Publishing doctoral theses
The doctoral theses of the Aalto University are produced through the Aalto University publication platform. The platform generates the required ISBN and ISSN numbers along with the Aalto University serial numbers. After the order has been placed, the publication platform will send the thesis to the printing house.
Aalto University recommends using Unigrafia for printing, but the doctoral student can choose freely any printing house. In such case the doctoral student requests offers from the printing houses themselves.
The student will select the printing house in the publishing platform. In practice, there are two options in the platform: Unigrafia or other printing house. If the student chooses other printing house, they will receive instructions from the university publication support on how to proceed with the printing.
For information on printing costs, see the section How to publish your thesis (scroll to "Printing costs") at the page Finalising your doctoral studies (aalto.fi).
Timetable for printing the thesis
The doctoral student should schedule at least six weeks for the printing process. Time includes compiling the work on the publishing platform, printing process in the printing house and a ten-day public display of the work.
An electronic version of the thesis must be submitted to the Aaltodoc publication archive no later than three weeks prior to the date of the public examination. Unigrafia will send the electronic version automatically to the Aalto University Learning Centre, where the staff will take care of archiving the thesis. In addition to this, the Learning Centre takes care of the online display of the thesis.
If the doctoral student is using another printing company, the student and the printing house will be instructed how to send the electronic version to the repository. The file must be in PDF/A-format.
The required number of printed copies for doctoral theses and archived copy
The minimum number of printed thesis is 22 copies. Of these, one copy to the Aalto University Learning Centre and six copies to the National Library for legal deposit purposes. Rest of the printed copies go to the doctoral student and their school. Check the number of copies required by your School (aalto.fi). If you are using another printing house, check if the National Library's copies are included in the service.
Unigrafia will automatically deliver the legal deposit copies to the National Library. If you are using another printing company, check if delivery is included.
The exceptions for this are theses which are not printed in Finland (e.g. Cotutelle theses). In these cases the doctoral student has to take care of sending one printed copy and the electronic version to the Learning Centre for archiving. The university publishing support will give more information on Cotutelle theses: [email protected]
The Aalto University publication platform generates the standard front and back covers to doctoral theses. The platform also generates the title pages and the abstract pages to the doctoral thesis.
Recommended templates
When producing the content parts, the following templates are recommendations:
- Word template (7.4.2014, .dotx). Instructions for the template (pdf)
- Word template with narrow margins (22.8.2016, .dotx)
- Template for LaTeX users (Aalto LaTeX pages in wiki) – The LaTeX template is not exactly identical with the Word template. You can use it anyway.
- Errata-page template (.dotx)
- Layout model for Word (pdf): instructions for the typographic settings (1.6.2016)
You can also buy professional layout and paging services from Unigrafia. Enquire about the service: [email protected]
Printing materials
Unigrafia uses standard materials for content and cover. Unigrafia offers also two other material packages from which you can choose with additional cost. If you are using other printing house for printing than Unigrafia, make sure the materials are in accordance with Aalto University’s standard. More information about printing materials and requirements here.
Examples of correctly formatted theses
Below you will find samples of correctly formatted theses. Use them as your help to see how the page layout and page numbering is done. You can also see how the thesis looks when it is ready.
- Example of a thesis from the Schools of Technology (article-based, author: Risto Vanhanen)
- Example of a thesis from the School of Business (essay-based, author: Pii Elina Berghäll)
- Example of a thesis from the School of Business (essay-based, author: Mikko Riepula)
Special characters in headings and abstracts
If the headings or abstracts of your publication contain (mathematical) special characters, please copy the title and abstract in question to a single PDF file and e-mail it to [email protected]. Please, write in your mail instructions for placing the characters.This service is subject to a charge. – Note. On the publication platform it is possible to write subscript and superscript indexes to the abstracts.
If you are using LaTeX, you can download an abstract with special characters on the publication platform. Make a right size abstract on the Aalto series LaTeX template (link above) with the class option “abstracts”. Choose the latest version of the template and read the documentation carefully and see also the example.
Electronic archiving and publishing
All doctoral theses in Aalto University are archived in electronic format in Aaltodoc publication archive for the purposes of long-term preservation and online publishing. Every doctoral thesis will have a publicly available web page in Aaltodoc where the electronic archive file is linked. In addition to this, the open access file will be linked to the web page and published in open internet with a permission from the doctoral student.
