Aalto University publication series

Doctoral theses for Aalto University for the year 2025 are ordered from Unigrafia. Instructions can be found on this page.
Instructions for other publication series of the university can be found at the bottom of this page.

Other publications published in Aalto University series can be ordered through the Aalto publication platform until the end of December, where the front pages and covers are also created. Instructions for ordering other publication series will be updated at the bottom of this page.

Aalto Learning Center offers advice on matters related to publishing, publication permissions, and the use of the publication platform.

Unigrafia's support service provides assistance with content page formatting and printing-related inquiries.

Make sure to act in a timely manner!

Place the order at least 28 days before the public examination date.

If necessary, arrange a faster schedule with us separately in advance. An additional fee will be charged for expediting the schedule.

For more details on the delivery time, please refer to the "Delivery Time" section at the bottom of the page.

Instructions and links for Doctoral Theses

The ordering of Aalto University dissertations has moved to this website as of December 2, 2024.

Begin your order by downloading the short guide from the link provided next to this text.

Once you have chosen the covers, decided on the print run and additional services, and compiled a list of color pages, you can start the ordering process using the link next to this text. Please note that the order form does not have a back button, so we recommend using the price calculator to assist you before placing the order.

After your order has been processed, you will receive an order confirmation from us, including a summary of your order and a timeline. Within a few days, you will receive a proof of both the cover and the interior. Changes to the order can be made until you approve the proof and give printing approval. After that, no changes can be made.

You can find the university's publishing guidelines for doctoral theses at the links below. If needed, you can request additional instructions from Unigrafia's publishing services team. Please note that Unigrafia does not provide support for using the publishing platform.

Aalto University guidelines

Start here:

1. Download and read the short guide for ordering

2. Choose the template for your covers

3. Apply for the publication number and ISBN numbers for your thesis

4. Decide on the print run using the price calculator.

5. Place the dissertation order using the order form

Check these links, too!

Word template for Doctoral thesis in English, Finnish and Swedish

Word template for initial pages of Doctoral thesis in English, Finnish and Swedish

Request a quote for doctoral thesis layout

Contact Unigrafia

Guidelines for Aalto University Doctoral Candidates

Schedule and Publishing

Order your books at least four weeks before your defense date to ensure they are delivered by the presentation day at the latest (hanging day, 10 working days before your defense date).

A total of 11 working days must be allocated for the book production process. Work at Unigrafia and the printing house takes place on weekdays.

DAY 1: The material will be checked the day after the order.
DAY 4: The PDF proof will be delivered on the fourth working day.
DAY 6: If the proof is approved in the morning, the schedule will be maintained.
DAY 10: The books will be produced at PunaMustan printing house in Joensuu.
DAY 11: Delivery to the school.

Books will be delivered to the school in accordance with the agreement made with the university. The books will be delivered to the delivery address approved by your university, which you can see in the ordering system when placing your order.

Correction rounds always delay the delivery time, as corrections cannot be made on the same day. After the correction, a new prepress job will be done, and a new proof will be sent for approval. Each correction round extends the book completion time by about two working days.

If the layout of the pages is done at Unigrafia, the delivery time is 6 weeks. The exact delivery time will be determined based on the book's length and the number of illustrations, graphs, and tables. By requesting a quote, you will also receive a proposed timeline.

If the timeline is insufficient, please arrange an expedited schedule with us in advance. We will charge €125.50 for expediting the prepress phase. If the printing time is also expedited, the additional charge for expedited work is €188.25.

The price of the book is calculated based on the number of pages, copies, colors used in the book, and selected additional services.

Above on this page, there is a link to the price calculator for Aalto University Doctoral Theses. The form provides an estimate for the total printing cost. The final price is also influenced by the number of corrections made during the proofing stage. We will charge the printing support directly to your university based on the pre-defined billing information. Any amount exceeding the printing support will be billed to the candidate.

If you would like a cost estimate for the layout of your dissertation, please send a request through the link on the page. Be sure to request the quote at least 8 weeks before your defense date, so we can schedule and reserve time for the graphic designer.

We require the dissertation material to be submitted in print-ready PDF format, unless the design and/or layout of the book is ordered separately from Unigrafia. The electronic versions of the dissertations must be accessible according to the law. You can find more detailed information about accessibility in the adjacent column under ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES AND TEMPLATE.

When the book is also printed, it is essential that all fonts used are embedded in the file. Download the instructions for creating a functional PDF in Word in Finnish here and in English here.

Dissertation orders for Aalto University for the 2024 defense ceremonies will be submitted through the publication platform. In 2025, those defending their dissertations will order publication numbers, ISBN numbers, and printing via a separate order form on this Unigrafia page.

All materials must always be submitted as print-ready PDF files. Only materials that are to be laid out (ordered separately from the graphic designer) can be sent in Word format.

If your dissertation includes separate publications (articles), name them in a way that indicates their order from the name. For example, 1_Matti_dissertation.pdf, 2_Matti_art1.pdf, 3_Matti_art2.pdf, and so on. Also, upload them in the order they will appear in the book.

Before submission, make sure that the files are not locked or password-protected, including the articles. We are unable to use protected files.

We will send you a proof in PDF format via email. Please read it carefully, especially all cover texts, and check the order of the pages, page numbers, and color pages. If you notice any errors after receiving the proof, please reply to the proof email with a new PDF of the pages to be replaced and also provide a separate list of all corrections.

A new proof will be sent to you once the corrections have been made and the pages have been replaced. All prepress steps will be redone for the replaced pages, and even a small correction will require a new proof and print file to be created. Therefore, correction rounds will always take at least half an hour. We will charge for corrections based on the time spent, at a rate of €108.56 per hour. The price includes one round of revisions (0.5 hours), so please make all necessary corrections at once. The minimum charge for an additional correction round is half an hour, which is €54.28.

A dissertation folder, also known as the celebratory folder for the custos and opponent, is a ring binder that contains a dissertation cut open from the spine. Between each text page, there is a white tab for notes and annotations.

The dissertation folder is not yet very common at Aalto University, but at many other universities, it is almost always ordered. Typically, three folders are ordered: for the opponent, the custos, and the candidate. The price for one folder is €25.10.

In the dissertation order form, there is a section to indicate the number of dissertation folders needed. The dissertation folder is an additional service and does not receive university printing support.

Dissertation folders are produced alongside the printing of the dissertation. Therefore, they cannot be ordered retroactively.

Printed books are delivered approximately six days after the proof has been approved.

We will send six copies of the printed book to the National Library, while the rest will be delivered to the department. The university covers the delivery costs to the department. The printing house will notify you when the work is completed.

Unfortunately, the exact time of transport cannot be scheduled separately, and the driver will not call in advance. Please ensure that there is a recipient available at the delivery address for the entire day, especially during summer months.

Unigrafia will deliver the electronic copy and the copies for the National Library directly. You will need to handle the distribution of the other copies yourself. The six copies sent to the National Library are included in the print run.

Unigrafia delivers the electronic web version directly to the university library. In article-based dissertations, the web version includes all articles in the hanging copy. However, the public version will have these removed by the library.

The web version is published only on the hanging day, which is 10 days before the defense. Unigrafia must submit the web version to the library 15 calendar days before the defense.

Appearance and Accessibility

The first page of a doctoral dissertation is the title page. If you are completing your dissertation for Aalto University in 2024, the preliminary pages, including the title page, will be generated on the Publishing Platform. Instructions on how to use the Publishing Platform are provided by the university.

For those defending in 2025, all internal pages of the dissertation will need to be prepared independently. The first page, the title page, must clearly display the title of the dissertation, the name of the doctoral candidate, as well as the date and location of the defense. The reverse side of this page includes bibliographic identifiers such as ISBN numbers, which are automatically provided by the Publishing Platform. In 2025, the numbers will be obtainable from Unigrafia.

The university, in collaboration with Unigrafia, is finalizing a writing template that will also include the preliminary pages. If you are defending at the beginning of 2025 and have already prepared the internal pages of your dissertation, the template for the preliminary pages will be available for download from this site in December.

Doctoral theses of Aalto University have standard covers, which will be typeset at Unigrafia starting from December 2, 2024. You can view examples of the dissertation series covers here (coming soon!).

