The review of the features and characteristic of national and regional theses archives

<p dir="ltr">The repository for theses and electronic dissertations, which is shared among universities and the world, facilitates the collection of all graduates' theses from universities in that country. The existence of such centers makes it easier to access the information produced by these resources and also to identify the obstacles present in this regard. Iran also needs a national archive that encompasses theses. This research aims to examine national and regional archives of theses, including both printed and electronic archives, to achieve desirable characteristics. To accomplish this, an initial list of relevant items was prepared after necessary reviews, and it was sent to faculty members for their opinions. This list consists of five sections: provision, organization, dissemination, physical management, and intellectual property rights. Subsequently, using this list, two questionnaires (physical archive and digital archive) were designed, focusing on five aspects regarding the flow of information, information services, legal aspects, and the preservation and storage of theses, and were translated into English and formatted as Google Docs. After reviewing countries with such specific archives, the names of the responsible officials and their email addresses were extracted via the internet. In the next phase, the link addresses of the questionnaires were sent via email to the targeted individuals. Ultimately, out of approximately 20 questionnaires sent, 13 physical archive questionnaires and 5 digital archive questionnaires were completed and received. The desirable characteristics for the national digital and physical archives for theses were extracted based on the responses from the questionnaires and feedback from several specialists in the field. Therefore, it is recommended that the preparation of theses and dissertations be based on a memorandum of understanding and national regulations, ensuring that the designated repository is utilized. There is no need for a cost document for the repository. The repository developers should process and control it. To access the theses, a set of regulations should be established so that all users can access the requested theses without any restrictions. In terms of intellectual property rights related to the theses, the sole owner is the institution. In the characteristics of the digital archive, in addition to the physical archive, additional features have been designed.</p>