Sigma Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations Project

If you hold a master's or doctorate degree in nursing, your electronic thesis or dissertation (ETD) is likely housed in the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database (ProQuest)¹. Your ETD is an important part of the nursing profession. It deserves to be showcased with other works centered on nursing research, educational output, and evidence-based practice. As the author and copyright holder you deserve to see the benefits of dissemination.

An ETD is never too old to post in the repository. Past and present works need to be shared and preserved to provide a foundation and direction for future research and evidence-based practice.

If your ETD is not located in ProQuest, don't worry. Please feel free to attach the file where indicated in the online permission form (link below). ²

Don't have a digital file? Have your printed/bound version digitized using Optimal Character Recognition (OCR). Upload the digital file when prompted in the permission form (link found below). Following are several scanning service options that should be available in your local area. Make sure that the scan includes the OCR option.

• Staples
• Kinkos FedEx
• Iron Mountain
• Minuteman Press

For this participation opportunity, repository staff will upload your ETD on your behalf and email you the permanent link to your record. Less work for you! To assist you with making the decision, see the table below and note the important differences between static and dynamic dissemination.

Regardless where your thesis or dissertation is currently located and what format it is in, in order to upload your thesis or dissertation to the Sigma Repository on your behalf as copyright owner, your permission is needed.

Prior to completing the permission form, please read the formatting requirements by following the link below.

The link to the permission form is found on that page.

www.sigmarepository.org/etd-qualifications

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¹ ProQuest is a subscription-based service. It accepts final graduate works from many different graduate programs, physics, history, chemistry, journalism, to name but a few. The participating institution (e.g., university, college, hospital) subscribes to the database. The staff, students, and faculty of the subscribing institution may access the database while on campus or when using a VPN connection. Traditional citation data is made available to authors.

² If your thesis/dissertation was written prior to 1997, or your university/college did not participate in the ProQuest database, there is a high probability that your work is not available in ProQuest.

³ Anyone with access to the Internet may view the items in the repository. The Sigma Repository is indexed in all of the major search engines in a way that pushes the repository records that match the user's search words/terms to the top of the list. Plus, it's full-text searchable. When someone enters a word or phrase into a search engine, every word of every item in the Sigma Repository is examined for a possible match.

⁴ The Sigma Repository features item level usage statistics that enable authors to view and track item record views and file downloads around the globe. This quantifiable data may be added to a tenure dossier and presented to administrators and funders as proof of impact and as evidence of a need for future funding.

⁵ The Sigma Repository offers Altmetric^© tracking which captures and collates digital conversations surrounding scholarly content from a range of online sources. Know what people are saying about your work. See if it is influencing policy or making news outlets. No more missed collaboration and funding opportunities. Address any misinterpretations about your work as they appear.