1. Leveraging the ETD as a pathway to
broader discussions about openness
in a university
Workshop facilitated by Dr Danny
Kingsley
ETD2021 (Dubai)
15 November 2021

3. Today
Why share theses?
Issue 1 – Patents
Issue 2 – Third Party Copyright
Issue 3 – Potential sensitivities
Issue 4 – Plagiarism
Issue 5 – Potential future publication
Issue 6 – Sharing associated data
Issue 7 – Choosing a license
Managing theses
How this can help you to work with supervisors

4. Sharing theses increases use
https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/9604

5. Aggregated theses collections
https://oatd.org/
OATD currently indexes 5,967,519 theses
and dissertations.

6. Aggregated theses collections
11,564,139 hits - all thesis types
https://www.base-search.net/Search/Advanced

7. Aggregated theses
https://www.ebsco.com/products/research-databases/ebsco-open-dissertations

8. Paywalled aggregated theses
https://www.proquest.com/index?selectids=pqdt

9. Issue 1 -
Patents
Image:
Danny Kingsley

10. Issue 2 –
Third party
copyright
Image:
Danny Kingsley

11. Third party copyright – what is it?
• Including items in a work that have copyright attached to them
• Images
• Graphs
• Large amount of text
• It is possible to gain permission to include third party copyright
but:
• There might be a cost
• It can take some time
• You must include your documentation

12. Thesis containing artwork images
https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/7452/10/02whole-Sanders.pdf

13. Thesis containing images from
children’s books
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/267984
This file is
restricted but
can be
requested

14. Scanned theses – where no
permission yet
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/265320

15. Issue 3 –
Potential
sensitivity
Image:
Danny Kingsley

16. Think about risks
• What sort of risks can you think of?
• Put them into the chat function
• Let’s evaluate the risk

17. Risk matrix

18. Annexed material
https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/211968
This file is
restricted but
can be
requested
The body of
the thesis is
open

19. Issue 4 –
Plagiarism
(perceived risk)
Image:
Danny Kingsley

20. Actually, making a thesis OA helps!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD6CcFxRelY

21. Issue 5 –
Potential
future
publication
Image:
Danny Kingsley

22. Publication implications
• Students are often worried that making their thesis OA means
they won’t be able to publish
• Don’t panic. Publishers generally don’t prohibit the making of a
thesis OA

23. Publishers vary on this question
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/open-access-policies/open-access-books/green-open-
access-policy-for-books

24. Remember a thesis is not a book
https://www.chronicle.com/article/its-a-dissertation-not-a-book/

25. 2011 survey of publishers
https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/11338
“This data and the open-ended
comments from the survey
respondents indicate support for
open access to ETDs."

26. Mostly it is OK - but check
https://libraryblog.graduateinstitute.ch/2020/10/21/why-shouldnt-your-phd-thesis-be-
accessible-to-everyone/

27. Issue 6 –
Sharing
associated
data
Image:
Danny Kingsley

28. Issue 5 –
Sharing
underlying
data

29. Thesis - from ROADS

30. Issue 7 -
What license to
put on the
thesis?
Image:
Danny Kingsley

31. Considerations
https://creativecommons.org/about/videos/creative-commons-kiwi/

32. How do you
make these
decisions?
Image:
Danny Kingsley

33. Different access options
https://osc.cam.ac.uk/theses/access-cambridge-theses/terminology-different-access-levels-theses

34. Decision tree
https://osc.cam.ac.uk/files/d_tree2.jpg

35. Thank you!
Dr Danny Kingsley
danny.kingsley@flinders.edu.au
@dannykay68