Since last summer ProQuest has been changing PQDD (ProQuest Digital Dissertations) to PQDT (ProQuest Dissertations and Theses). Here's a glimpse of what's coming in the next phase of the migration:
Open Access Dissertations & Theses in PQDT - - as institutions/authors choose to make dissertations & theses available on an Open Access basis, PQDT will display and make them available for free download. Users will also have standard purchase options for Open Access titles, for example, if they wish to have a printed copy sent to them.
And coming in an even later phase:
Release of “Dissertations & Theses@” - (currently called “Current Research@”), this option will allow schools which publish their dissertations & theses through UMI/ProQuest to view all of their own school’s titles free of charge in the ProQuest platform. Titles from the school which are in PQDT in full-text PDF format will be available as well for free instant download. Qualifying schools will not need a PQDT subscription to access their titles via “Dissertations & Theses@”.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 1/06/2006 10:27:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
