ethos.bl.uk thesis

EThOS: e-theses online service Open access EThOS: e-theses online service Open access

EThOS, provided by the British Library, is a free online service providing access to UK doctoral theses.

Access EThOS is an open access resource.

Content  EThOS, provided by the British Library, is a free online service providing access to UK doctoral theses. It does not cover MPhils or master's dissertations.

EThOS aims to provide a central listing of all doctoral theses awarded by UK higher education institutions, with the full text of as many theses as possible. 

The database includes more than 600,000 records. Around 4,000 law theses are covered, dating from the 1920s to the present day.

Searching  EThOS has basic and advanced search facilities. Searches can be limited to theses available for immediate download.

Advanced search allows users to search by author, title, awarding body, year of award and other criteria. Boolean connectors (AND, OR, AND NOT) can be selected from a drop-down menu

Downloading  Many theses are available for download; it is necessary to create a free account to do this. 

There is an option to request digitisation of a thesis if it is not yet available for download. Sometimes this is free, but sometimes there is a charge (see FAQs). 

Help A Help menu and an FAQ page are available.

A-Z Databases: EThOS: Welcome

Content, coverage & description.

EThOS is a UK wide repository of digitized doctoral theses. It provides full text access to 250,000 theses published in the UK as well as bibliographic records of non digitized theses. A quick and free  registration is required to access the full text content.  

• EThOS e-Theses Online Service This link opens in a new window The British Library digital repository for UK research theses offering a central access point to UK doctoral theses. The majority of universities in the UK are members. You can cross-search over 500,000 theses including those available for immediate download. more... less... Not Searchable via One Search. You must first register on an individual basis with Ethos in order to make requests through the Ethos website. The Ethos site provides further information.

When to use

EThOS is an excellent resource for finding highly specialised and original research. S tudents embarking on a doctoral programme may wish to see examples of successful theses in their own discipline and identify areas of research that have not already been covered.  

Video guide: Using Ethos to find UK theses

University of Kent (2019) Using Ethos to find UK theses.  28 August. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_c3ZRC5tG0 (Accessed: 13 July 2021).

Basic search

Keep search terms simple, e.g. 'organisational culture', 'business ethics' , ' eosinophilic inflammation', ' diabetes management'. 

Full text availability is indicated by a green open padlock symbol next to the search results.  You can restrict the search results to full text only by checking the box  ' limit search to items available for immediate download' below the search bar.

Search results are listed in order of relevance. You can change the order of results to A to Z by author or year (most recent to oldest and vice versa) by using the 'sort by" option above the search results. 

Click the relevant search result to view the abstract and download the thesis (if applicable). The full text can be accessed via the 'Immediate download'   link when this is available. You will be prompted for the username and password you chose when you registered with EThOS. 

Advanced Search

The advanced search tool enables you to search for a specific thesis by author and title. Use  the drop-down menus next to the search boxes to select your desired search criteria. 

You can also combine search terms using the Boolean operators 'AND', 'OR', 'NOT' (drop-down menu to the left of the search boxes). Example:

'higher education' (box one) AND  'social inequality' (box two)  will instruct  the database to look for theses which contain both search terms in the thesis abstracts or titles. 

'social inequality' (box one) OR  'poverty' (box two) will instruct the database to search for each search term separately. 

'higher education' (box one) AND  'social inequality' (box two) OR  'poverty' (box three) will instruct the database to search for articles which contain the first search term 'higher education' and either the second 'social inequality' or the third 'poverty'. 

Try to keep your search terms simple especially when combining search terms.  EThOS is a highly specialised database and over complicating searches may lead to a zero result outcome. 

Help and Support

Library staff are available to help you to use all of our online databases and electronic journal services. 

Contact us at  [email protected]  or via the  Self Service Port al . 

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• Last Updated: Mar 24, 2022 1:40 PM
• URL: https://uws-uk.libguides.com/EThOS

• Cambridge Libraries

Physical & Digital Collections

Theses & dissertations: home, access to theses and dissertations from other institutions and from the university of cambridge.

