Minerva Access

Discover minerva access.

Minerva Access is the University of Melbourne's institutional repository and makes our research outputs publicly available.

Browse the repository by collection, publication date, author, title, or subject.

Search the repository, including published research outputs and theses.

Answers to frequently asked questions and contact details for further advice.

Deposit your research

University of Melbourne staff and students can deposit research outputs in Minerva Access. This can be a quick and easy way to make your publications open access.

Research Outputs

University staff can deposit their research outputs in Minerva Access by uploading files in Elements, completing a ServiceNow form, or emailing the Research Outputs team. Find out more here.

Graduate Research Theses

PhD, Doctorate and Masters Research candidates are required to submit their final thesis to Minerva Access via the Thesis Examination System (TES). See the "My thesis in the Library" page for details.

Honours and Masters Coursework Theses

Honours and Masters Coursework candidates are welcome to submit their completed thesis to the Minerva Access repository. This may be required by some schools or departments. View guidance here.

To find out more about open access and open research, visit out Open Scholarship website.

If you require assistance using Minerva Access, or have queries relating to existing Minerva Access records, please contact [email protected] .

For assistance making research outputs available in Minerva Access, including depositing Author Accepted Manuscripts (AAMs), please visit the Research Outputs website or email the Research Outputs team at [email protected] .

Further open access information and support can be found on our Open Scholarship website. If you have general questions around open access, repositories, or scholarly publishing, please contact the library or organise to consult a librarian .

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  • Deposit your research outputs
  • Help and FAQ
  • Honours and Masters Coursework thesis submission
  • ARC and NHMRC open access policy compliance
  • Current Students

unimelb thesis repository

Finding theses

University of melbourne theses, australian theses,   international theses, referencing theses, further help, find theses online and in print.

This guide shows you how to find Masters and PhD theses, online and in print, from:

  • The University of Melbourne
  • Other Australian universities
  • Outside Australia

Why use theses?

Theses can be a valuable source of information, especially for topics where there are fewer published works available., the references or works cited in a thesis can also be useful to find further published sources on a topic..

If you are currently writing a thesis (Honours, Masters or PhD) you may want to:

  • check if anyone has recently completed a PhD thesis in your area of research internationally
  • look at PhD theses from your faculty (or supervised by your supervisor) to get an idea of how to format your thesis.

Most recent theses are available through Minerva Access , the University's institutional repository. 

Minerva includes PhD and Masters Research theses, as well as a smaller number of Honours and Masters Coursework theses.

Accessing Full-Text in Minerva Access

Open access theses.

  • Many theses are open access, which means anyone is able to read the full text online, and no subscription or login is required.
  • Use the download link on the left to access a PDF of the thesis.

screenshot of open access thesis with access status and download link highlighted

Restricted access theses

Some theses are currently only available to university of melbourne staff/students.

Use the login link and access with your unimelb username and password

unimelb thesis repository

Embargoed theses

If a thesis is under full embargo , full-text is not available for internal or external access (including inter-library loan requests). It a thesis is under an external embargo , it can be requested by University staff and students for research purposes via Minerva Access .

You will be able to view an abstract 

Finding theses from your faculty or school in Minerva Access

You can limit your results in minerva access to view only theses from your faculty..

1. Select your faculty from the list of Communities on the Minerva Access homepage. You may need to also choose your school on the next page. 

unimelb thesis repository

2. Select the option that includes Theses  (rather than Research Publications) 

unimelb thesis repository

3.To further refine the list (ie. to only PhD theses) scroll down to use the Type menu on the far left menu bar.

unimelb thesis repository

Finding University of Melbourne print theses

University of Melbourne theses not available online are held in the Cultural Collections Reading Room on level 3 of the Baillieu Library, or in offsite storage. While you cannot physically browse the thesis collection, you can submit a request to view a thesis using the online form .

You can search the Library Catalogue  to find our print collection of University of Melbourne theses

  • To restrict your search to just theses, select University of Melbourne Theses from the drop-down menu to the right of the search bar

unimelb thesis repository

For more information on requesting to view print theses see the Special Collections website . ( Note : Use the request form for Rare Books)

Australian theses from other universities can be found via Trove .

1. Select Advanced search on the Trove homepage, and choose Research and reports

unimelb thesis repository

2. Type your search terms into the first box (Keyword search box)

3. Check the box next to Australian content

4. Click the green Search button

unimelb thesis repository

5. On the results page, select the Show more  option under Format

unimelb thesis repository

6. Select Thesis  to limit your results to theses

unimelb thesis repository

7.  To access, check the purple link at the bottom of each record. Theses available online will either:

  • have a link to where they are held

unimelb thesis repository

  • have an Access conditions apply  link

unimelb thesis repository

8. Click on the title of the thesis to view the record, and select the  Read  button to access the full text

unimelb thesis repository

  •  If the thesis is not available online through Trove, please complete a Thesis request form on the  Request Forms page . We will then try to obtain a copy of the thesis for you via inter-library loan. 
  • For more information on using the Advanced Search to create more specific searches, see Trove's Australian theses page. 

These are the top four international theses databases that include full-text:

  • ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global The most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from around the world. Spans 1743 to the present day, offering full text for most dissertations added since 1997.
  • British Library EThOS (Electronic Theses Online Service) Search for UK theses and access or request full text. See FAQs for more information.
  • DART-Europe E-theses Portal Access to digitised theses from European universities.
  • OATD: Open Access Theses and Dissertations Indexes more than 1.5 million theses and dissertations. Metadata (information about the theses) comes from 600+ colleges, universities, and research institutions.

Other useful theses databases ​

  • American Doctoral Dissertations
  • China Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses full-text Database This database is a comprehensive, high quality database of dissertations and theses in China. The dissertations and theses are from hundreds of institutions located across China. Coverage is 1984 onwards and is updated daily. It covers a wide range of subjects such as fundamental sciences, engineering technology, agriculture, medical science, history, philosophy, education, law, economics and more.
  • CNKI China Academic Journals Most comprehensive, full-text database of Chinese journals. To narrow your searching select section (G) Politics/ Military Affairs/ Law to search across the database.
  • KRIS - Kiwi Research Information Service NZ open access research document portal.
  • TEL (thèses-en-ligne) French theses
  • Theses Canada Portal

Need help with referencing theses?

Visit the Re:cite guide to referencing

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  • Last Updated: Aug 2, 2024 12:10 PM
  • URL: https://unimelb.libguides.com/findingtheses