Keith,
You raise an interesting question. We are just working through the
implementation of a mandate here at Southampton. We are aware that the
risk management takes on an order of magnitude in the electronic
environment, but when it comes to the principle of public access the
situation here is on a par with the existing policy for print.
The assumption is that all theses will be made publicly available unless
it is agreed that there is a valid reason not to do this e.g. data that
has not been anonym zed, confidentiality, protection of IPR, honouring
agreements with sponsors etc. Even then in most cases there will be an
agreed embargo of no more than 3 years. These decisions are made in
conjunction with supervisors and are ultimately approved by the School
through the relevant committees. For our electronic deposit supervisors
and students both sign the deposit agreement. The supervisor/s will be
best placed to analyse the risk, referring to our ethics committees as
appropriate. There is a clear steer that if there is any doubt they
should seek advice from our Research Support Office.
The real test will be in the full implementation. It is early days for
us extending reach across all the disciplines. We have had a few years
of e-thesis deposit in some subject areas and luckily have not
encountered too many problems yet.
It seems that a lot of institutions in the UK are looking seriously at
this issue at the moment. We have probably got a few things to learn
from our colleagues in the US, Australia and elsewhere who already have
well established processes.
Wendy
-----Original Message-----
From: Repositories discussion list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nockels, K.H.
Sent: 24 May 2007 17:38
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Question for colleagues archiving theses
Dear All,
We are about to start archiving PhD theses in our institutional
repository.
I know of students here who are concerned that doing this will make
details of their animal work too available. Have others encountered
this?
If so, have you made any special arrangements for such theses?
Deposit here is voluntary - I'd be interested to know what you are doing
or plan to do about this issue if deposit in your institution is
mandatory.
Many thanks,
Best wishes,
Keith
Keith Nockels
Leicester Research Archive Manager
University of Leicester
Leicester, England - UK
Postal address: Clinical Sciences Library, University of Leicester,
RKCSB, PO Box 65, Leicester LE2 7LX, UK
Tel. +44 (0)116 252 3101
Email: [log in to unmask]
Leicester Research Archive: promoting the University's research.
Visit http://www.le.ac.uk/library/research/archive.html for more
information.
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