ANN ARBOR, Mich., January 7, 2003 - ProQuest Company's (NYSE: PQE) Information and Learning unit, in conjunction with The Berkeley Electronic Press, has developed a Web-based application for the submission, review, and approval of electronic theses and dissertations. The application, which will be made available to graduate schools, is expected to improve and speed the dissertation publishing process for graduate students, faculty, and graduate schools.

Through its UMI® Dissertation Publishing program, ProQuest publishes more than 55,000 dissertations and master's theses each year and offers full text copies of more than one million dissertations dating from the 19th century forward. Some 3,000 (or 5%) of dissertations submitted for publication in 2002 were in electronic format, and that number is expected to increase significantly in the next few years.

"This is a major step toward the development of comprehensive dissertation authoring tools and services," said Dan Arbour, Executive Director and Vice President of ProQuest's UMI division. "We believe this new system will allow for greater efficiencies in the dissertation publishing process. It facilitates communication among the graduate students, faculty, and scholars, and provides a consistent medium and process."

The new system allows a graduate student to upload his or her approved dissertation into the publishing system, where it is automatically reformatted into Adobe PDF and sent directly to the graduate school. There, the document is reviewed for compliance with graduate school policy and format. Using an administrative tool, the graduate school reviewer can accept the document or request formatting revisions. The author is automatically notified by email of the actions taken.

Once the thesis is accepted, the document and all relevant data are delivered to UMI Dissertation Publishing and to the university library for expedited processing, cataloguing, and posting. The new automated system is expected to substantially improve the publication process. The backend technology to support the new process was developed by The Berkeley Electronic Press (www.bepress.com). The service is available now and is being rolled out to graduate schools throughout the next year. Graduate schools interested in signing up may contact ProQuest at electronic_submissions@il.proquest.com. UMI continues to accept dissertations for publication in print format.

About ProQuest
ProQuest creates specialized information resources and technologies that propel successful research, discovery, and lifelong learning. A global leader in serving libraries of all types, ProQuest offers the expertise of such respected brands as Chadwyck-Healey™, UMI®, SIRS®, and eLibrary®. With Serials Solutions®, Ulrich's™, RefWorks®, COS™, Dialog® and now Bowker® part of the ProQuest brand family, the company supports the breadth of the information community with innovative discovery solutions that power the business of books and the best in research experience.

More than a content provider or aggregator, ProQuest is an information partner, creating indispensable research solutions that connect people and information. Through innovative, user-centered discovery technology, ProQuest offers billions of pages of global content that includes historical newspapers, dissertations, and uniquely relevant resources for researchers of any age and sophistication—including content not likely to be digitized by others. Inspired by its customers and their end users, ProQuest is working toward a future that blends information accessibility with community to further enhance learning and encourage lifelong enrichment.

For more information, visit www.proquest.com or the ProQuest parent company website, www.cig.com.