An increasing number of Higher Education institutions throughout the world are now encouraging, or requiring, students to submit theses and dissertations (ETDs) in electronic format.

Ease of access to the information contained within ETDs, and increased levels of use of ETDs, is helping to improve scholarly communication internationally. The work of individual researchers is being better publicised through inclusion in individual institutional repositories and through the activities of the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD).