1. Electronic Theses On-line System (UK EThOS) Opening Access To UK Theses International Plagiarism Conference 2008 Kevin OLeary & Anthony Troman

2. Aims The aim of EThOS is, through a collaborative approach: –To offer a single point of access where researchers the world over can access ALL Doctoral theses produced by UK Higher Education –To support HEIs through the transition from print to e-theses –To help UK HEIs expand available e-content by digitising paper theses –To demonstrate the quality of UK research and help attract students and research investment into UK HE

3. A system for all –Supports the Open Access aspirations of UK HE –Offers a single point of access to all UK theses –Harvests e-theses from Institutional Repositories (Free) –Generates e-content by digitising paper theses (on a not-for- profit basis) –Delivers theses to the researcher in the format required (Download free, other formats charged to the researcher) –Returns digitised theses to institutions for loading to their IR (Free) –Preserves e-born and digitised theses in perpetuity (Free) –Enables the participation of any HEI, small or large, with or without an IR –Working with institutions to offer plagiarism protection

4. Workflows

5. The Central Hub – a one-stop-shop

6. Plagiarism Detection One of the key concerns raised from an independent evaluation of the EThOS feasibility study carried out by Key Perspectives Ltd and UCL Library Services in 2006 was plagiarism. Almost 80% of respondents to the survey feel that plagiarism checks against deposited theses would be useful. Only 5% of respondents view this as not useful. Issue of Plagiarism is one of prevention to avoid students cheating in their own submission for a degree (thus affecting the reputation of the institution) and to protect the integrity and outputs of an institutions own students. The EThOS team have been working closely with JISC iPAS and iParadigms on a solution – the benefit for EThOS being a black box solution using established technologies and established procedures within institutions.

7. Plagiarism Detection TK Approach taken: E-theses uploaded to or digitised by EThOS are then uploaded into the iParadigms database. Institutions can then use their own subscriptions to carry out plagiarism checks across the entire UK output. This option meets the requirements of the HE community through their own established practice. Provides a value-added service to the community and removes the need for piecemeal submission to the iParadigms database by institutions. EThOS has no liability other than to ensure and guarantee that e-theses are submitted to the iParadigms database to support local plagiarism checking.

8. So when does it all happen? Updated, enhanced Toolkit available now: http://ethostoolkit.cranfield.ac.uk EThOS system – September 2008 More information: www.ethos.ac.uk Human help: info@ethos.ac.uk KOL

9. Thank –You KOL