Dissertation Abstracts, Dissertation Abstracts International(DAI) or the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (PQDT) database is a bibliography of American (and international) dissertations published by University Microfilms International (UMI) / ProQuest, Ann Arbor, since 1938. UMI has had an agitated life and the bibliographical data have often shifted owner and name, and therefore appears under different labels. It covers doctoral dissertations accepted at an accredited American institution since 1861. Selected Masters theses have been included since 1962; since 1988, the database includes citations for dissertations from 50 British universities that are available at The British Document Supply Centre.[1] Besides it covers a limited number of dissertations from the rest of the world.
The print version is published monthly and cumulated annually an it is available both in softcover and on microfiche. It is divided in three sections:
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In 1962, the Xerox Corporation bought UMI. Xerox introduced some changes and in 1971 UMI changed its name to Xerox University Microfilms, but in 1976 reverted to University Microfilms International. In 1985, UMI was sold to Bell & Howell, who changed the name to Bell & Howell Information and Learning in 1999. In 2001 Bell and Howell created the ProQuest Company. December 2006, the Cambridge Information Group (CIG) bought the unit of ProQuest called ProQuest Information and Learning (which included UMI).[2]
Former titles and print titles: From 1969: Dissertations Abstract International; from 1951: Dissertations Abstracts; from Microfilm Abstracts (an annual catalog of the dissertations available for sale from UMI), American Doctoral Dissertations (ADD), (until 1964): Index to American Doctoral Dissertations, (until 1956): Doctoral Dissertations Accepted by American Universities. Masters Abstracts International (MAI).
There are different versions in print and online. The online version is Dissertation Abstracts Online while the print bibliography is termed Dissertation Abstracts International. Material except the abstracts themselves were issued also on CD-ROM under the title: Dissertation abstracts ondisc.
Aside from citations and abstracts, the PQDT database provides access to the full texts of more than a million graduate works produced since 1997, in PDF format. Access to the full texts is, however, limited to users at the originating universities, although 24-page previews of those works are available more widely.
DART-Europe: http://www.dart-europe.eu/About/info.php
Davinson, D. (1977). Theses and Dissertations as Information Sources. London: Clive Bingley.