This guide provides information on searching for theses of Cambridge PhDs and for theses of UK universities and universities abroad. 

For information and guidance on depositing your thesis as a cambridge phd, visit the cambridge office of scholarly communication pages on theses here ., this guide gives essential information on how to obtain theses using the british library's ethos service. .

On the last weekend of October, the British Library became the victim of a major cyber-attack. Essential digital services including the BL catalogue, website and online learning resources went dark, with research services like the EThOS collection of more than 600,000 doctoral theses suddenly unavailable. The BL state that they anticipate restoring more services in the next few weeks, but disruption to certain services is now expected to persist for several months. For the latest news on the attack and information on the restoration of services, please follow the BL blog here:  Knowledge Matters blog  and access the LibGuide page here:  British Library Outage Update - Electronic Legal Deposit - LibGuides at University of Cambridge Subject Libraries

A full list of resources for searching theses online is provided by the Cambridge A-Z, available here .

University of Cambridge theses

Finding a cambridge phd thesis online via the institutional repository.

The University's institutional repository, Apollo , holds full-text digital versions of over 11,000 Cambridge PhD theses and is a rapidly growing collection deposited by Cambridge Ph.D. graduates. Theses in Apollo can be browsed via this link . More information on how to access theses by University of Cambridge students can be found on the access to Cambridge theses webpage.   The requirement for impending PhD graduates to deposit a digital version in order to graduate means the repository will be increasing at a rate of approximately 1,000 per year from this source.   About 200 theses are added annually through requests to make theses Open Access or via requests to digitize a thesis in printed format.

Locating and obtaining a copy of a Cambridge PhD thesis (not yet available via the repository)

Theses can be searched in iDiscover .  Guidance on searching for theses in iDiscover can be found here .   Requests for consultation of printed theses, not available online, should be made at the Manuscripts Reading Room (Email:  [email protected] Telephone: +44 (0)1223 333143).   Further information on the University Library's theses, dissertations and prize essays collections can be consulted at this link .

Researchers can order a copy of an unpublished thesis which was deposited in print form either through the Library’s  Digital Content Unit via the image request form , or, if the thesis has been digitised, it may be available in the Apollo repository. Copies of theses may be provided to researchers in accordance with the  law  and in a manner that is common across UK libraries.  The law allows us to provide whole copies of unpublished theses to individuals as long as they sign a declaration saying that it is for non-commercial research or private study.

How to make your thesis available online through Cambridge's institutional repository

Are you a Cambridge alumni and wish to make your Ph.D. thesis available online? You can do this by depositing it in Apollo the University's institutional repository. Click here for further information on how to proceed.    Current Ph.D students at the University of Cambridge can find further information about the requirements to deposit theses on the Office of Scholarly Communication theses webpages.

UK Theses and Dissertations

Electronic copies of Ph.D. theses submitted at over 100 UK universities are obtainable from EThOS , a service set up to provide access to all theses from participating institutions. It achieves this by harvesting e-theses from Institutional Repositories and by digitising print theses as they are ordered by researchers using the system. Over 250,000 theses are already available in this way. Please note that it does not supply theses submitted at the universities of Cambridge or Oxford although they are listed on EThOS.

Registration with EThOS is not required to search for a thesis but is necessary to download or order one unless it is stored in the university repository rather than the British Library (in which case a link to the repository will be displayed). Many theses are available without charge on an Open Access basis but in all other cases, if you are requesting a thesis that has not yet been digitised you will be asked to meet the cost. Once a thesis has been digitised it is available for free download thereafter.

When you order a thesis it will either be immediately available for download or writing to hard copy or it will need to be digitised. If you order a thesis for digitisation, the system will manage the process and you will be informed when the thesis is available for download/preparation to hard copy.

See the Search results section of the  help page for full information on interpreting search results in EThOS.

EThOS is managed by the British Library and can be found at http://ethos.bl.uk . For more information see About EThOS .

World-wide (incl. UK) theses and dissertations

Electronic versions of non-UK theses may be available from the institution at which they were submitted, sometimes on an open access basis from the institutional repository. A good starting point for discovering freely available electronic theses and dissertations beyond the UK is the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) , which facilitates searching across institutions. Information can also usually be found on the library web pages of the relevant institution.

