The Russian State Library (RSL) is a national repository of dissertation defended in Russia since the year of 1944 in all subjects and specializations except Medicine and Pharmacy. The All-Russia (until 1991, “All-Union”,) Collection of Dissertations was started in 1944 in compliance with order by the All-Union Committee in the Affairs of Higher School under the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR. Nowadays at the Department of Dissertations (in Khimki) there are stored over one million volumes of dissertations. And each year the RSL acquires about 30,000 new dissertations (20,000 candidate’s and 10,000 doctoral ones).

Digital Library of Dissertations: contents

1998 - 2003

Within this period of time there was digitized pilot pack of dissertation in specializations which were in demand, i.e. Economy, Law, Pedagogy and Psychology (all in all over 28,000 full texts).

Since the beginning of 2004,

The RSL Digital Library of Dissertations have been acquiring dissertations in all specializations (except Medicine and Pharmacy), which made approximately 30,000 theses a year (that including 20,000 candidate’s and 10,000 doctoral theses).

2006

All the dissertations of the year of 1985 were digitized.

From the year of 2007 on,

The RSL Digital Library of Dissertations has been acquiring all the dissertations defended, that including works in Medicine and Pharmacy.