An Investigation of ETDs as Prior Publications: Findings from the 2011 NDLTD Publishers’ Survey

Gail McMillan, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Marisa L. Ramirez, California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo
Joan Dalton, University of Windsor
Max Read, University of British Columbia
Nancy H. Seamans, Georgia State University

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Presented at the 14th International Symposium on Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 13-17 September 2011, Cape Town, South Africa, as "Do ETDs Deter Publishers? Does Web availability count as prior publication?" Also included in the Proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Electronic Theses and Dissertations.

Published by National Research Foundation, South Africa, 13 September 2011.

ISBN: 978-0-620-51049-3

Abstract

Do publishers and editors of scholarly journals view theses and dissertations that are readily available on the Internet andthrough convenient Web browsers as prior publications? This has been a topic of discussion for well over a decade in theETD community, not only of concern to graduate schools and libraries but also among research faculty and their graduatestudents. At the same time that a growing number of universities worldwide are requiring ETDs and making the researchand scholarship of their graduate students publicly available, many faculty advise their students to restrict online accessto their theses and dissertations due to concerns about future publication options. This paper reports on the 2011 surveyresults of journal editors' and university press directors' attitudes toward online theses and dissertations. This data and theopen-ended comments from the survey respondents indicate support for open access to ETDs.