Can you buy a copy of someone's PhD?

[JoonT]

Is it possible to buy a paper copy of a PhD? I have been on 'ethos.bl' and found several PhDs I'd like to read. Is it possible to order them somewhere? I don't like reading stuff on a screen, and would rather have a physical copy.

Yep I'd do this, or else give the PDF to a local print shop and get them to print it and put a basic soft binding on it make it easier to handle.

i’ve just checked and my uni only has electronic versions from 2010.

I needed one that was not available online due to age. I simply borrowed the printed version of the PhD from the university library - I had it for several months as nobody else requested it.

Oh really, that's great news, hope this what they used! For some reason I find it quite comforting to think that my Thesis is still out there in a bookshelf somewhere after all these years.

Maybe someone will even look at it sometimes (reminds me of the episode in friends about Ross and his thesis in the library😄)!

I still have the word file for mine somewhere so agree asking the author would be the best approach if it’s not online.

if they no longer work at the awarding uni though (as most academics move around) it could take some sleuthing, if they’ve left academia altogether it could be very tricky!

@EatYourFive While doing research for my PhD I sometimes had to get librarians to cut pages from books that had been sitting on the shelves untouched for a hundred years.

Just download from Ethos and print it out!