Discover unique research content inside the pages of doctoral theses.

The EThOS e-theses service is a free research tool giving you access to virtually all UK doctoral research.

• It’s an aggregated record of all doctoral theses awarded by all UK universities
• And it’s a single point of access to the full text of as many theses as possible for use by all researchers.

You can uncover existing research relating to your own area of study, download the theses you need to read, and find examples of well-structured theses and methodologies. You can find out about specific research undertaken at different universities, or see the research that academics have supervised.

Over 580,000 theses are listed, covering PhDs and other doctoral degrees awarded by every Higher Education institution in the UK. Participating institutions are listed here 

When you find a title you want to read, you’ll discover one of these options for accessing the full thesis:

• Immediate download – Over 300,000 theses free to download direct to your desk to support your research
• Order from print – When a thesis exists only in print, you can order a scanned copy quickly and easily. There’ll be a delay while the digitisation is completed, and you may have to pay a scan fee. Find out more 
• Embargoed or restricted – Sometimes an author or university may need to restrict access to a thesis for a short time or even indefinitely. Theses are often embargoed while the author is preparing their research for publication. Access may also be restricted to maintain confidentiality and protect sensitive information. The decision to restrict access to a thesis rests with the author and/or the institution and not with EThOS. If you would like to understand more about a particular embargoed item, you’ll need to contact the awarding university for more information
• Full thesis not available – Sometimes we have no further information about the full thesis. You’ll need to check the university’s own library webpages for further information.

We’re aiming to list every doctoral thesis ever written but we do have some gaps. If you can’t find the thesis you’re looking for, first make sure it’s a doctoral-level UK title, then send us the details and we’ll check and add it.

New theses are being added all the time, so keep checking back to find more unique research content hidden inside the pages of the UK’s doctoral theses.

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