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Publishing doctoral theses

Aalto University doctoral dissertations are published in the DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS publication series. An electronic version of the thesis is published in the Aaltodoc repository after the doctoral candidate has given permission to publish it.

Doctoral hats in Aalto University Conferment

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Instructions on how to publish doctoral thesis in Aalto University (PDF)

Doctoral candidate's checklist for printing

The doctoral dissertations 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 candidate can choose freely any printing house. The doctoral candidate requests offers from the printing houses themselves.

The candidate 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 doctoral candidate chooses other printing house, they will receive instructions from the university publishing support on how to proceed with the printing.

Timetable for printing of dissertation

The doctoral candidate 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 dissertation during the coronavirus situation. If the doctoral candidate is using another printing company, the candidate 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 dissertations and archived copy

The required minimum number of printed thesis is 21 copies. Of these, the National Library will receive six copies and the Aalto University Learning Centre will receive one copy for archiving the thesis. Rest of the copies go to the doctoral candidate and their school.

Remember to add six National Library copies to your order, e.g. Unigraphia does not include these automatically. If you use another printing house, check if the National Library's copies are included in the service.

Unigrafia will automatically deliver the National Library copies to the National Library. If you are using another printing company, check if delivery is included. Unigrafia will also send one printed copy and electronic/archive version to the Aalto University Learning Centre.

The exceptions for this are dissertations which are not printed in Unigrafia (e.g. Cotutelle dissertations). In these cases the doctoral candidate has to take care of sending one printed copy to the Learning Centre, as well as the electronic archive version. The university publishing support will give more information on Cotutelle dissertations: [email protected]

Compensation for printing costs

The schools reimburse the printing costs up to 500 euros (VAT included).

Invoicing

Unigrafia will send the invoice directly to the doctoral candidate's school or department. The doctoral candidate will add the invoicing information in the publication platform. Please note, that it is important to add the school's/department's cost center code to the order. Unigrafia cannot proceed with the printing without the proper invoicing information. The candidate can ask the cost center code from their school's study coordinator.

If the doctoral candidate is using other printing than Unigrafia for printing, they will pay the printing costs first themself. The costs can be claimed back from the school provided the copy of the original invoice is included with the claim. The original invoice should be kept until the reimbursement has been issued.

Claiming costs of printing doctoral dissertation invoice from the University in the M2 system

M2 Mobile –application user guide (scanning the invoices to the system)

NB! Do not use Aalto University's address for the invoicing information if you are paying the costs yourself. Use e.g. your own home address.

The Aalto University publication platform generates the standard front and back covers to doctoral dissertations. When producing the content parts, the following templates are recommendations:

Word template (7.4.2014) (.dotx; save the file) and instructions for the template (pdf)
Word template with narrow margins (22.8.2016) (.dotx; save the file)
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; save the file)

Layout model for Word (pdf): instructions for the typographic settings (1.6.2016)

You can also buy professional layout and paging services, e.g. enquire the printing house Unigrafia 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 here.

Examples of correctly formatted theses

Below you will find couple of samples of correctly formatted theses. Use them as your help to see e.g. how the page layout and page numbering is done, and to see the appearance of the ready-made thesis.

Example of a Technical School thesis (article-based): Risto Vanhanen

Examples of School of BIZ theses (essay-based), links to Aaltodoc repository:

URN: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-60-6426-0

URN: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-60-6037-8

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.

All doctoral dissertations in Aalto University are archived in electronic format in the 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 candidate.

The electronic archive file contains the entire thesis, and, in the case of an article thesis, also the articles 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 archive file can be accessed only for reading and printing purposes. The electronic archive file must be in PDF/A-format.

The open access file is a monograph or the compiling (summary) part of an article- or essay-based thesis which may be published in open internet only with permission from the doctoral candidate. 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 staff at Learning Centre will take care of processing the PDF/A-files (e.g. separating the compiling / summary part and the individual publications into different files as necessary) and saving the information. In addition to this, the Learning Centre will also take care of archiving the thesis to Aaltodoc repository.

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 web address will be activated after the thesis has been uploaded to Aaltodoc repository. The doctoral candidate will receive an automated e-mail notification when the web page is available in Aaltodoc.

The public display of doctoral theses is arranged as online display during the coronavirus situation. The staff of Aalto University Learning Centre takes care of the online display ten days before the defence date. The display page can be found here.

Republishing the full texts of the individual publications included in an article- or essay-based dissertation on open internet (Open Access) in connection with the electronic thesis is recommended but not obligatory. Usually, it is allowed to republish the final accepted manuscript (author accepted manuscript) -versions, not final published versions (the versions which are available at the publisher’s web site).

Aalto University wants to promote the open availability of research articles. The goal is that all the scientific peer-reviewed articles and conference publications of Aalto University will be deposited to ACRIS as a service by RIS Open Science and ACRIS team, more information: https://libguides.aalto.fi/openaccess

To include the full texts of the individual publications in the electronic version of your doctoral thesis, send the final accepted manuscript versions of the publications by email to [email protected]

The final accepted manuscript versions of the individual publications will be uploaded to the ACRIS research portal, from where they can be linked to the electronic version of the doctoral thesis in Aaltodoc.

Open Science and ACRIS (OSA) team will take care of checking the copyright policy of publishers and uploads the manuscripts provided that copyrights allow it.

If the doctoral candidate don’t want the manuscripts to be linked from Acris to the web page of the thesis, they should inform about this to [email protected]

There is no need to send the manuscript versions of the following publications:

Publications published under Creative Commons license (OSA -team will take care of uploading the full texts to Acris)
Publications already available in Acris/Aaltodoc, please, check your publications (instructions: Go aaltodoc.aalto.fi, Browse -> Authors -> search Surname, First name, you get a list of your publications, check are there publications included in your thesis on the list)

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

Errata (revisions to the contents of the doctoral thesis): An Errata appended to an online doctoral thesis is linked to the web page of the thesis as a separate PDF file. If the Errata is not included in the file, which is uploaded to the publication platform, the Errata (Word) has to be sent by e-mail to [email protected]

For further assistance concerning electronic publication of your dissertation, please contact [email protected]

Instructions (PDF)