Publishing the dissertation and communications

Start preparing your doctoral thesis file for publication in good time. Please keep in mind the accessibility requirements. Ensure also that you prepare the abstracts and title page and apply for the necessary ISBN identifier.

Abstracts

All doctoral theses must include an English-language scientific abstract of approximately one to two pages. For dissertations written in another language, an abstract in that language can be written in addition to the English-language abstract. The abstract(s) are to succeed the title page and precede the table of contents of the dissertation.

In addition to the abstract included in the dissertation, all doctoral candidates must write a Finnish- or Swedish-language abstract aimed at the general public for communications purposes. The recommended maximum length of this abstract is 2,400 characters (approx. one page).

The abstracts must be submitted to the E-thesis service when completing the dissertation form.

ISBN identifier

You need a separate ISBN identifier for both the printed and electronic versions of the doctoral thesis. Unless you are publishing the thesis in a journal that provides an ISBN identifier for you, you must request the identifiers yourself. Applications for ISBN identifiers are submitted to the Finnish ISBN Agency with an online form.

Students of the faculties at Viikki Campus you must always request the identifiers yourself. If you are publishing your dissertation in a journal/series, please contact the publisher directly.

Students of the Faculty of Medicine are to always request the ISBN identifier by themselves. The Faculty of Medicine does not have their own publication series. Whereas DSHealth has a doc­toral thesis series. Please see more information below. The series ends 1.8.2023.

Title page

The title page of the doctoral thesis is written in the language of the thesis, containing at least the following details:

• The Faculty which granted permission for public defence
• Title of the doctoral thesis
• Author’s name
• The following sentence in the language of the dissertation (with the relevant details on the faculty, examination venue and date amended):

Finnish: Akateeminen väitöskirja, joka Helsingin yliopiston xxxx tiedekunnan suostumuksella esitetään julkisesti tarkastettavaksi auditoriumissa XII, yliopiston päärakennus, perjantaina 24. syyskuuta 2019 klo 12.

Swedish: Akademisk avhandling som med tillstånd av xxxx fakulteten vid Helsingfors universitet framlägges till offentlig granskning i auditorium XII, universitetets huvudbyggnad, fredagen den 24 september 2019 kl.

English: Doctoral thesis, to be presented for public examination with the permission of the Faculty of Xxxx of the University of Helsinki, in Auditorium XII, University Main Building, on the 24th of September, 2019 at 12 o’clock.

If the title page cannot be included in the doctoral thesis (e.g., in the case of commercial publications), the details stated above must appear on a loose leaf to be added between the printed copies of the thesis in place of the title page.

The page succeeding the title page may include the following information:
(compulsory at the Faculty of Medicine)

• Research location (for example, at the Faculty of Medicine, the clinic where work related to the dissertation was completed)
• Doctoral programme
• Printing house
• Printing location
• Printing year
• ISBN identifier
• Doctoral thesis supervisors supervisors
• Names of the assessors (pre-examiners and opponent)

The following sentence: "The Faculty of Xxxx uses the Ouriginal system (plagiarism recognition) to examine all doctoral dissertations."

All doctoral candidates defending their doctoral thesis at the University of Helsinki must complete the dissertation form available on the E-thesis website no less than three weeks before the public examination. Details on the public examination and the doctoral thesis are requested on the form, which will be submitted simultaneously to the University’s Communications unit and the E-thesis service. This way, the information will also be included in the University’s events calendar.

The dissertation form will also be used to store the abstracts to be published on the E-thesis website.

In addition to the information entered in the dissertation form and the abstracts, the dissertation in PDF format and a signed publishing agreement form must be submitted to E-thesis. If you are having your doctoral thesis printed by Unigrafia, they will submit the file to E-thesis.

As rule, only the summarising report of article-based dissertations are published in E-thesis because of copyright issues. However, if the publisher allows it, the University recommends also open access depositing (self-archiving) the articles to the University's research portal. More information on self-archiving is available on the University Library's website. The library staff offers guidance for open access depositing and, when needed, can take care of the depositing on your behalf.

Detailed instructions on electronic publishing are available on the E-thesis website.

If you believe the topic of your doctoral thesis may be of interest to the media and the general public, please contact the communications services of your campus well in advance. Describe briefly your dissertation topic (highlight the perspectives of general interest) and also the time of the public examination, if already agreed upon. Communications will choose topics for wider release based on how interesting they are and how busy the unit is, and will help you find the appropriate communication channels. For more information and contact information for the communications services, please see the instructions related to Publicizing the event.

You are not permitted to correct a printed and published doctoral thesis. However, if you notice small technical errors (such as typos) in your doctoral thesis after it has been printed, you may draw up a separate errata list, where the corrections are listed by page.

The printed list is inserted between the pages of the printed doctoral thesis. You can also send the list as PDF file to Helsinki University Library (e-thesis@helsinki.fi) and ask them to include the list in your digital doctoral thesis.

