Brock has launched an e-thesis submission protocol for graduate students.

Brock graduate students have found their place on the digital scholarly map with the launch of the University’s E-Thesis submission protocol for all graduate programs.

The Faculty of Graduate Studies and the James A. Gibson Library are celebrating the completion of a two-year pilot project aimed at facilitating electronic submission for all Master’s and Doctoral Theses as part of Open Access Week, which runs Oct. 22-26. The submission protocol launched Tuesday.

“It’s been a team effort, with staff from the Library, the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Information Technology Services working to set up policies, procedures and the digital repository infrastructure” said Barbara McDonald, associate university librarian for Collections and Liaison Services.

“The project was enthusiastically received by students and by graduate programs. Everyone recognizes the benefits this will have for students and for research activities at Brock.”

Mike Plyley, Dean of Graduate Studies, has watched the project progress since the beginning, serving as project sponsor overseeing the pilot phase, which involved the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences.

“As we proceeded with each phase of the project, we received very positive feedback from graduate students who are very comfortable working in a digital environment,” Plyley said. “Our graduate students are doing wonderful things and we want to provide them with exposure on a global scale. That’s what this project has accomplished.”

McDonald pointed to statistics that show a dramatic increase in the citation of work that is published electronically.

“Through this project we’ve ensured that our emerging scholars and scientists can function effectively in a digital research environment and significantly increase the impact of their research,” McDonald said.

The first electronic thesis program began at the University of Waterloo in 1999. By 2009, 16 Canadian universities had implemented a program. Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has been collecting theses since 1965 and electronic theses since 2003. Starting January 2014, LAC will no longer accept paper theses.

The Brock community joins the worldwide academic and research community in celebrating Open Access Week. Open access, the principle that scholarly information should be available to readers immediately, free-of-charge through the Internet, is a growing movement throughout the world.

Increasingly, agencies that fund research agencies are embracing the idea that publicly funded research should be easily accessible to all. Agencies in the U.K., U.S. and Canada have an expectation that researchers will publish their findings via open access channels, such as journals and repositories.

Here’s a preview of events for Open Access Week events at Brock. Also visit Open Access Week online.

• Monday, Oct. 22 – Brock Journal Editors Roundtable
Noon to 1 p.m., E-Classroom/TH 253
Facilitator: Tim Ribaric

• Wednesday Oct. 24 – Learn How to Find Copyright-free Materials
10 to 11 a.m., E-Classroom/TH 253
Presented by Chabriol Colebatch, Copyright Co-ordinator (co-sponsored by CPI)

• Thursday, Oct. 25 – The Cost of Knowledge: is Open Access the Answer?
Noon to 1 p.m., E-Classroom/TH 253

• Friday, Oct. 26, 2012 – Opening the Data Vault – and closing the lid on license agreements
Noon to 1 p.m., E-Classroom/TH 253
Presented by Brock University Library’s Data Research Service Team