Customized Cover

Aalto ARTS occasionally publishes doctoral theses in this series with a distinctive design a few times a year, and these are also funded by the university. Currently, no one else has the option for a customized design in this publication series.

Images
Aalto University has its own image guidelines, which will be added to this guideline website in December 2024.

Image originals can be delivered to the press as digital images, photographs, slides, negatives, or drawings. There is always an additional charge for processing or embedding separate images into a file.

Generally, images and charts in dissertations are already placed within the prepared file. If you are doing the layout yourself but want a graphic designer to edit your images or charts in advance, make sure to order this service from a Unigrafia designer in good time.

Digital images can be divided into two groups – tone images and line drawings. Tone images include color images and images containing different shades of gray. Tone images can be either photographs or drawings.

Line drawings are, for example, logos and simple drawings without shading, as well as images mainly consisting of text.

The best image formats are TIF, EPS, and JPEG. The resolution for tone images must be 300 dpi, and for line drawings, 600 dpi. For online versions, a lower resolution (72 dpi) is sufficient, but Unigrafia will handle resolution reduction for the online version as needed.

If you are scanning images for your dissertation, it is recommended to save them in TIF format. Consider any necessary resizing when scanning images, especially if the printed image will be larger than the original (e.g., stamps). Images can always be reduced in size, but enlarging them without degrading quality is not feasible.

If you are scanning text, such as an image from a text document, it is recommended to save it as a 1-bit black-and-white image with a minimum resolution of 600 dpi.

Adding an Image in Word
You can safely add images to a Word document. Ensure you use high-quality print settings when saving the PDF file to upload to the Publishing Platform or Unigrafia’s order form.

If you order graphic design and layout from us (price calculated separately), you can send images and text files separately. Otherwise, images must be embedded in place within the PDF file.

Note that if an image or another element reaches the edge of the page, you must add a 3 mm bleed to each page, and elements that extend to the edge (such as an image or background color) must go 3 mm ‘outside the page.’

The printing machine does not count the number of text characters or images. However, you must provide us with a list of all colored pages, as we handle them differently in the prepress department.

The content will be sent to us as a PDF file, but they do not need to be the correct size. If they are made in A4 size, we will scale them to the final B5 size at Unigrafia. If the book includes separate articles, please send them separately. We will scale each one individually and assemble them into a final version.

Margins
Typically, the page size when writing is A4. However, the final size of the dissertation is B5, which is 84% of an A4 page. The left and right margins of the dissertation pages must be at least 2.5 cm in A4 size, as the margins will also narrow when the page size is reduced. Binding the book will further reduce the inner margins. The top and bottom margins can be 2.5 cm or wider. The same rule applies to two-column dissertations.

You can test the layout's functionality yourself by reducing printouts of the manuscript using a regular copier.

Page Numbers
Page numbers are usually placed at the bottom of the page and centered, making them easy to find. The commands (Insert – Page Numbers…) will take you to the page number menu. Select (Position: – Top of page (Header) and (Alignment: – Center). The first page should not have a page number, so uncheck the option (Show number on first page).

If you want the book's page number to always be on the outer edge of each page, keep in mind that even page numbers should be on the left pages and odd page numbers on the right pages. For left pages (with even numbers), left alignment should be chosen for numbering. In Microsoft Word, the page numbering should be selected to appear on the outer edge of the pages.

The book should be limited to a maximum of two different font types. For example, sans-serif fonts (like Arial) can be used for headings and references, while serif fonts (like Times New Roman or Georgia) should be used for the body text. The distinction between headings and body text must be clear for accessibility and readability purposes. Remember to indicate the structure of the publication by using the styles in your word processor (Word). Define the correct fonts in advance for each style: heading levels, body text levels, captions, etc. You can also use a ready-made template; download it from the section ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES AND WRITING TEMPLATE.

The dissertation is usually done in A4 size. In that case, you can choose the following fonts:

For the main heading font (level 1), use Arial Bold (bold version), with a point size of 16.
For body text, use Georgia, point size 12, line spacing 15 (or for example, 1.2).
For subheadings (level 2), use Arial Bold, point size 14.
For subheadings (level 3), use Arial, point size 14.
For references and captions, use Arial, point size 10, line spacing 10.

