Finding UK theses
SOLO
The Bodleian Libraries hold copies of some UK theses. These are listed on SOLO and may be ordered for delivery to a reading room.
These theses are not all catalogued in a uniform way. Adding the word 'thesis' as a keyword in SOLO may help, but this is unlikely to find all theses, and may find published works based upon theses as well as unpublished theses.
Card catalogue
Some early 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 request access to material in the catalogue, speak to library staff at the Main Enquiry Desk in the Lower Reading Room of the Old Bodleian Library, or contact us via reader.services@bodleian.ox.ac.uk or phone (01865 277162).
Other finding aids
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
You can use ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global to locate theses accepted for higher degrees at universities in the UK and Ireland since 1716. The service also provides abstracts of these theses.
Library Hub Discover
You can use Library Hub Discover to search the online catalogues of some of the UK’s largest university research libraries to see if a thesis is held by another UK library.
EThOS
EThOS is the UK’s national thesis service, managed by the British Library. It aims to provide a national aggregated record of all doctoral theses awarded by UK higher education institutions, with free access to the full text of many theses. It has around 500,000 records for theses awarded by over 120 institutions.
UTREES - University Theses in Russian, Soviet, and East European Studies 1907–
UTREES is a bibliographical database of research in the British Isles. The database has been continuously extended from the printed volume, most recently with 202 recent theses added in 2021. The database lists details of over 6,000 doctoral and selected masters’ theses from British and Irish universities. It covers research relating to Eastern and Central Europe, Russia and the area of the former USSR, including Central Asia, the Caucasus and Siberia.
Individual universities
You can also go to individual UK universities' sites for their online theses repositories.
You can purchase copies of Cambridge University theses through the Cambridge University Library's online order form. There is a standard charge of £75 (plus VAT and postage).
White Rose ETheses Online is an online repository of doctoral theses from the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York. It is part of a national and international network of open access online databases which promote access to research outputs. Many theses have been digitised by the British Library as part of the EThOS. However, there have been instances where theses are available via WhiteRose eTheses Online before they reach EThOS.
