Locating Dissertations and Theses

Foreign Dissertations:
Foreign dissertations are a challenge to obtain in print format.  Many libraries will not lend their print copies, and foreign libraries are less willing to mail them to the US.  

Here are some options for searching for international dissertations by country.  If a country is not listed, search LibDex for links to various universities across the globe.  

Africa

• Database of African Theses and Dissertations (DATAD)  Contains brief citations for theses and dissertations completed in African universities.

Australia

• Trove is a collaboration between the National Library of Australia and hundreds of Partner organizations around Australia.  There are many dissertations available.

Austria

• Osterreichischen Bibliothekenverbundes  Austrian Hochschulschriften

Brazil 

• Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações (BDTD) IBICT ETD initiative for Brazilian theses and dissertations.

Canada

• Theses Canada is a collaborative program between Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and nearly 70 universities accredited by Universities Canada. It strives to acquire and preserve theses and dissertations from participating universities, provide free access to Canadian electronic theses and dissertations in the collection, and facilitate access to non-digital theses and dissertations in the collection. The collection contains both microfiche and electronic theses and dissertations that are for personal or academic research purposes. Any commercial use, publication, reproduction or lending of this material is strictly prohibited.

China 

• National Library of China Dissertations Database 中国国家图书馆博士论文

  Provides citations, abstracts, and some full texts of dissertations from universities and research institutions in mainland China. Please note that you need to create a free account with the site in order to access the full-text content.

Denmark

• Danish Royal Library

Europe

• Europeana: Access to full text theses and dissertations from many countries in Europe.

Finland

• E-Thesis at the University of Helsinki

France

• theses.fr strives to provide links to all awarded theses in France, with links to institutions connected with these theses.

Germany

• DissOnline: DissOnline provides information on the subject of electronic university publications. It can be used to find out directly all about online dissertations and post-doctoral theses. Sample documents can be downloaded to provide help in the creation of electronic university publications. For more information about the portal, please go to German National Library website (DNB).

Italy

• Tesi-online  Italian university PhD theses; free full-text

Japan 

• JAIRO: Japanese Institutional Repositories Online  Open access; full-text

México

• TESIUNAM: Tesis del Sistema Bibliotecario de la Unam:  Theses from the National University of Mexico / Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. To search for electronic theses, click on “tesis electrónicas (REDUNAM).”

• Colección de Tesis Digitales Universidad de las Américas Puebla  Tesis digitales Universidad de las Américas, Puebla, México

Middle East

• EThOS:  The Center for Research Libraries and the British Library have made available online 400 UK doctoral theses focusing on the Middle East, Islamic studies, and related subjects. More information.

The Netherlands

• NARCIS:  Some Dutch e-theses are available through NARCIS.

Norway 

• National Library of Norway

Poland

• Nauka Polska  Poland's dissertation repository

Russia 

• Russian State Library Digital Library Dissertations  Over 650,000 free, full-text of dissertations from 1998

Spain

There are several portals/catalogues in Spain for theses and dissertations. Here are some examples listed on Spain’s National Library website:

• Spain’s Ministry of Education thesis database (TESEO)

• Biblioteca Virtual del Español (on the Biblioteca Virtual, Miguel de Cervantes website)

• Universidad Complutense de Madrid’s catalogue

• TDX (Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa)

This is a cooperative repository of digital theses from the University of Cataluña and other autonomous communities (such as Murcia, Cantabria, Barcelona, and Oviedo)

Sweden 

• Dissertation.se:  search over 66,000 dissertations from Sweden, written in English, nearly half of which are available for download as PDFs.

Taiwan

• NDLTD: National Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations in Taiwan is an open full-text permanent archive of scholarly research in Taiwan.

United Kingdom

• EThOS British Library Electronic Theses Online
  Searches 250,000+ theses, many available in full text with a free online account. Theses not available for immediate download take 30 days to digitize. 

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