The DART Europe etheses portal lists several thousand full-text theses from a group of European universities.

The University Library subscribes to the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses  (PQDT) database which from August 31 2023 is accessed on the Web of Science platform.  To search this index select it from the Web of Science "Search in" drop-down list of databases (available on the Documents tab on WoS home page)

PQDT includes 2.4 million dissertation and theses citations, representing 700 leading academic institutions worldwide from 1861 to the present day. The database offers full text for most of the dissertations added since 1997 and strong retrospective full text coverage for older graduate works. Each dissertation published since July 1980 includes a 350-word abstract written by the author. Master's theses published since 1988 include 150-word abstracts.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The University Library only subscribes to the abstracting & indexing version of the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database and NOT the full text version.  A fee is payable for ordering a dissertation from this source.   To obtain the full text of a dissertation as a downloadable PDF you can submit your request via the University Library Inter-Library Loans department (see contact details below). NB this service is only available to full and current members of the University of Cambridge.

Alternatively you can pay yourself for the dissertation PDF on the PQDT platform. Link from Web of Science record display of any thesis to PQDT by clicking on "View Details on ProQuest".  On the "Preview" page you will see an option "Order a copy" top right.  This will allow you to order your own copy from ProQuest directly.

Dissertations and theses submitted at non-UK universities may also be requested on Inter-Library Loan through the Inter-Library Loans department (01223 333039 or 333080, [email protected] )

• Last Updated: Dec 20, 2023 9:47 AM
• URL: https://libguides.cam.ac.uk/theses

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Finding UK theses

The Bodleian Libraries hold copies of some UK theses. These are listed on SOLO  and may be ordered for delivery to a reading room. 

These theses are not all catalogued in a uniform way. Adding the word 'thesis' as a keyword in SOLO may help, but this is unlikely to find all theses, and may find published works based upon theses as well as unpublished theses.

Card catalogue  

Some early theses accepted for higher degrees and published before 1973 are held in the Bodleian Libraries but are not yet catalogued on SOLO. These holdings can be found in the Foreign Dissertations Catalogue card index.

To request access to material in the catalogue, speak to library staff at the Main Enquiry Desk in the Lower Reading Room of the Old Bodleian Library, or contact us via  [email protected]  or phone (01865 277162). 

Other finding aids

Proquest dissertations & theses.

You can use ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global  to locate theses accepted for higher degrees at universities in the UK and Ireland since 1716. The service also provides abstracts of these theses.

Library Hub Discover

You can use Library Hub Discover to search the online catalogues of some of the UK’s largest university research libraries to see if a thesis is held by another UK library.

EThOS is the UK’s national thesis service, managed by the British Library. It aims to provide a national aggregated record of all doctoral theses awarded by UK higher education institutions, with free access to the full text of many theses. It has around 500,000 records for theses awarded by over 120 institutions.

UTREES - University Theses in Russian, Soviet, and East European Studies 1907–

UTREES is a bibliographical database of research in the British Isles. The database has been continuously extended from the printed volume, most recently with 202 recent theses added in 2021. The database lists details of over 6,000 doctoral and selected masters’ theses from British and Irish universities. It covers research relating to Eastern and Central Europe, Russia and the area of the former USSR, including Central Asia, the Caucasus and Siberia.

Individual universities

You can also go to individual UK universities' sites for their online theses repositories.

You can purchase copies of Cambridge University theses through the Cambridge University Library's online order form . There is a standard charge of £75 (plus VAT and postage). White Rose ETheses Online is an online repository of doctoral theses from the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York. It is part of a national and international network of open access online databases which promote access to research outputs. Many theses have been digitised by the British Library as part of the EThOS. However, there have been instances where theses are available via WhiteRose eTheses Online before they reach EThOS.  

Ordering UK theses

Many theses from other UK universities are available from the British Library's EThOS service.  Unfortunately, this service is currently unavailable due to a cyber attack on the British Library.  

You can also request theses from other UK universities as an inter-library request .

