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.

Further information

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.