Other international theses
Finding theses
The Bodleian Libraries hold copies of many theses. These are listed on SOLO, the University’s library catalogue, and can be ordered so that you can consult them in a library.
Card catalogue
Many continental European theses accepted for higher degrees and published before 1973 are held in the Bodleian Libraries but are not yet catalogued on SOLO. These holdings can be found in the Foreign Dissertations Catalogue card index. To access material in this catalogue, speak to staff at the Main Enquiry Desk in the Lower Reading Room of the Bodleian Old Library, or contact us by reader.services@bodleian.ox.ac.uk or phone (01865 277162).
Other finding aids
You can use Library Hub Discover to search the online catalogues of some of the largest university research libraries in the UK and Ireland to see whether the thesis has been purchased by another university library.
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global is a collection of 5 million citations and 2.5 million full-text works from thousands of universities all over the world. Full-text coverage spans from 1743 to the present, with citations dating back to 1637. Many of the theses in the collection are from the US, but it also includes many European, Canadian and Mexican theses.
OAIster is a union catalogue of digital resources from universities and other institutions from all over the world, and includes many recent theses.
The DART-Europe E-theses Portal aims to provide researchers with a single portal for the discovery of Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs), allowing you to search over 800,000 full-text European theses.
Open Grey is a system for information on Grey Literature in Europe, which provides open access to 700,000 bibliographical references of grey literature (paper) produced in Europe, including doctoral dissertations, and allows you to export records and locate the documents.
The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations is a repository of over 6 million electronic theses and dissertations from around the world.
Open Access Theses and Dissertations aims to provide a resource to find open access graduate theses and dissertations published around the world.
The catalogues of national libraries may help in tracking down theses from their countries.
Hong Kong
- The HKU Scholars Hub: Theses: The Hong Kong University Theses Collection holds theses and dissertations submitted for higher degrees to the University of Hong Kong since 1941.
India
- Shodhganga: provides a platform for research students to deposit their PhD theses and make them available to the entire scholarly community in open access.
Japan
Pakistan
- Pakistan Research Repository: aims to be a digital archive of all PhD theses produced in the country to promote the intellectual output of Pakistani institutions.
South Korea
- RISS International: free access to the full text of theses and dissertations on a complete spectrum of subjects from 160 Korean universities, and of dissertations authored by Koreans who obtained their doctoral degrees from non-Korean institutions.
Taiwan
- NDLTD in Taiwan: includes PhD dissertations and Master theses from Taiwan.
- Trove: a free repository which includes almost 1 million Australian theses and some New Zealand theses.
- nzresearch.org.nz: open access repository providing free access to research outputs produced by staff and researchers at a number of colleges and universities based in New Zealand.
- Theses Canada: allows you to find theses in the Library and Archives Canada collection, which was established in 1965.
- Many Canadian theses dating from 1990 onwards can also be found on ProQuest Dissertation and Theses Global.
Austria
- Oesterreichische Dissertationsdatenbank: references over 55,000 dissertations and theses held at Austrian universities; select dissertations are available online.
France
- ABES: Agence Bibliographique de l'Enseignement Superieur: citations to French dissertations.
- Atelier national de reproduction des thèses: French Government body responsible for ensuring distribution and reproduction of all authorized French university PhD theses in paper, microfilm and electronic format.
- DUMAS: Dépôt Universitaire de Mémoires Après Soutenance/University Post-Viva Dissertation Deposit: an open portal contains the board-approved works of graduate students in a variety of subjects; also includes some more specific undergraduate works within the paramedical field.
- The Sudoc catalogue lets you search over 13 million bibliographic records for all types of documents, including theses, held by French academic libraries and other higher education institutions. Instructions on searching are available in English and French.
- TEL: Theses-en-ligne (PhD)
Germany
- DissOnline (The Deutsche Bibliothek): the ordinary catalogue/Hochschulschriften can be used to search for all German theses. This database can also be searched via Google.
- Karlsruhe University: a "supra-catalogue" useful for searching for German theses, embracing a number of German resources, but also covers Austria, Switzerland and other countries to some extent.
All German doctoral theses have to be published, and should be more widely available than their British counterparts.
Greece
Ireland
All Irish theses can be found using Proquest Dissertations & Theses Global.
Portugal
- RCAAP: an online digital library of doctoral (PhD) and Masters' dissertations and theses completed in Portuguese universities.
Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States
- DissEng.com: a large scientific information resource presents a catalogue of dissertations.
Scandinavia
Spain
- TESEO: Bases de Datos de Tesis Doctorales
- Dialnet: run by the University of La Rioja, contains theses from various Spanish universities that are accessible online.
- Virtual Library Miguel de Cervantes: makes available a selection of Spanish theses, with the addition of some theses from American universities written in Spanish. Not available in English.
- TDX: Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa: a digital cooperative repository of doctoral theses presented at some Spanish universities since 2007.
Some Spanish theses can be found using Proquest Dissertations & Theses Global.
Sweden
- Dissertations.se: search among university dissertations from Sweden, written in English.
- Lund University Dissertations: provides information on doctoral theses presented at the university since 1996.
- Karolinska Institutet: holds information on its doctoral theses from 1995 onwards.
- SwePub: search among scholarly articles, conference papers and dissertations from Swedish universities.
Brazil
- Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações (BDTD): theses and dissertations from Brazil's teaching and research institutions.
Copies and copying
Printed dissertations may be copied up to the normal limits, although some 19th century theses may be subject to conservation restrictions. See our copying guide for details.
Copying from paper theses obtained through inter-library request from international libraries will depend on restrictions imposed by the library lending the item.
