electronic submission and OA for ETDs

Canada's University of Victoria has made it easier for grad students to make OA their theses and dissertations OA.  From yesterday's announcement:

University of Victoria graduate students can now submit their theses and dissertations electronically and make them immediately available on the Web. This kind of open access gives UVic graduate student research global exposure.
Approximately 350 to 400 theses and dissertations will be posted in PDF format annually in UVic’s digital archive, UVicDSpace. As UVicDSpace grows, we plan to include faculty publications and research as well.

Benefits:

  • easy submission process for graduate students
  • instant availability online through UVicDSpace
  • instant availability online through Google Scholar, Google and the CARL Harvester
  • instant availability online coming soon through Library and Archives Canada Theses Portal
  • microfiche format as a preservation copy
  • no need to print multiple copies for the Library
  • no need for physical storage space
  • wider sharing of research; thesis more frequently cited

For more information see the ETD Website...or Faculty of Graduate Studies website.... 

Comment.  Good move.  This process should be as easy as possible.  Next steps:  (1) don't require PDFs, (2) when students choose OA, encourage them to use CC licenses or the equivalent, and ultimately (3) mandate OA for ETDs even if the university also accepts or requires a printout.