Archiving and preserving PhD theses: Implications for open access

Presentation from a panel session on the second day of the Copim Conference 2026, a hybrid event (26-27 February) focusing on the future of community-led open access books: Archiving and preserving PhD theses: Implications for open access. Digitally Preserving e-Theses: Challenges and Opportunities (Jenny Fry) Archiving and preserving PhD theses (Simon Bains) Archiving and preserving PhD thesis: Implications for open access (Zoe Stockdale) Abstract: Through the work of Work Package 7 (Archiving and Preservation) of the Copim Open Book Futures project, we have developed guidance, tools and recommendations for policy to help scholar-led open access presses and library repositories to digitally preserve open access monographs and their associated content (e.g. video, audio files etc.) for long term access. In this panel representatives from the wider archiving and preservation community will discuss the work WP 7 has been doing on the archiving and preservation of PhD Theses at university libraries and repositories. Panellists will discuss the implications of this work on what they are doing in this area and any implications this has for the future of the archiving and preserving PhD Theses.