For well-grounded reasons, doctoral candidates may apply for a special exemption from publishing their doctoral dissertation electronically. If negotiations on publishing the dissertation are ongoing with a publisher and if the publisher has stated that open digital publishing makes commercial publication non-viable, faculties may, at their discretion, grant doctoral candidates permission to not publish their dissertation digitally. Such special exemptions must be applied for well in advance, preferably no later than after receiving the pre-examination statements and when permission for public defence is about to be granted. Doctoral candidates who have been granted such an exemption are not entitled to a grant awarded by the University to cover the printing costs. The doctoral student services of the relevant faculty will notify E-thesis and Unigrafia of granted special exemptions.

In special circumstances, an embargo can be applied instead of the exemption for the open publication of either the entire doctoral dissertation or one of its sections. Embargoes can be considered, for example, in the case of an article included in a doctoral dissertation submitted for publication in a journal. Further information can be obtained from the doctoral student services of your home faculty. Embargoes do not constitute an impediment to receiving a printing grant from the University.

Please note that special exemption should only be applied for if absolutely necessary. Doctoral dissertations can also later be removed from the University’s digital repository if commercial publication becomes topical after the public examination. Open access to doctoral theses also benefits doctoral candidates.

If you have made arrangements to have Unigrafia print your doctoral thesis and have not applied for a special exemption from the open digital publication of your thesis, you are entitled to a grant awarded by the University for covering the printing costs, provided you have been granted permission for public defence.

The printing grant covers a black-and-white edition of 20 copies (colour coverpage included). Unigrafia’s instructions for ordering a printing of a dissertation and further details on pricing are available on the Unigrafia website. You need not separately apply for the grant, but Unigrafia will invoice the printing costs directly to the University. Please note that you are responsible for covering any costs exceeding the printing grant limit (for example possible correction work, colour pictures, extra copies).

Please note that if you also order the layout (formatting) of the thesis from Unigrafia, Unigrafia will charge you for this separately. The University printing grant does not cover layout costs. If you want, you can also prepare the layout yourself. The Unigrafia layout template below can be used as a an aid if needed.

• Layout template

Dissertations can also be printed at printing houses other than Unigrafia, but in these cases doctoral candidates are not entitled to the printing grant awarded by the University.

In addition to digital publication on Helda, a small printed edition of the doctoral thesis is always required, and the printed copies must be made publicly available before the public examination. Doctoral candidates are required to provide no more than 20 printed copies of the dissertation. Those writing an article-based dissertation should note that while the digital publication can consist only of the summarizing article, the printed copies must always also include the articles used in the dissertation. Please apply for the needed permissions from the publishers of the article in good time.

The doctoral thesis must be on public display for full 5 working days before the examination. The day of the examination is not counted as a part of the 5-day public display period. If the examination is held e.g. on a Saturday, the printed copies must have been distributed by the Friday of the previous week at the latest.

Candidates must submit the printed copies no later than five weekdays before the public examination for public display to the following parties:

• Members of the grading committee (1 copy each, total 2–5 copies): opponent(s), custos and faculty representative(s)
• National Library of Finland (6+1 copies):
  However, only 6 of the dissertations of the following faculties need to be submitted:
  - Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry
  - Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences
  - Faculty of Medicine
  - Faculty of Pharmacy
  - Faculty of Science
  - Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
  National Library of Finland/acquisitions
  PO Box 15
  00014 University of Helsinki
• Helsinki University Library (1 copy):
  Helsinki University Library
  Kaisa House/Dissertations
  PO Box 53 (Fabianinkatu 30)
  00014 University of Helsinki
• Doctoral candidate’s home faculty (the remaining copies from the 20-copy print run)
  Instructions for distributing the faculty copies are available further below.

Doctoral candidates are personally responsible for the distribution of the printed copies. The University’s internal mail is available for distribution within the University (please use separate packages for each recipient, write the addresses on the packages and deliver them to the porter of one of the university buildings).

Online display of dissertation

September 2022 onwards, the actual public display of thesis (in Finnish riiputus) is done online in the University’s library kiosks.  An edited PDF version of the entire printed dissertation is sent to the library by Unigrafia 10 days before the public defense. The library will display the dissertation online five days before the defense. Online display of the dissertation increase accessibility  of dissertations, as now all dissertations are available on each campus in an accessible format.

Online display versions of dissertations differ from those dissertation versions put in Helda.  Summarising reports of the dissertation manuscripts found in Helda can be accessed anywhere, whereas the online display copies can only be read in the secure library kiosks and they cannot be downloaded or shared from the kiosks.

If Unigrafia is printing your dissertation, they will deliver the online display copy to the library and the copies for the National Library of Finland. Distributing the rest of the copies is your responsibility.

If you are having your dissertation printed by another printing house, they will submit six (+1) copies known as legal deposits to the National Library of Finland. Distributing the rest of the copies is your responsibility, same as sending an accessible PDF version of your dissertation to the library (e-thesis@helsinki.fi) at the latest 10 days before your public defense. Please check more information on accessibility.

The number and distribution of dissertations to be distributed in printed form remains the same regardless of whether doctoral candidates publish their dissertations in the University’s open digital repository.

Please note that if you order other services from Unigrafia in addition to printing the thesis (such as dissertation folders for the custos and opponent), you are responsible for the costs. Ordering such services is entirely voluntary.

