PQDT As A Dataset

ETD 2013 - 16th International Symposium on Electronic Theses and Dissertations Hong Kong 2013

Most top-ranked research universities – as defined by the Carnegie Foundation – publish with ProQuest

Includes works by authors from more than 1,700 graduate schools and universities the world over

The number of new dissertations and theses published annually is nearly 90,000

Universities such as Harvard, Yale and Princeton have participated for more than 50 years

Not just PhDs – Thousands of Master’s Degrees are published each year

Scope of Dissertation Distribution Program

2

For 70 years, millions of researchers have looked at PQDT to find the latest graduate research

ProQuest provides dissertation citations to all major field or subject specific indexes, for example ChemAbstracts, PsycINFO, ERIC, ABI/INFORM, etc.

Global access – ProQuest publishes the world’s most widely used PhD and master’s theses research tools

Maximizes discoverability – More than 200,000,000 searches in PQDT in 2012 alone!

ProQuest is a non-exclusive publisher

Author keeps their copyright

3

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Collection

Indiana University Cassidy R. Sugimoto, PI Indiana University, Bloomington

Ying Ding, Co-PI Indiana University, Bloomington Staša Milojević, Co-PI Indiana University, Bloomington --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “We are examining the contribution of doctoral students to social

science research and the impact of that research.” “We will also examine an advisor's knowledge base, knowledge

diffusion practices, and whether they are involved in expanding knowledge frontiers and how these are related to the career trajectories and future success of their doctoral students.”

“The ultimate goal is to produce a viable framework and set of analyses that would enable predicting advisee success based on advisor qualities and student’s publication practices in the course of their doctoral studies. “

Johns Hopkins University United States Federal Trade Commission Matthew Chesnes – Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Economics; Johns

Hopkins University Douglas A. Herman – Nathan Associates Project Goal: Characterize long-run trends in the supply of graduate degree recipients --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Data can be used to analyze the observable characteristics of graduate degree earners over time.

Explore the number of degrees granted each year by degree type, school, and academic subject.

A similar detailed study will be performed for each discipline.

Johns Hopkins University United States Federal Trade Commission Matthew Chesnes – Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Economics; Johns

Hopkins University Douglas A. Herman – Nathan Associates Project Goal: Characterize long-run trends in the supply of graduate degree recipients --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Explore variation in outcomes of graduate degree earners by observable characteristics.

More sophisticated econometric methods will be employed to analyze these data.

Pennsylvania State University

“Converting Dissertation to Patent Applications: A Study in Four Disciplines”

Nancy Butkovich, Associate Librarian, Head Physical and Mathematical Sciences Library

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Documenting the frequency which dissertations in chemical

engineering, chemistry, physics, and mathematics are converted into U.S. patent applications

Investigating the relationship between dissertation approval data and patent application filing dates.

Study was conducted because dissertations are usually considered prior art in the patent examination process and she did not find any previous studies that addressed conversion frequency from dissertations to patents.

Brandeis University

Lincoln Mullen, PhD candidate in the History Department ------------

Analyzing changes in history dissertations over time

Comparing dissertations in history to dissertations in other fields

How long are the average dissertations? What years are dissertations written about?

Studies to date have been done at a single university. Want to broaden it to multiple universities

Publish results in a journal read by history faculty

University of California - Berkeley

Jon Stiles, Executive Director, California Census Research Data Center Director of Archive Services, UC Data Archive & Technical Assistance

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Researcher working with several staff in the UC Berkeley Library on a

project which looks at the resources cited in UC Berkeley doctoral students’ dissertations.

Investigating the extent to which the citations are part of UC Berkeley’s holdings.

Relying on the references identified in a search of doctoral dissertation in ProQuest Dissertations and Theses

Thank you.