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The declining scientific impact of theses: Implications for electronic thesis and dissertation repositories and graduate studies

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  • Vincent Larivière

    (Université du Québec à Montréal
    McGill University)

  • Alesia Zuccala

    (Rathenau Instituut)

  • Éric Archambault

    (Université du Québec à Montréal
    Science-Metrix)

Abstract

Although the writing of a thesis is a very important step for scientists undertaking a career in research, little information exists on the impact of theses as a source of scientific information. Knowing the impact of theses is relevant not only for students undertaking graduate studies, but also for the building of repositories of electronic theses and dissertations (ETD) and the substantial investment this involves. This paper shows that the impact of theses as information sources has been generally declining over the last century, apart from during the period of the ‘golden years’ of research, 1945 to 1975. There is no evidence of ETDs having a positive impact; on the contrary, since their introduction the impact of theses has actually declined more rapidly. This raises questions about the justification for ETDs and the appropriateness of writing monograph style theses as opposed to publication of a series of peer-reviewed papers as the requirement for fulfilment of graduate studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Vincent Larivière & Alesia Zuccala & Éric Archambault, 2008. "The declining scientific impact of theses: Implications for electronic thesis and dissertation repositories and graduate studies," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 74(1), pages 109-121, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:74:y:2008:i:1:d:10.1007_s11192-008-0106-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-008-0106-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Vincent Larivière & Éric Archambault & Yves Gingras & Étienne Vignola‐Gagné, 2006. "The place of serials in referencing practices: Comparing natural sciences and engineering with social sciences and humanities," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 57(8), pages 997-1004, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Lav R. Varshney, 2012. "The Google effect in doctoral theses," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 92(3), pages 785-793, September.
    2. Antonio Fernández-Cano & Manuel Torralbo & Mónica Vallejo, 2012. "Time series of scientific growth in Spanish doctoral theses (1848–2009)," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 91(1), pages 15-36, April.
    3. Nils T. Hagen, 2010. "Deconstructing doctoral dissertations: how many papers does it take to make a PhD?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 85(2), pages 567-579, November.
    4. Hamid Bouabid, 2014. "Science and technology metrics for research policy evaluation: some insights from a Moroccan experience," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 101(1), pages 899-915, October.
    5. Siviwe Bangani, 2018. "The impact of electronic theses and dissertations: a study of the institutional repository of a university in South Africa," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 115(1), pages 131-151, April.
    6. Paul Donner, 2021. "Citation analysis of Ph.D. theses with data from Scopus and Google Books," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(12), pages 9431-9456, December.

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