This is quite interesting -- how many copies do you have to get printed, Michael? And is there a requirement for proper print, as opposed to word- processing/photocopying?
In UK universities the student typically has to provide three or four copies of their thesis, which nowadays they usually word-process themselves and then photocopy. But they have to be properly bound, so I guess that the total cost (paper, toner, photocopying and binding) to the student isn't far short of $400 -- over $200, anyway. But here the students usually just groan and bear it! Fytton. Quoting "M. Meier" <meie...@gmx.de>: > As many of you wonder about the "outdated" media in which the > dissertation > is published, I will give you the obvious explanation: The University of > Munich requires that all Ph.D manuscripts have to be handed in in print > form, no > online or CD-ROM version allowed. To recover the printing costs (appr. $ > 400), > every Ph.D. candidate tries to find a decent enough publisher to get at > least a small percentage back. My publisher, a newly founded PoD > boutique, would > not be very happy if the book appeared as a free document on the www. > > Regards > > Michael Meier > > > > > > This is an interesting point. In some disciplines, there is a > tradition > > of > > writing journal articles based on one's PhD research -- some of them > > perhaps > > published before the thesis is written -- while in other fields the > > practice is > > to turn one's thesis into a book. However, the thesis itself, in its > > original > > form as an examination document, is usually made publicly available in > the > > library of its home university, and is indexed in various secondary > > services > > such as Dissertation Abstracts. If universities in future mostly have > > OAI- > > compliant servers, and theses are submitted in electronic as well as > > printed > > form, there seems to be no obstacle to each university mounting its > own > > theses > > on its server for free worldwide access. > > > > But... Stevan often makes the point that his concern is purely with > the > > scholarly journal literature, which is given away by its authors, and > > which > > should be avialable free of charge to other scholars. He goes on to > say > > that > > this argument does not apply to other kinds of publication for which > > authors > > are traditionally paid, which is the case with books, even scholarly > > books. On > > that argument, having to pay 30 Euros for Meier's book is o.k. > > > > Hmm... So, if we are in a discipline that uses journals, free access > is > > o.k.; > > free access to the raw thesis is also o.k.; but if the discipline is > one > > that > > has the tradition of a book based on the thesis, then free access is > not > > o.k. > > What do others think of this line of argument? > > > > Fytton. > > > > Fytton Rowland, Dept of Information Science, Loughborough University, > UK. > > > > Quoting Thomas Krichel <kric...@openlib.org>: > > > > > M. Meier writes > > > > > > > An exposé is availabel under > http://www.ep.uni-muenchen.de/themen.htm. > > > The > > > > book as a whole will unfortunately not be available online for > free. > > > > > > I understand that the book is Michael's PhD thesis. I think that > > > it would be interesting to understand the reasons why it is not > > > freely available online. If the FOS movement can not convince > scholars > > > in scholarly communication to make their work freely available > online, > > > we do have a problem. I would like to understand what the problem > is > > > here. > > > > > > Cheers, > > > > > > Thomas Krichel > > > mailto:kric...@openlib.org > > > > > > http://openlib.org/home/krichel > > > > > > RePEc:per:1965-06-05:thomas_krichel > > > > > > > > > > -- > GMX - Die Kommunikationsplattform im Internet. > http://www.gmx.net > >