THE GEOSCIENCE THESIS OR DISSERTATION AND INCORPORATION OF PRIOR PUBLICATIONS: IMPACTS ON USERS AND CHALLENGES FOR LIBRARIANS

Graduate students in the geosciences are increasingly encouraged to publish their research before completing a thesis or dissertation. The published articles may then be incorporated into the final thesis with only minor formatting changes. In cases of “PhD with publications” a significant part of the thesis can consist of published articles. There are clear benefits for the graduate student in terms of experience, an established publication record and a wider audience for their research. However, this practice changes the traditional nature of the thesis and raises issues with intellectual property, access, usage and data management. Librarians must address these issues to provide optimal support for both student authors and content users. A study of theses in geology and related fields at the Colorado School of Mines was done to determine the extent to which authors’ prior publications were used, identify trends by discipline, and examine how the publications were incorporated into the thesis. This study provides a framework to explore impacts on users, librarians, and the scholarly communication process.