Originally Posted on the (now-closed) blog _Free US ETDs (FUSE)_ as "ETDs freed here" Introduction The ubiquity of academic scholarship on the Internet and the ready availability of rich online digital media provide superior methods to broadly disseminate and responsibly preserve doctoral dissertations. Management and discovery of dissertations via Open Access repositories, combined with unfettered global distribution via scholarly sharing networks, offer far greater exposure, access to, and the potential for reuse of electronic theses and dissertations. Institutional decision makers interested in reviewing the many benefits of open ETDs in Open Access repositories may find the associated reading list of interest. Updated List of Institutions Promoting Open Access Dissertations The following American universities prefer ETD access from open access repositories. Research has shown that Universities that have shifted away from a ProQuest/UMI mandate see a precipitous decline in student uptake of that service (Potvin, 2012). Institutional data provided comes from the following published, authoritatitive sources: - The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education ® http://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/ - NSF National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Ranking of Graduate School size https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/ and https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/profiles/site?method=ranking&o=sr&s=a Note that the universities with NoQuest or Proquest-optional policies are all heavy-hitters in terms of research output and scholarly impact. Their institutional status is noted below in terms of Carnegie Classification; top ranking in graduate program size (according to NSF's Science and Engineering Doctorates Report and membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities. This list continues to grow. Please feel free to add a comment to let us know of any United States or Canadian institutions we’ve missed!
