Knowledge Transfer: the UNESCO guide for developing countries on electronic theses and dissertations

ETDs initiatives are operating all over the world, e.g. NDLTD (http://www.ndltd.org), the project Cyberthéses (http://www.cybertheses.org), Dissertation Online (http://www. dissonline.de). Those projects have been recognized as a cost-effective and self-sustainable mechanism for modernizing IT in higher education institutions. ETD projects involve the joint participation of students, researchers, faculty, staff, administrators and librarians, as well as system and network administrators. They train students, faculty and administrative staff in libraries and media center to cope with multimedia issues. Within this several projects a number of institutions worldwide have already established guidelines for the creation and dissemination of ETDs. The partners vision, and the objective pursued by this guide is the conception and creation of an inter-related system for the distribution of theses on an international level. Researchers and students all over the world now commonly use on-line documents and resources. Far from commercial gains the real needs of students and researchers all over the world lies in the widest possible diffusion and use of research results via free access to theses through a single interface, and without institutional or geographical borders or barriers. Many projects for publishing and distributing theses are already under way around the world. The results are conclusive. Hundreds of thousands of students and researchers have already distributed their thesis, or read and used those of their colleagues. The tendency is clear. With the interest raised by the diffusion of theses on the Web, many institutions are conceiving and implementing these projects.