ANN ARBOR, Mich., September 19, 2003 - A doctoral dissertation may never crack the New York Times' famous best sellers list. Researchers, however, find the information invaluable if the topic suits their search. Publishing a dissertation, also known as a thesis, is a requirement for earning a doctorate degree from many universities. Dissertations summarize the original independent research of scholars pursuing an advanced academic degree, such as a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).

ProQuest Information and Learning spotlights the best-selling dissertations of 2002 in its annual Top 10 list. Topics covered reflect the headlines of the year: healthcare, online banking, executive leadership, and e-business, among others. Unlike the New York Times list, total sales of dozens of copies were enough to crack the top 10.

Numero uno for 2002: Robert Russell Mackey, PhD, "The Uncivil War: Irregular Warfare in the Upper South, 1861---1865 (Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia)," written in 2000 at Texas A&M University. Mackey is a Major in the U.S. Army, as well as a Civil War historian. His thesis examines whether Confederate guerrilla tactics could have won the day for the South. Flying in the face of other Civil War research, Mackey says no.

"The Confederates didn't continue irregular warfare after the war ended because it hadn't been successful during the war. The Union Army was an adaptive organization, able to change to meet the Confederacy's unconventional tactics," Mackey said.

The soldier-scholar has just returned from a tour of duty in Kuwait. He currently serves on the Army staff at the Pentagon. Before his recent Middle East stint, he taught military history at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point for three years. He is a graduate of the Army's Command and General Staff College and the Advanced Military Studies programs, where his dissertation is now required reading. His family history has roots in the Civil War - both maternal and paternal ancestors fought in what Mackey calls "the only wholly American war" - on opposite sides. When his dissertation is published as a book in the fall of 2004 by University of Oklahoma Press, he's looking forward to sparking more scholarly debate on the subject of irregular warfare during the era.

ProQuest Information and Learning, a unit of ProQuest Company, creates and distributes databases for libraries and educational institutions worldwide. Its dissertation database includes bibliographic citations for materials ranging from the first U.S. dissertation, accepted in 1861, to those accepted as recently as last semester. The full text of more than one million of these titles is available in paper and microform formats.

Twelve other titles make up the so-called Top 10 list due to ties. Second place went to Elba Alicia Herrero, PhD, for "Using culturally relevant literature and discourse to support literacy learning among 'at-risk' English-language learners," written at State University of New York at Albany.

In dissertation sales, size doesn't matter. The best sellers range from 111 pages for "Management Control and the Balanced Scorecard: An empirical test of causal relations" by Mary Ann Malina to 537 pages for Mark Axel Tveskov's "The Coos and Coquille: A Northwest Coast historical anthropology." In all, 776 copies of the Top 10 list titles were sold. A complete list of top-selling dissertations appears at the end of this release.

 

ProQuest Information and Learning Best Selling Dissertations of 2002 

• The uncivil war: Irregular warfare in the Upper South, 1861--1865 (Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia)
  by Mackey, Robert Russell;, PhD
  TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY, 2000, 468 pages
• Using culturally relevant literature and discourse to support literacy learning among 'at-risk' English-language learners
  by Herrero, Elba Alicia;, PhD
  STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT ALBANY, 1999, 162 pages
• The problem of 'world order' when the world is your village versus your globe
  by Tanner, George Lewis, PhD
  UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII, 1996, 345 pages
• Assessing knowledge management initiative successes as a function of organizational culture
  by Ribiere, Vincent Michel;, DSc
  THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, 2001, 158 pages
• The Coos and Coquille: A Northwest Coast historical anthropology (Oregon)
  by Tveskov, Mark Axel;, PhD
  UNIVERSITY OF OREGON, 2000, 537 pages
• An analysis of the political and economic viability of community health centers: Implications for their future
  by Reynolds, David A. V.;, DrPH
  UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, 1999, 147 pages
• Factors affecting retention of customers who are users of computerized applications on the Internet: The case of online banking
  by Vatanasombut, Banphot;, PhD
  THE CLAREMONT GRADUATE UNIVERSITY, 2001, 115 pages
• The relationships between emotional intelligence, personality, critical thinking ability and organizational leadership performance at upper levels of management
  by Murensky, Catherine Lynn;, PhD
  GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY, 2000, 152 pages
• Sharing knowledge through a knowledge management system: The relative effectiveness of formal control and organizational support
  by Marks, Peter Vincent, Jr.;, PhD
  UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH, 2001, 146 pages
• An empirical study of factors affecting successful implementation of knowledge management
  by Choi, Yong Suk;, PhD
  THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA - LINCOLN, 2000, 140 pages
• A roadmap for successful e-business
  by Chuang, Ming-Ling;, PhD
  FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, 2001, 159 pages
• Transformational leadership: A cross-cultural study of the moderating effects of culture on perceived leader behaviors
  by Sosa-Fey, Josephine;, DBA
  NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY, 2001, 160 pages
• Management control and the Balanced Scorecard: An empirical test of causal relations
  by Malina, Mary Ann;, PhD
  UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER, 2001, 111 pages
  

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