Please note that it may not be possible to obtain some theses due to restrictions on lending placed by the author of the thesis or the institution at which it is held.

Library Guides

Theses and dissertations

Introduction to ethos, about ethos, benefits of using phds, further information.

Benefits to researchers

• Easy access to UK research theses.
• Centralised access to new and retrospectively digitised theses.
• Raised profile for individual authors from wider circulation of their work.
• Support for the principle of Open Access and increased use of publicly-funded research outputs.

Ethos is the British Library digital repository for UK research theses offering a central access point to UK doctoral theses. The majority of universities in the UK are members. You can cross-search over 500,000 theses including those available for immediate download.

Requesting doctoral theses

You must first register on an individual basis with Ethos in order to make requests through the Ethos website. The  Ethos site provides further information .

In some cases the first person (or their institution) to request a thesis is required to pay for the cost of digitisation. In the first instance researchers should refer to the Director of Research and Enterprise or their supervisor in the school about recovering costs from school research funds.

How long will it take?

Immediate download for theses already digitised. For theses not yet digitised you will need to contact the library of the university where the paper thesis is held to request access.

University of Greenwich theses are uploaded to  GALA  and harvested into Ethos allowing you to search and download from from either source.

Visit our theses and dissertations page to find out more about  finding PhD theses  within and beyond the university.

List of institutions taking part in Ethos .

Frequently asked questions about Ethos .

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• Last Updated: Aug 8, 2023 9:35 AM
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Library Electronic Theses Online Service (EThOS)

The British Library provides digitised UK PhD theses online via the Electronic Theses Online Service (EThOS) .

You can search the site without registering. However, to download a thesis you must register and agree to the terms and conditions of access.

Access to theses which have already been digitised is free. If a thesis has not already been digitised, you may be asked to pay the cost of digitisation (£60) or it may be free. This depends on the policy of the institution supplying the thesis.

The EThOS database holds details of over 400,000 theses. Some of these are available for immediate download. Once you register you can download a thesis or request a digital copy if it is not currently available. If the thesis is not immediately available there will be a short delay while it is digitised.

Theses are supplied by participating institutions free of charge as zipped PDFs. Alternative formats (CD/DVD or paper) are available for an extra charge.

Participating institutions

Some institutions may not be participating in EThOS or may charge for the digitisation of a thesis. If you cannot find the theses you want or do not want to pay for the digitisation of the thesis you can still submit an Inter-Library request . However, some libraries do not lend their theses.

We will not make a request for a thesis already available on EThOS.

International & Masters Theses

You can submit an Inter-Library request for international and Masters theses.

More information

For more information contact the Inter-Library Service or check the EThOS FAQs .

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OU theses and dissertations

Online theses.

Are available via Open Research Online .

Print theses

Search for OU theses in the Library Search . To see only print theses click 'In the Walton Hall library' and refine your results to resource type 'Thesis'.

OU staff and research students can  borrow a consultation copy of a thesis (if available). Please contact the Library helpdesk giving the author and title of the thesis.

UK theses and dissertations from EThOS

The Electronic Theses Online System (EThOS) offers free access to the full text of UK theses.

• EThOS offers a one stop online shop providing free access to UK theses
• EThOS digitizes theses on request into PDF format, this may require payment
• EThOS is managed by the British Library in partnership with a number of UK universities
• EThOS is open to all categories of library user

What does this mean to you as a library user?

When you need to access a PhD thesis from another UK based HE institution you should check EThOS to either download a thesis which has already been digitised or to request that a UK thesis be supplied to you.

• For all UK theses EThOS will be the first point of delivery. You can use the online ordering and tracking system direct from EThOS to manage your requests for UK PhD theses, including checking the status of your requests
• As readers you will deal directly with EThOS so will not need to fill in a document delivery request
• OU staff and research students will still be entitled to access non-UK based PhD theses by filling in a document delivery request
• In some cases where EThOS is unable to supply a UK thesis OU staff and research students will be able to access it by filling in a conventional document delivery request. The thesis will be supplied through direct loan
• The EThOS system is both faster and cheaper than the previous British Theses service which was based on microfilm
• The British Library no longer arranges interlibrary loans for UK PhD theses
• Interlibrary Loan procedures for other types of request from the British Library (articles and books for example) will remain the same

If you have any queries about using EThOS contact the Document Delivery Team ( [email protected] or the Library Helpdesk ).

