Research NavigationFind Doctoral Dissertations

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Guide to searching and obtaining doctoral dissertations (academic theses) submitted to universities in Japan, including Waseda, and overseas.

What are Doctoral Dissertations?

Doctoral dissertations are academic theses submitted to obtain doctorate degrees. Doctoral dissertations are stored and made available as follows:

Held by libraries at the university where the thesis was submitted
Held by the national library of the respective country (in Japan’s case, the Kansai-kan, the branch library of the National Diet Library)
Made available at no charge on the respective university’s Web site (institutional repository). Usually, only dissertations submitted in the last few years are available.
Sold as a book
Sold by specialized vendors (primarily North American doctoral dissertations)

Doctoral Dissertations at Waseda

Waseda doctoral dissertations are stored at the Honjo Deposit Library (in Honjo campus) and nearly all are searchable online from WINE. Doctoral dissertations must be sent to the Central Library or campus libraries before you can use them. Many of the dissertations submitted in recent years can be viewed for free via WINE on the Internet. See How to Search and Use Waseda Doctoral Dissertations for more details on using them. In case you prefer to glance through the dissertations' abstract/title of each graduate school, please consult the respective graduate school office. For dissertations the author permitted to be on public online, their full texts can be read through 'Community and Collection' on DSpace @ Weaseda University Library (Repository).

Doctoral Dissertations at Other Universities

Finding doctoral dissertations is quite different from the way to find other academic articles. For example, CiNii Articles, a major website to search academic articles, holds only a few of data on doctoral dissertations (as of Feb. 2012) .

Visiting other university library

You can find doctoral dissertations submitted to other universities using respective university's collection catalogs or doctoral dissertation search systems. Today, more and more doctoral dissertations are being published on the Internet. Be sure to confirm the usage conditions on the respective university's (library's) Web site before visiting other universities. In most cases, a letter of introduction or an advance inquiry is necessary. In case of requesting a copy of part of a dissertation, it must be less than half of total pages due to the copy right. For ordering all pages copy, obtaining an consent from the copyright holder is required in some cases. Please consult the staff at the reference desks in Waseda University Libraries for more information.

Using non-Waseda Libraries (Waseda University Library Web site)
Information on visiting other libraries, ordering materials and guide to libraries under cooperative agreements.

Visiting the National Diet Library

You can also use NDL-OPAC, a system for searching the holdings of the National Diet Library, to search for all the doctoral dissertations (which are received since September. 1923) held by the National Diet Library, including the dissertations which they succeeded from the Imperial library.. Doctoral dissertations are stored at the Kansai-kan. If you are using the Tokyo-kan, you must apply to have the materials sent from the Kansai-kan. The National Diet Library will not lend them to university libraries (through ILL). Also note that you need to obtain the copyright holder's consent to copy all pages of the doctoral dissertation.

NDL-OPAC [National Diet Library] (public Web site)
A system for searching the holdings of the National Diet Library. You need to click the check box on for the "Doctoral Dissertations" in the "Material Types" field on the right side of the advance search page when you start searching.
Domestic Doctoral Dissertations [National Diet Library] (public Web site)（in Japanese only)
A guide to using Japanese doctoral dissertations created by the National Diet Library.

Searching academic information available online.

Japanese Institutional Repositories Online (JAIRO) [National Institute of Informatics] (public Web site)
A service for searching academic information (scientific journal articles, academic theses, research bulletins, research reports, etc.) accumulated in Japan's academic and institutional repositories. It is possible to search among doctoral dissertations only. Note that while most doctoral dissertations can be used in full text, some of them are not.

Doctoral Dissertations Overseas

It is possible to search for doctoral dissertations overseas through the respective university or national library of the respective country. Another possibility is purchasing doctoral dissertations from or through databases or specialized vendors. If, after finding the doctoral dissertations, you cannot purchase them yourself, ask at a Waseda University Library reference desk about either ordering the materials or visiting the library. If you are not able to purchase a dissertation by your own, following options could be considered. Please consult a reference service.

Request to loan the original dissertations (Book form or Microform)
Purchase full-page copy
Visit other libraries

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT)　(Library subscription database)
A database of academic theses (doctoral dissertations and master's theses) mostly from the United States and Canada but also from Europe. Contains full texts of dissertations/thesis which their authors consented.
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD)　(public Web site)
A site for searching and browsing electronic theses and dissertations (ETD) using NDLTD’s data drawn from more than 70 institutions worldwide, especially North America. Able to search and list by country and by language. Some documents can be viewed in their full texts.
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses-UK&Ireland (Library subscription database)
A database for searching and browsing dissertations submitted to universities in England or Ireland. Some dissertations submitted in England can be obtained online via British Library EThOS. Note that there are a number of free based dissertations but still there are some fee-based ones, or, those are not digitalized yet.
Dissertation Express [ProQuest] (public Web site)
A search and sales service for academic theses supplied by ProQuest. The service can be used from the Sunmedia site, the official Japanese distributor. You can order theses from Sunmedia by e-mail or fax. (Please make orders by yourself.)
YUSHODO Dissertation Service Center (YDSC) (public Web site)
Able to search for and buy dissertations from the UK, the US, France, and other countries.
WorldCat.org [OCLC] (public Web site)
The world's largest bibliographic database. You can restrict searches to thesis/dissertation on the Advanced Search page. The site gives the locations of materials as well as their bibliographic information.
NDL-OPAC [National Diet Library] (public Web site)
The National Diet Library collects doctoral dissertations from overseas as well as from Japan. The Kansai-kan holds Western doctoral dissertations mainly in the science and technical fields, and the Tokyo-kan holds doctoral dissertations on Japan-related subjects in the humanities and social sciences.
Foreign Doctoral Dissertations (General Notes) [National Diet Library] (public Web site)(in Japanese only)
In addition to general notes, this site includes links to regional-specific guides. (in Japanese)
Using non-Waseda Libraries (Waseda University Library Web site)
Information on visiting other libraries and ordering theses.

Research Navigation No.4-E Waseda University Library Feb.10.2012