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: library.researchsupport@sussex.ac.uk with the full details of your request.
