Disseminate your thesis in open access

It is possible to distribute a defended thesis in open access. The UGA has chosen to publish its theses on the HAL Theses platform.

The content of HAL theses is also accessible via the European OpenAire portal, which indexes scientific production (publications, codes, data, etc.) and via scientific search engines such as Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE) or Google Scholar.

Theses are posted nationally on the theses.fr portal.

The benefits

In addition to the challenges associated with open science, there are many advantages to making your thesis freely available.

Facilitating its referencing and consultation via scientific search engines or specialised portals allows :

• increase visibility and potential readership
• promote professional integration into the scientific community (submission immediately after the defence can facilitate consultation by a selection panel or a company)
• protect the doctor, who is publicly identified as the author of the work, from plagiarism. Plagiarism is easier to detect
• ensure long-term access to the thesis (stable url, long-term archiving)

To support doctoral students, the Open Science Committee has produced an Open Science Passport, which provides a summary of tools and good practice (see the ‘Making your thesis freely accessible’ section). It is complemented by the ‘Passport: an introduction to open science’ series, five video clips dealing in particular with the issue of codes and software.

How do you go about it?

The UGA Thesis Service is responsible for reporting on and disseminating theses. It supports doctoral students with all aspects of dissemination, including legal matters, and provides a variety of resources.

At the time of submission, the doctor indicates their choice of distribution via ADUM by signing a distribution authorisation. This choice can be changed at a later date (in this case, please contact the theses department at bu-theses@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr).

It is possible to choose the date from which the thesis will be accessible on HAL these, for example if articles related to the thesis are awaiting publication: simply indicate in the authorization of dissemination.

Legal framework

A thesis is an official document that validates the award of a degree. Its submission, registration, conservation and dissemination are regulated in France by Decree No. 2016-131, which establishes the national framework for training and the procedures leading to the award of the national doctoral degree (Articles 24 and 25).

Theses are posted nationally on the theses.fr portal.
Except in cases of confidentiality, the institution where the thesis is defended is obliged to publish and distribute all the university’s theses.
Extract from the decree:
‘Unless the thesis is deemed to be confidential, it must be circulated within the institution where it was defended and within the university community as a whole’.
Wider distribution is at the doctor’s discretion:
‘Online distribution of the thesis beyond this perimeter is subject to the author’s authorisation, provided there is no confidentiality clause’.