Note 13/03/2024: The British Library is continuing to experience a major technology outage affecting its websites and other online systems, due to a Cyber attack. as a result access to ETHOS might not be possible until the issue is fixed. 

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Theses and Dissertations: UK PhD Theses

• UK PhD Theses
• Overseas PhD Theses
• BU Theses & Dissertations This link opens in a new window

For Library Enquiries: tel. +44 (0) 1202 965959 Available 9am - 5pm Mon to Fri

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Using UK PhD Theses in EThOS

Obtaining Theses

• Thesis and Dissertation databases can be accessed via this BU Library webpage .
• If a thesis is not available full text online then it may be possible to obtain via the Inter-Library Loan service . The clarity of your request is enhanced if you attach a printout of the source details e.g. a record from one of the databases .
• Electronic Theses Online Service (EThOS) is the British Library service which provides full text open access to digital copies of UK PhD theses. The EThOS database contains records of over 250,000 UK theses, with the added functionality of being able to request access to digital copies of selected theses that have not already been digitised.
• Personal registration on EThOS is required to be able to download theses. Bournemouth University is an Open Access Sponsor of EThOS, so all BU theses are indexed.
• Theses which are already available to download have a pdf attached to the record. For those theses that do not have a pdf attached, you should select the record to check Availability of Full Text – there are 3 possible scenarios:
• The home institution will pay the digitisation cost and access will be free.
• The home institution will digitise the thesis, but you will be charged.  In these cases you should consult your supervisor as to how important the thesis is to your research and consider requesting payment via the Inter-Library Request Service.
• The thesis is not available via EThOS service. Please contact the current institution's library directly if you wish to view the thesis.

Doing a thesis at BU

This guide is to help with searching for theses from other institutions.

If you are doing a thesis at BU and want guidance to help with writing and completing your research see our PGR Guide

Subject Guide

• Next: Overseas PhD Theses >>
• Last Updated: Oct 18, 2023 11:46 AM
• URL: https://libguides.bournemouth.ac.uk/theses-dissertations

Theses and dissertation: Finding a UK thesis

• Finding a Sussex thesis
• Finding a UK thesis
• Finding an international thesis
• Help and Support

The Electronic Theses Online System

The Electronic Theses Online System is a service from the British Library that provides online access to the full-text of UK doctoral theses. It contains over 380,000+ records of doctoral theses from UK Higher Education Institutions. Many of these have already been digitised and are available for immediate download.

Can I request UK theses from other universities from the Library?

You no longer request theses from other universities through Sussex University's Interlibrary Requests service - you can access them directly via EThOS.

Do I need to register?

You do not need to register to search the 380,000+ records in the EThOS database, but you will need to register if you would like to download a thesis.

Are immediate downloads available?

If the thesis in which you are interested has already been digitised, you will be able to download it immediately without charge. If the thesis you need has not yet been digitised, there will be a short delay whilst digitisation takes place. You will then be notified by EThOS when the thesis is ready to be downloaded. Once the thesis has been digitised it is then available for immediate download by any other user.

Are all theses digitised?

Some theses cannot be digitised for copyright reasons. If this is the case with the thesis you need, please inform the Interlibrary Requests team who will investigate whether a hard copy can be borrowed directly from the relevant university.

Does this service cost me anything?

On rare occasions you may be asked by EThOS to pay for the digitisation of a thesis. This is because, although the majority of institutions participating in EThOS have agreed to pay for the digitisation of their own theses on request, some institutions have not.

In such cases, the Library will pay the cost of digitisation provided that funding is available. Please contact the Research Support team on Tel: 01273 877941 (int 7941) or Email: [email protected] with the full details of your request.

