eThesis Archiving Report

Based on conversations with library staff from 5 UK institutions, a survey of Doctoral students, a survey of university library and academic registry staff, and online semi-structured group interviews with doctoral college and library repository staff across 5 institutions).
Findings include: a general skills gap regarding digital preservation of e-theses amongst repository and library staff, for staff and students, a perceived lack of written policies to help them to understand the key concerns relating to digital preservation of e-theses, debates about who should be responsible for the preservation of e-theses.
The report includes detailed policy recommendations, including that doctoral training regarding data management and digitally preserving e-Theses should be mandated to be made available to both doctoral researchers and PhD supervisors. To that end the associated training pack developed by the DRC will provide a helpful resource.

The full report can be downloaded here:
Cole, G., Fry, J., Maynard, S., & Turpin, H. (2026). A Study of the digital preservation of e-Theses within UK universities. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19921160