Note that if the layout is done directly in B5 size, meaning on a page size of 176 x 250 mm, the font will be about 2 points smaller!

Embedding Fonts in the File
When the book is also printed, it is important that all the fonts you use are embedded in the file. Download instructions for creating a working PDF in Word in Finnish here and in English here.

The university recommends standard materials for dissertations. For the cover, a fully coated multi-layer cardboard, Invercote Creato 260 g, is used, and for the inner pages, a non-coated, fully white basic paper, Multioffset 100 g. These are also the standard materials according to the price list.

For a small additional cost, you can also choose higher-quality papers.

In the Bright package, the inner paper is lightly coated G-print 115 g, and the cover is made of fully coated Galerie art silk 300 g/m² cardboard. These have a slightly softer hue and are clearly of higher quality than the basic paper option.

In the Natural package, Scandia Natural White paper quality is used. This paper has a slightly cream tone, is uncoated, and is non-woodfree.

Remember to mention in your order if you want to use higher-quality paper! The price calculator will calculate the price based on standard materials, and higher-quality materials may increase the price by about 5-10%. The printing support's share is always calculated based on a book produced with standard materials, even if the book is printed on different materials.

If you wish, you can order the layout or design of your doctoral thesis from a graphic designer at Unigrafia. We usually use a pre-designed template specifically made for Aalto theses, but if you prefer, we can create a unique design for your book. The cover must follow the series' visual style, but we can assist in creating an image, making an illustration, or finding a suitable stock photo for your cover.

If you only need formatting individual tables or figures, feel free to ask us for a quote or advice. You can request a quote by filling out a form or sending a contact request using the contact form on the left side of the page.

Unigrafia has written guidelines for creating an accessible file using Word with a template that you can use as a writing base for your dissertation. The layout defined in the writing template is suitable as-is for most dissertations, and using it, you can directly create a print-ready PDF of your dissertation.

Customized writing templates for Aalto University dissertations are currently being developed and will later be available for download on this page in Finnish, English, and Swedish.

Please note that if you bring text into the template from another file, do not copy the styles you used; instead, import the text while preserving only the plain text (do not retain the source formatting). If you keep the source formatting, it may disrupt the template.

For more information on accessibility, you can refer to the guidelines on the Celia Accessibility Library website.

How do I know if I need layout assistance?

Layout refers to the arrangement of text and elements such as graphs and images on the pages of a book in a visually clear and readable format. The final result of the layout process is a print-ready PDF file.

You do not need our layout services if you are doing the layout yourself. In that case, you should provide the manuscript and any articles to us as ready PDF files that include all the fonts used in the text. Instructions for creating the file can be found here.

If you are unsure whether you need our layout services, you can send us your text file for evaluation via email at asiakaspalvelu@unigrafia.fi.

Yes, I want a graphic designer to layout my dissertation!

If you want to make things a little easier and assign the layout to a professional graphic designer, send us a request for a quote.

Please note that the request for a quote should be sent to us at least 6 weeks, preferably 2 months, before your planned defense date so that we can schedule the work in the graphic designer's calendar as well.

Ask for quote

Ordering instructions for other publication series

The use of Aalto University's publishing platform will end, and the ordering of all Aalto University publication series will be moved to this site in early 2025.

Other publication series:

Aalto University publication series Business, Economy (Aalto BE)
Aalto University publication series Art, Design, Architecture (Aalto ADA)
Aalto University publication series Science, Technology (Aalto ST)
Aalto University publication series Crossover (Aalto C)

Stay tuned to this page!

Start here:

A brief guide to ordering (coming soon!)

Word template for initial pages of Doctoral thesis in English, Finnish and Swedish (templates for other series coming soon!)

The new design for Aalto DT covers (coming soon!)

Printing order form for other series (coming soon!)

Additional services for the doctoral candidate

In addition to printing your dissertation, you can order other services related to your defense from us.

We offer, for example, graphic design and layout for dissertations.
Request a quote.

Feel free to ask us about image processing and data visualization; formatting graphs and tables is our specialty. You can find more about our graphic services here.

You can also order the recording of your defense event from us. See more about our streaming services here.