E-Theses Online Service Explained

E-Theses Online Service: EThOS
Type:Bibliographic database
Language:English
Registration:Optional
Owner:British Library
Current Status:Offline ever since the British Library cyberattack

E-Theses Online Service (EThOS) is a bibliographic database and union catalogue of electronic theses provided by the British Library, the National Library of the United Kingdom.[1] [2] [3] [4] EThOS provided access to over 500,000 doctoral theses awarded by over 140 UK higher education institutions,[5] with around 3,000 new thesis records added every month[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] until the British Library cyberattack forced the service to be temporarily taken offline.

EThOS services

EThOS records thesis data and metadata which can then be searched with basic[4] and advanced search terms.

Data recorded in EThOS

Theses indexed by EThOS have a minimum of a thesis title, author, awarding body and date. Optional additional metadata may be included such as the thesis abstract, doctoral advisor, sponsor, cross links to other databases and the full text of the thesis itself.

the EThOS website gives open access to the full text of around 160,000 UK doctoral theses that have been digitised. Theses can be accessed by freely registering for then logging into EThOS. Open access is also provided by links to the Institutional repository of the awarding body. Since 2015,[7] EThOS has integrated authority control and other unique identifiers including:

Some thesis records include the name of the doctoral advisor.

Doctoral advisor metadata can be used in academic genealogies like academictree.org,[11] [12] Wikidata[13] and the Mathematics Genealogy Project. Academic genealogies in Wikidata are built using the doctoral advisor relation (Property:P184).[14]

Searching EThOS metadata

Where present, metadata can be used as search criteria. So for example, in addition to a basic search,[4] an advanced search facility allows users to search for theses by publication year, awarding body, author's given name, surname, thesis title, doctoral advisor and various other metadata.[15] Data in EThOS can also be accessed programmatically (by machines) using the Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (PMH) from the Open Archives Initiative (OAI),[16] DataCite[17] and its Application Programming Interface (API).[18]

Types of thesis included

As well as indexing Doctor of Philosophy theses, EThOS holds records of other kinds of doctorates including:

Master's degree theses such as Master of Philosophy (MPhil), Master of Research (MRes), Master of Science (MSc) and Master of Arts (MA) theses are not indexed by EThoS. Honorary degrees are also not included as there is usually no actual written thesis.

Development and contact

EThOS was developed in partnership with Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) around the UK with funding from Research Libraries UK (RLUK) and Jisc (formerly the Joint Information Systems Committee) and was launched in January 2009.[1] [27] EThOS staff at the British Library can be contacted during office hours on email, Twitter and in person at the British Library.

Availability

EThOS was taken offline by the British Library cyberattack and has been unavailable since December 2023.[28] [29] [30]

