Thesis Binding, Submission and Digitisation  Tags: theses postgrad academic_staff masters phd honours printing_services reid  

The University of Western Australia's digital Thesis Repository is a local archive of theses written by postgraduate students here at UWA. The theses have been converted into a digital format which means they are readable via the World Wide Web

UWA's digital Thesis Repository is part of the Australasian Digital Theses (ADT) Program, which aims to provide a national database of digitised theses.

Any thesis which meets the definition of "thesis by research" can be submitted to the Repository. This includes theses written for the Doctor of Philosophy and Master's by research programs. The only conditions that the thesis must have already met all the conditions for Award.

Postgraduate students who commenced their candidature prior to March 2003 may choose to lodge their thesis in the Repository.

Those students who commenced their candidature after March 2003 are required to lodge their thesis with the Repository.

A PhD or Master's thesis is the result of years of hard work. But unless a thesis is also commercially published, it is very difficult for other researchers to find out about it and to get access to a copy. theses are often under-used by other researchers.

The UWA Digital Thesis Repository and the Australasian Digital Thesis Program attempt to address these issues by making it easy to identify and locate copies of UWA theses.

Participation in the UWA Digital Thesis Repository is absolutely free. There is no charge to lodge your completed thesis with the Repository.

Plagiarism is an ever-present problem, irrespective of the medium in which the work is published. Making your work more readily available via the UWA Digital Thesis Repository may decrease the chance that someone will plagiarise your work, as the material is easier to locate, and the plagiarism easier to detect.

The University Library will take appropriate steps to minimise the chance of plagiarism, by applying appropriate document level security.

Archiving a thesis in the UWA Digital Thesis Repository does not affect your copyright. As the writer of the thesis, the copyright remains with you until you transfer it to another party (e.g. when publishing parts of the work in the commercial press). If you have included the work of others within your thesis, then you must acknowledge the author as appropriate, and also seek their permission to publish the work in the Repository before you lodge your thesis.

Commercial publishers often stipulate that a paper will only be considered for publication if its content has not been previously published elsewhere. Most publishers do not regard archiving a thesis in a digital repository such as the UWA Digital thesis Repository as an act of "publishing". Many publishers are also supportive of moves to make articles freely available on the Web in open archives. But if you have any concerns about this issue we recommend you contact potential publishers of your work before submitting your thesis to the Repository.

The following websites provide information about publishers' policies and addresses:

• OAKList database of publishers' open access policies (Queensland University of Technology)
• SHERPA/ROMEO database of publisher copyright policies and self-archiving (also included in OAKList)
• International Directory of Email Addresses of Publishers, Vendors and Related Professional Associations, Organizations and Services (AcqWeb)
• Australian publishers & booksellers (National Library of Australia)

If you have any concerns about publishing your thesis in the UWA Digital Theses Repository, or if your thesis contains information which must remain confidential then you may apply to restrict access to your work. Access can be limited to UWA staff and students, or the thesis may be made completely inaccessible, for a specified period of time. The Graduate Research School can assist you with applying to restrict access.

Once your PhD or Master's thesis has met the conditions for  Award (i.e. it has been passed by the examiners and any necessary corrections have been made) it may be lodged with the UWA Digital Thesis Repository. You must complete the form Certification of Thesis Corrections available from the Graduate Research School.

The University Library will attempt to digitise your thesis providing you can supply the Graduate Research School with a copy of the final version of your work in electronic format. This will usually consist of the word processing files and any associated documents you used to prepare your thesis. This digitisation service is provided free of charge.

Your thesis will be converted into Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF). By converting from an electronic master document (rather than scanning a paper copy), the resulting PDF files will be smaller in size and more accessible to the visually disabled who use screen readers. A list of the types of documents the Library can digitise, along with other thesis formatting standards, is available from  the Library's Web site.

For more information about the UWA Digital Repository consult the Library's Web site. If you have any further questions, please contact the Principal Librarian, Scholars' Centre (6488 2358)