It is customary to include an inscription in the dissertation copies submitted to supervisors and colleagues. This personal inscription should be written on a separate card tucked between the dissertation.

Distributing the faculty copies

Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry

Submit one copy of the printed dissertation to the Faculty’s doctoral student services. The remaining copies are to be distributed to the pre-examiners, supervisors and colleagues.

Mailing address: Doctoral Student Services / Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, P.O. Box 62, 00014 University of Helsinki

Faculty of Arts

Submit one copy of the printed dissertation to the Faculty’s doctoral student services. The remaining copies are to be distributed, at the doctoral candidate’s discretion, to the pre-examiners, supervisors and colleagues. If you have been granted a special exemption regarding the electronic publication of your dissertation, please submit, in addition to the printed copy, the entire dissertation as a single PDF file to the Faculty’s doctoral student services (including articles, if any, in their publication layout). The PDF file is required for the Faculty Council members who will decide on the grade, and it will not be publicly distributed. The file should be sent using the Funet FileSender service.

Mailing address: Doctoral Student Services / Faculty of Arts, P.O. Box 4, 00014 University of Helsinki

Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences

Submit one copy of the printed dissertation to the Faculty’s doctoral student services. The remaining copies are to be distributed to the pre-examiners, supervisors and colleagues.

Mailing address: Doctoral Student Services / Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, P.O. Box 62, 00014 University of Helsinki

Faculty of Educational Sciences

Submit one copy of the printed dissertation to the portier of Minerva-building (P.O.box 9, Siltavuorenpenger 5A) and one copy to the Dean of the Faculty. The remaining copies are to be distributed to the pre-examiners, supervisors and colleagues.

Mailing address: Siltavuorenpenger 5A portier, P.O. Box 9, 00014 University of Helsinki. Write "doctoral thesis reading copy" to the envelope.

Faculty of Law

Submit three copies of the printed dissertation to the Faculty’s doctoral student services. The remaining copies are usually distributed to the coordinating academic of the doctoral candidate’s major subject, the supervisors and colleagues, or, for example, the pre-examiners. If you have been granted a special exemption regarding the electronic publication of your dissertation, please submit, in addition to the printed copy, the entire dissertation as a single PDF file to the Faculty’s doctoral student services (including articles, if any, in their publication layout). The PDF file is required for the Faculty Council members who will decide on the grade, and it will not be publicly distributed. The file should be sent using the Funet FileSender service.

Mailing address: Doctoral Student Services / Faculty of Law, P.O. Box 4, 00014 University of Helsinki

Faculty of Medicine

Submit one copy to each of your supervisors. Any remaining copies will be made available at the public examination.

Faculty of Pharmacy

Submit one copy of the printed dissertation to the Faculty’s doctoral student services. The remaining copies are to be distributed to the pre-examiners, supervisors and colleagues.

Mailing address: Doctoral Student Services / Faculty of Pharmacy, P.O. Box 62, 00014 University of Helsinki

Faculty of Science

Submit one copy of the printed dissertation to the Faculty’s dean. The remaining copies are usually distributed to the supervisors, professors in charge of the discipline and others who have contributed to the dissertation. Any leftover copies of dissertations are usually returned to the doctoral candidate by internal mail.

Mailing address: Doctoral Student Services / Faculty of Science, P.O. Box 64, 00014 University of Helsinki

Faculty of Social Sciences

Submit one copy of the printed dissertation to the Faculty’s doctoral student services. Any remaining copies are to be distributed, at the doctoral candidate’s discretion, to the pre-examiners, supervisors and professors in charge of the discipline. If you have been granted a special exemption regarding the electronic publication of your dissertation, please submit, in addition to the printed copy, the entire dissertation as a single PDF file to the Faculty Council members who will decide on the grade (including articles, if any, in their publication layout). You have received the contact information of the members by e-mail. The file should be sent using the Funet FileSender service.

Mailing address: Doctoral Student Services / Faculty of Social Sciences, P.O. Box 16, 00014 University of Helsinki

Faculty of Theology

Submit one copy of the printed dissertation to the Faculty’s doctoral student services. Check with your supervisors whether your discipline is accustomed to distributing some printed copies, for example, among its teaching staff. The remaining copies are to be distributed, at the doctoral candidate’s discretion, to the pre-examiners, supervisors and colleagues. If you have been granted a special exemption regarding the electronic publication of your dissertation, please submit, in addition to the printed copy, the entire dissertation as a single PDF file to the Faculty’s doctoral student services (including articles, if any, in their publication layout). The PDF file is required for the Faculty Council members who will decide on the grade, and it will not be publicly distributed. The file should be sent using the Funet FileSender service.

Mailing address: Doctoral Student Services / Faculty of Theology, P.O. Box 4, 00014 University of Helsinki

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine

Submit one copy of the printed dissertation to the Faculty’s doctoral student services. The remaining copies are to be distributed to the pre-examiners, supervisors and colleagues.

Mailing address: Doctoral Student Services / Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, P.O. Box 62, 00014 University of Helsinki