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Useful Links

Library Search

• Browse SRO theses Browse theses added to Sussex Research Online
• EThOS A service from the British Library that provides online access to the fulltext of UK doctoral theses. The EThOS database contains over 300,000+ records of doctoral theses from UK Higher Education Institutions.
• Copyright guide A practical guide on copyright issues in your thesis.
• << Previous: Finding a Sussex thesis
• Next: Finding an international thesis >>
• Last Updated: Feb 9, 2022 1:24 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.sussex.ac.uk/theses

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Answered By: Andrew Willan Last Updated: Apr 23, 2024     Views: 9641

DISCOVER and the Library Catalogue have been replaced by Library Search . We're busy updating all of our links, but in the meantime, please use Library Search when searching for resources or managing your Library Account.

The EThOS service is currently unavailable a result of a cyber-attack . Updates on British Library services are available via their blog .

Whilst the British Library is working to restore access to EThOS their online catalogue now provides access to digital doctoral theses held in UK institutional repositories - Using Advanced search and selecting 'Theses' from 'Material Type' dropdown menu  is recommended. To access these documents, search for a thesis and then click on a title of interest to view the full details for that work. The link can be found under the section labelled "View Online - External Resource Available" (in green) just above the "I want this" section (in red) at the bottom of the page.

See the following examples of finding theses that are available ( Available Online in green with a link to the thesis) and those that aren't (red box with 'This item is not currently available' text).

Available thesis

Unavailable thesis

EThOS (Electronic Theses Online Service) provides access to UK doctoral theses from The British Library, in association with higher education institutions in the UK. Most available theses are PhDs, but also other types of doctoral thesis, e.g. D.Ed., Mus.D., D.Eng (for M Phil and other theses contact our Get It For Me  service).

The EThOS service is currently unavailable. Updates on British Library services are available via their blog .

The British Library online catalogue now provides access to digital doctoral theses held in UK institutional repositories. To access these documents, search for a thesis and then click on a title of interest to view the full details for that work. The link can be found under the section labelled "View Online - External Resource Available" (in green) just above the "I want this" section (in red) at the bottom of the page.

You can search for all the UK theses currently listed in the British Library Catalogue and download any of the full-text theses that are already held in EThOS, either directly or via links to an institution’s own repository.  EThOS replaced the British Theses Service - microfilms are no longer available from the British Library.

How to use EThOS

To read or download theses:

• register for your own personal account with EThOS
• search the database yourself
• before you can download a thesis you must accept the terms and conditions of use; they protect the rights of the author or other rights owners
• if you need help, get in touch with the  Inter-Library Loans Team  or your Liaison Librarian .

If the doctoral thesis you want is held by EThOS you can download it immediately free of charge.

How to request a thesis that is not available for immediate download

If a digitised version of a thesis cannot be made available, EThOS will let you know. You can then make a request  through the  Get It For Me  service,  who will try to obtain the original copy of the thesis direct from the institution that holds it.

NOTE: Non-members of the University of Liverpool who wish to consult UoL theses and are unable to visit the Library in person should use the EThOS service to access them.

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Ordering a British thesis via EThOS

You can now download some British PhD theses directly from the British Library EThOS service.

• Any theses that have already been digitised or are available on the owning University's repository are available to download free of charge.
• Any theses that are not yet available can be ordered via EThOS but payment may be required for these - see below for details.

Searching for your thesis

• Go to EThOS
• Click on the 'Login / Register' option. Once you have created an account you can log in at any time with the email address and password you registered. Registration is free.
• When you log in, you will be directed to a page headed 'Your basket'. Click on ' New Search' at the top of the page.
• Enter your search in the box and click 'Search'. Searching tips! You can limit your search to items which are available for immediate download by ticking the box under the search box. Use the Advanced Search for a wider range of search options, e.g. limiting results to a particular University.
• A list of theses which match your search term will appear. Click on the title of the thesis you require to see further details.

Is the thesis available?

Once you have clicked on the title of thesis you will see one of the following options in the Availability of Full Text box:

Access from institution

If the thesis is available via the owning University's institutional repository, there will be a link to take you to the full text.