Notes and References

  1. Troman. Anthony. Jacobs. Neil. Copeland. Susan. A new electronic service for UK theses: access transformed by EThOS. Interlending & Document Supply. 35. 3. 2007. 157–163. 0264-1615. 10.1108/02641610710780836.
  2. Gould. Sara. UK theses and the British Library EThOS service: from supply on demand to repository linking. Interlending & Document Supply. 44. 1. 2016. 7–13. 0264-1615. 10.1108/ILDS-10-2015-0033.
  3. UK theses and the British Library EThOS service: from supply on demand to repository linking. Sara. Gould. 6 June 2017. Zenodo. 10.5281/zenodo.803351.
  4. Web site: British Library EThOS e-theses online service. ethos.bl.uk. Anon. 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090124021237/http://ethos.bl.uk/Home.do. 2009-01-24.
  5. Web site: Higher Education Institutions Participating in EThOS. Anon. 2017. bl.uk. https://web.archive.org/web/20120224053952/http://ethos.bl.uk/HEIList.do. 2012-02-24.
  6. Anon (2014).
  7. Web site: About EThOS. Anon. 2017. bl.uk. https://web.archive.org/web/20160321162734/http://ethos.bl.uk/About.do. 2016-03-21.
  8. Web site: EThOS (Electronic Theses Online Service). University of Leicester. le.ac.uk. Anon. 2017. 2017-11-07. 2020-08-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20200805090900/https://www2.le.ac.uk/library/find/databases/e/ethos. dead.
  9. Web site: Requesting UK Doctoral Theses. bbk.ac.uk. Birkbeck, University of London. Anon. 2017. 2017-11-07. 2016-07-14. https://web.archive.org/web/20160714144802/http://www.bbk.ac.uk/lib/about/how/ill/etheses. dead.
  10. Web site: EThOS Toolkit: A guide to using and participating in EThOS. ethostoolkit.cranfield.ac.uk. Cranfield University. Anon. 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170823174943/http://ethostoolkit.cranfield.ac.uk/tiki-index.php. 2017-08-23.
  11. Web site: The Academic Family Tree. academictree.org. Anon. 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170608191951/https://academictree.org/. 2017-06-08.
  12. Amaral. Luís A. Nunes. David. Stephen V.. Hayden. Benjamin Y.. Neurotree: A Collaborative, Graphical Database of the Academic Genealogy of Neuroscience. PLoS ONE. 7. 10. 2012. e46608. 1932-6203. 10.1371/journal.pone.0046608. 23071595 . 3465338 . 2012PLoSO...746608D. free.
  13. Vrandečić. Denny. Krötzsch. Markus. Wikidata: a free collaborative knowledgebase. Communications of the ACM. 57. 10. 2014. 78–85. 0001-0782. 10.1145/2629489. free.
  14. Web site: A step forward in the sharing of open data about theses. Martin. Poulter. 2017. bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Bodleian Library. Oxford. 2019-10-30. live. https://archive.today/20191030162721/https://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/digital/2017/07/19/a-step-forward-in-the-sharing-of-open-data-about-theses/.
  15. Web site: British Library EThOS: Advanced Search. ethos.bl.uk. Anon. 2017.
  16. Web site: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about EThOS. Anon. 2017. bl.uk. https://web.archive.org/web/20170226125746/http://ethos.bl.uk/Faq.do. 2017-02-26.
  17. Web site: DataCite search: British Library PhD theses. Anon. 2017. datacite.org.
  18. Web site: Anon. 2017. DataCite REST API: A common API to get all metadata from DataCite.. api.datacite.org.
  19. MD. Imperial College London. Muscular dystrophy cell therapy : an in utero approach using human fetal mesenchymal stem cells. Pensée. Wu. 2009. ethos.bl.uk. 930655636. 10044/1/4726. 2017-11-07. 2020-08-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20200805201443/https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.508625. dead.
  20. DSc. Open University. Studies of the physiological states of cross-striated muscle with the aim of understanding the underlying processes of the changes from one state to another. Else Marie. Bartels. 1990. ethos.bl.uk. 53556783.
  21. EngD. University of Surrey. Aspects of Bonded Composite Assemblies for Aerospace Applications. Chris. Dighton. 2020. ethos.bl.uk.
  22. DProf. Middlesex University. Corporate governance and its effect on the performance on family and non-family companies listed on the Cyprus stock exchange. Andreas K.. Georgiou. 2010. ethos.bl.uk. 840721110. 2017-11-07. 2018-06-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20180612162617/http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.570811. dead.
  23. Doctor of Musical Arts. University of Salford. DMA Portfolio 'Rhythms of the Huasteca'. Evaristo. Aguilar Lopez. 2006. ethos.bl.uk. 2017-11-07. 2020-08-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20200806003940/https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.491052. dead.
  24. DEd. Manchester Metropolitan University. Practitioner research : a journey in optimistic disappointment?. Mary. Greaves. 2011. ethos.bl.uk. 757137107. 2017-11-07. 2022-12-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20221209193944/https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.533144. dead.
  25. PhD. Northumbria University. The development of tourist culture and the formation of social and cultural identities 1800-1914, with particular reference to Central Europe. Jill. Steward. 2008. ethos.bl.uk. 757146249. 2017-11-07. 2018-06-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20180612165551/http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.537334. dead.
  26. PhD. Brunel University London. Dark Aemilia and inventing Shakespeare. Sally Anne. O'Reilly. 2012. ethos.bl.uk. 2017-11-07. 2018-06-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20180612165028/http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.571794. dead.
  27. Web site: JISCMail. www.jiscmail.ac.uk. en. 2018-03-15.
  28. Web site: 2023-12-04 . Scholars ‘stumble through’ as British Library tools stay offline . 2024-03-03 . timeshighereducation.com. . en. Jack . Grove. 2023.
  29. Web site: Cyber-attack update. bl.uk/cyber-incident. Roly. Keating. 2024. Roly Keating. https://web.archive.org/web/20240629194224/https://www.bl.uk/cyber-incident/. 2024-06-29.
  30. Web site: Roly. Keating. 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240309041854/https://www.bl.uk/home/british-library-cyber-incident-review-8-march-2024.pdf. 2024-03-09. LEARNING LESSONS FROM THE CYBER-ATTACK: British Library cyber incident review. bl.uk. Roly Keating.

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