Tracking the Elusive PhD Thesis Peggi Kamisato, W. M Tracking the Elusive PhD Thesis Peggi Kamisato, W.M. Keck Observatory, pkamisato@keck.hawaii.edu Xiaoyu Zhang, Gemini Observatory, xzhang@gemini.edu Abstract In addition to tracking the refereed publications, institutions are increasingly tasked with providing evidence of the educational impact. To accommodate this requirement from funding agencies, Gemini and Keck observatories have independently tracked PhD theses that are based on the respective observatory data. Commercial subscription services for dissertations are costly and usually geographically centric. University repositories of accessible theses are increasing but not universal. In this poster we share our methods and challenges in finding the observatory dissertations. Challenges Theses 2001-2015 We combined the Keck and Gemini theses entries for a simple look at possible trends regarding open access availability. For the time frame 2001-2015, Keck and Gemini have a combined total of 530 dissertations. Thirty-seven dissertations contained data obtained at both Keck and Gemini. We counted these once, resulting in a total of 493 theses. PhD theses/dissertations differ from refereed articles. Simply stated, theses are more difficult to find. The sources for theses seem boundless ̶ there many more universities granting PhDs than the number of astronomy journals . That means more sources to search. ADS is the first choice for a comprehensive literature search, but ADS does not cover theses to the same level found for journal articles and conference proceedings. Not every university provides a public repository of theses or has a repository that is full-text searchable. Additionally, a fair number of theses are written in foreign languages or by students from institutions that are not formally affiliated with the observatories. Open access Non-open access ADS bibcode No ADS bibcode Island of Oahu, home to Honolulu and Pearl Harbor Search Strategy SAO/NASA ADS Free, astronomy specific Observatory user communities Check repositories of partner organizations Send annual email to PIs Enlist assistance of directorate University repositories Number of repositories growing Search options vary among institutions Open access repository portals arXiv - https://arxiv.org/archive/astro-ph OATD - https://oatd.org/ BASE - https://www.base-search.net/ EThOS - http://ethos.bl.uk/ Trove - http://trove.nla.gov.au/general/theses PQDT Open - http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/search.html Commercial indexes Costly subscription rates Incomplete coverage Our method for discovering PhD thesis Island of Hawaii, site of Gemini and Keck observatories As observatory librarians we are asked to collect productivity metrics for our respective institutions. Refereed articles and PhD theses are the primary measures. 68% of this theses collection is indexed in the ADS collection. Only 42% of this same collection enjoys open access. Open Access and ADS availability by publication year Submission of PhD abstracts to ADS lag by several years. We don’t believe ADS rates are dropping as the graph would seem to indicate. W.M. Keck Observatory has two telescopes on Mauna Kea, Island of Hawaii, USA. The founding institutions are University of California and California Institute of Technology. The University of Hawaii, NASA, University of Swinburne, Yale University and Australian National University also have access to telescope time. Gemini Observatory has two telescopes, one on Mauna Kea, Hawaii and the second on Cerro Pachon, Chile. Gemini is operated by a consortium of Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Canada and United States. Australia and South Korea, as limited-term collaborators, as well as University of Hawaii also have access to telescope time. Keck & Gemini Conclusions Open access to dissertations is gaining popularity. As a community, librarians should encourage PhDs to submit their work (at minimum an abstract) to the ADS/Zenodo Astronomy Thesis Collection. Open access repository portals are the best place to locate theses so far. They provide a single search engine across a number of institution repositories and are usually full-text searchable. Acknowledgements W.M. Keck Observatory, is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W.M. Keck Foundation. The Gemini Observatory is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the NSF on behalf of the Gemini partnership: the National Science Foundation (United States), the National Research Council (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), the Australian Research Council (Australia), Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (Brazil) and Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva (Argentina). Gemini Observatory forefront at sunset Keck Observatory forefront at sunrise