Access from EThOS

If there is a digitised version available in Ethos you will see a Download button. To access the thesis;

• Click on 'Download'
• Tick the check box to confirm you agree to the terms and conditions
• Click on ' Select All' and then 'Download'

If there is no digitised version available you are offered the option to pay for the cost of digitising the thesis - the current price is £53.10;

• Click on 'Check scan fee and order a copy'
• Choose the delivery option you require and click 'Add to Basket' (the default is a digital copy for download, but you can order paper / CD and bound copies)
• Tick the check box and click on 'Confirm'
• You need to tick the check box to confirm you agree to the terms and conditions then click on 'Create Order' - you will be asked to enter your payment card details
• The British Library team will arrange to have the thesis digitised and will send you a link to download it as soon as it is available.

What if I can't find the thesis I want?

You can enquire about a thesis whose details are not already in Ethos by completing their speculative request form

If you encounter any difficulties, please Contact inter-library loans

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British Library: EThOS (Electronic Theses Online Services)

EThOS is the UK’s national open access thesis service which aims to maximise the visibility and availability of the UK’s doctoral research theses. There are approximately 350,000 records relating to theses awarded by over 120 institutions. Around 120,000 of these also provide access to the full text thesis, either via download from the EThOS database or via links to the institution’s own repository. Of the remaining 250,000 records dating back to at least 1800, three quarters are available to be ordered for scanning through the EThOS digitisation-on-demand facility.

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Scholars ‘stumble through’ as British Library tools stay offline

Loss of access to ethos archive of 600,000 doctoral dissertations causes major disruption for phd students.

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PhD students have described “stumbling through” their research after losing access to the UK’s national database of doctoral theses, as disruption to the British Library’s digital archive following a devastating cyberattack enters its third month.

The UK’s national library has warned that some services could remain offline for “several months” after the attack by the Rhysida ransomware group – a Russia-linked unit also allegedly responsible for attacks on government institutions in Chile, Kuwait and Portugal – in late October.

Concern among many researchers focuses on the loss of the EThOS archive of 600,000 doctoral dissertations. About half of this site’s users are postgraduates.

Khadijah Na’eem, a PhD student at Royal Holloway, University of London , told Times Higher Education that the loss of “unlimited access” to the British Library’s digital archives had caused her significant difficulties.

“I am stumbling through my research without access to all of that beautiful knowledge, especially EThOS,” she said, adding that she “hoped that the British Library manage to work their way through this nasty attack soon”.

Before the creation of EThOS in 2009, researchers who wanted to access PhD dissertations from other institutional repositories had to apply to the British Thesis Service, and copies of a thesis would be sent to the library’s Boston Spa collection in West Yorkshire.

Academic librarians have also expressed hope that the service will be restored soon. With EThOS now regarded as one of the UK’s great open access resources, its loss would be “a harsh blow to research communities both in the UK and globally”, said Caroline Ball, academic librarian (business, law and social sciences) at the University of Derby .

“EThOS is the only free, open access, large-scale, aggregated source of UK dissertations available to researchers,” explained Ms Ball. “There are institutional repositories and subscription databases, but nothing else that does both for UK theses and researchers.”

EThOS is “also often the only place to find details of many pre-digital era, print-only theses – many of which are in fact digitised on behalf of universities by the British Library as a result of requests via EThOS,” added Ms Ball. “While much of the research itself is archived and duplicated elsewhere, there is no comparable source to bring together, promote and highlight open access to the crucial and innovative PhD research taking place within UK higher education institutions.”

Scott Shapiro, director of the Yale CyberSecurity Lab, said the British Library attack showed that hackers target not just “high-value stuff like passport information” but also data with low financial value but high strategic or reputational importance for governments. Customer data including passport scans is understood to have been offered for sale on the dark web.

“Ransomware is a hostage-taking situation,” explained Professor Shapiro. “The best situation from [the point of view of] a hostage taker is not to care about the information but for the victim to care a lot about it. The UK government obviously cares about its library holding – and it’s embarrassing to them, and they have deep pockets. Add that up and it’s a good play, although the UK intelligence services will be after this group, so it’s risky.”

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