The Singapore Management University (SMU) now contributes to the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Database (PQDT), the largest commercial repository of postgraduate works. The initiative, led by the Li Ka Shing Library in collaboration with the Office of Research and the Office of Legal and General Affairs, is part of its institutional repository road map to provide better access to research and scholarship at SMU.
“This is an exciting step as we welcome our first publishing partner from Singapore,” said Austin McLean, ProQuest’s Director of Dissertations Publishing. “We’re confident this will enhance PQDT’s regional coverage of dissertations and enable researchers who rely on this database to have a more richly constructed global perspective on business, legal and social sciences issues.” [http://www.proquest.com/en-US/aboutus/pressroom/10/20100811.shtml]
Discussions with ProQuest began in late 2008. SMU’s Institutional Repository Advisory Committee, comprising senior management members, deliberated on publishing policy and options for the postgraduate works. Foregoing traditional publishing options where royalties are involved, SMU offers its students a choice of three publishing options for their works:
- Open access based on PQDT Open model (which means that access to the full text of the works is free of charge)
- Open access with an initial embargo period based on PQDT Open model
- Restricted access i.e. access to SMU members only via its SMU Repository.
SMU postgraduate students will be able to submit their electronic dissertations and theses into the repository directly and to provide the necessary licensing permissions on the new institutional repository platform from next month. The Li Ka Shing Library staff will then submit the works into PQDT.
Contributed by Paolina Martin
Li Ka Shing Library, Singapore Management University