AISR Support for Faculty Publishing

Scott Library Supports Electronic Dissertations

Jefferson Dissertations in the Jefferson Digital Commons

Scott Library has traditionally housed the PhD dissertations produced by Jefferson doctoral candidates in its print collections, and Jefferson's College of Graduate Studies has submitted printed dissertations to ProQuest/UMI's Dissertation Abstracts International for indexing, storage and dissemination. Now, the Jefferson Digital Commons also displays the dissertations that have been submitted to ProQuest/UMI from 1996 forward.

Commons visitors may see the full text of the dissertations on Jefferson campus computers. Off-campus visitors receive the first 24 pages for free, but must pay ProQuest/UMI for a copy if they want to read the full dissertation.

Dissertations are stored as PDF files. Typically deposited in Word or other common word-processing formats, ProQuest/UMI converts them to PDF for long-term storage. Within the Commons, the full text of dissertations is searchable by keyword and descriptive metadata supplied by the authors. Dissertations that appear in the Commons are also indexed by Google Scholar and other major search services.

All Dissertations at ProQuest/UMI

ProQuest/UMI now accepts dissertation deposits in electronic form, and provides free electronic access to current dissertations via the Digital Dissertations service.

The most current two years of the database are free to search. Free contents include citations, abstracts, and the first 24 pages of doctoral dissertations submitted to ProQuest/UMI from institutions worldwide. Please note, however, that the Jefferson College of Graduate Studies has not yet submitted any dissertations for the period being searched.

ProQuest UMI is in the process of converting print dissertations to electronic form, from 1997 to present. Dissertations submitted prior to that can be converted for a fee. The Library is currently seeking grant funding to make all Jefferson dissertations available electronically.

Search for Dissertations

• Dissertations from all contributing schools (current 2 years only) via ProQuest/UMI Dissertation Services
  
• Jefferson dissertations available via the Jefferson Digital Commons (1996 - 2000, waiting for additional deposits from JCGS)
  
• Jefferson dissertations deposited at Scott Library (1951 - present) via ThomCat, the online catalog

To request a search for older dissertations, contact the Reference Department at 215-503-8150 or order your search online.

How to Submit a Dissertation Electronically

• Guidelines for Submitting Electronic Theses and Dissertations is available to students and graduate offices, via UMI.

If you are interested in staying abreast of these developments, be certain to subscribe to the JEFFLINE Forum for regular updates of Library activities.

If you have any questions regarding BioMed Central please contact Edward Tawyea, Director of AISR and University Librarian, at 215-503-8848 or Edward.Tawyea@jefferson.edu.