Thesis Scanning Service

The Library is now offering an in-house scanning service for users requiring copies of University of Edinburgh theses. Copies will be delivered to you as a PDF.

We are no longer offering the Ethos service, operated by the British Library.

Before you request a thesis

Look in the Edinburgh Research Archive (ERA), where an electronic version of the thesis you require may already be available on open access.

If what you want is not available on ERA, please contact us to request a scanned copy.

How to place a request

1. Contact the Centre for Research Collections (CRC) in the Main Library, either in person, or by phone or email.
2. Payment must be received in advance of the scan being completed. We charge £40 plus VAT per thesis, and you will receive details of payment options in correspondence with the CRC. There is a 20% discount for University of Edinburgh staff, students or alumni (with a valid alumni card).
3. Your request will be processed and the scan delivered within 20 working days. For this, we need your email address – you will be sent an email with a link to the PDF copy of the scanned theses.

Please note: due a high volume of thesis digitisation requests we are currently advising a longer turnaround time of 30 working days.

What happens to the completed scanned copy

After the initial request, scanned theses will be made available in ERA, and therefore, will be free to access for future users.