- The electronic archive file contains the entire thesis, and, in the case of an article/essay thesis, also the articles/essays included in the thesis. The link to the electronic archive file is available on the web page of the thesis. The archive file can be accessed only on computers connected to a closed network, for example the customer computers in Aalto University Learning Centre. The electronic archive file must be in PDF/A-format.
- The open access file is the entire monograph or the compiling (summary) part of an article/essay thesis which may be published in open internet only with permission from the doctoral student. Open access publishing is recommended and compliant with the Aalto University goal of promoting open science. Open access publishing allows doctoral theses to be disseminated efficiently to a wider audience, thus increasing their visibility.
- The permission for open access publishing is given by filling in and signing the permission form. The permission for electronic publishing should be submitted no later than one week before the start of the public display time.
- The persistent web address (URN) of a thesis in Aaltodoc follows the format http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:XX-YY-ZZ. The publication platform generates the URN automatically to the reverse side of the title page and to the abstract forms of the thesis. The URN will be activated within 24 hours after the thesis has been uploaded to Aaltodoc. The doctoral student will receive an email notification when the web page is available in Aaltodoc.
- The public display of doctoral theses is arranged as online display. The staff of Aalto University Learning Centre takes care of the online display ten days before the defence date.
Online display page of doctoral theses (aalto.fi)
- Information of the new doctoral theses will be imported from Aaltodoc to Aalto University's ACRIS research information system approximately once a month. Doctoral students do not need to save the information to ACRIS by themselves.
Articles in the printed thesis
As the author of an article/essay thesis, you need to obtain permissions to republish your articles in your thesis, except for articles published open access under a Creative Commons (CC) license.
You need to obtain permissions to republish the articles only for the printed thesis. Usually the publishing agreement or web pages of the publisher clearly state whether it is allowed to republish the article for author’s scholarly purposes, including doctoral thesis. If the information is not available in these, you can use the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service to request permissions from publishers.
The doctoral student requests the needed permissions and takes care of archiving them. If you have any questions or problems in interpreting the permission texts, you can contact Aalto University’s legal counsel Maria Rehbinder.
Articles in the electronic thesis
It is recommended but not obligatory to republish the full texts of the individual publications in connection with the electronic thesis.
It is usually allowed to republish the final accepted author manuscript versions of the articles in connection with the electronic thesis. If the article is published open access (under a Creative Commons (CC) license), also the final published version of the article is allowed.
To republish the full texts of the individual publications in connection with the electronic thesis, please send the final accepted manuscript versions of the articles (Final Accepted Manuscript, Author Accepted Manuscript) as PDF files by email to [email protected]
It is recommended not to publish in connection with the electronic thesis:
- Submitted manuscripts or manuscripts in peer review process
- Unpublished essays in case the content of the essays will be later submitted e.g. to a journal
The electronic version of the doctoral thesis published in Aaltodoc publication archive contains only the summary part of the thesis without the individual publications, which are linked to the thesis web page in Aaltodoc. If you do not wish the publications to be linked to your thesis web page, please inform this to [email protected]
More information on open access publishing in Aalto University
Detailed instructions
Electronic archiving and publishing doctoral thesis (PDF) How to publish doctoral thesis in Aalto University (PDF)
- Instructions for publishing cotutelle theses via publishing platform (PDF)
- Guide for Cotutelle theses cover and title pages (PDF) (This guide applies to theses published as a joint thesis of the Aalto University and another University and which follows the structure of the partner university’s publication.)
- English abstract template for Technical Schools (Word)
- Finnish abstract template for Technical Schools (Word)
- English abstract template for the Schools of BIZ and ARTS (Word)
- Finnish abstract template for the Schools of BIZ and ARTS (Word)
- Layout editing instructions for abstracts (PDF)
When the doctoral thesis is approved and published, it is not possible to edit the contents afterwards. However, you can point out the corrections with a separate Errata page attached to the thesis. The errata PDF is linked to the web page of the thesis as a separate file. Send the pdf to to [email protected]
Detailed instructions
Instructions for electronic publishing (PDF)For further assistance concerning electronic publication and archiving of your thesis, please contact [email protected]
If you have any questions about publishing, please contact us: [email protected]