Iranian National Electronic Theses and Dissertations Program: Development, Achievements, and Obstacles

Abstract

National programs for Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) are valuable for universities, government, and industry. National ETDs (NETDs) aim to gather ETDs from institutions around a country and disseminate them based on certain terms and conditions. An NETDs program brings numerous advantages to all stakeholders within a country. As a result, many nations have already implemented their own NETDs initiatives. Over the past few decades, Iran has taken steps to plan and execute its own NETDs program. In its initial phase, the Iranian Documentation Center (IranDoc) pioneered a program in 1969 to collect and index the theses from Iranian higher education institutes (HEIs). The first tangible output of this program was the ‘Bibliography of Theses in Social Science’, which has been printed and published in July 1974. This center center persisted in the compilation, indexing, and dissemination of theses and dissertations until 1992. Subsequently, between 1992 and 2017, significant milestones marked the advancement of the NETDs program in Iran. Eventually, a law mandating the establishment of an NETDs program was passed by the Iranian Parliament in September 2017. This paper aims to trace the evolution of the NETDs program in Iran, delineating its chronological progression. Furthermore, the present status is expounded, and the accomplishments of this program are discussed, offering insights into the successes achieved. Finally, the lessons learned through the development of the Iranian NETDs program and related obstacles are examined.