Doctoral theses / Dissertations

Ordering a printing and binding of a dissertation is easy. Send us the completed PDF document and we will do the rest for you.

Aalto University and the University of Helsinki have signed an agreement with Unigrafia for the service of dissertation clients. The contract covers consulting of doctoral candidates and taking care of printing and online versions of theses.

The university pays for the standard prepress work and a share of the printing costs agreed separately for each university.
The printing is done in our contract printing house, where the production is tailored to suit the needs of our dissertation clients. As a dissertation customer, you will also receive printing according to the pre-competitioned price list.

See below for Aalto University and University of Helsinki order information.

Aalto-university

Publishing of Aalto University’s doctoral theses starts from Aalto’s own publication platform service. Aalto’s Learning Centre helps with publishing matters such as permissions and the use of the publication platform.

The cover design and layout for dissertations published in the Aalto publication series are designed using the Aalto publication platform. Unigrafia helps with the page layout. Instructions on how to use the publication platform and general information of Aalto University’s dissertations can be found on Aalto University’s website.

University of Helsinki

Doctorates from the University of Helsinki can order printed books directly from Unigrafia.

University of Helsinki dissertations are mostly published in series “Dissertationes Universitatis Helsingiensis” by the University of Helsinki Doctoral School (UHDS).  The series was established in 2023. You can get more detailed information about the series from the link below.

For further information on printing and publishing your doctoral thesis, please see the University of Helsinki Instructions for Students -service. When needed, you can also be in touch with the doctoral student services of your home faculty.

The University of Helsinki’s dissertation price calculator and order form is below.

Additional services

In addition to printing your dissertation, you can also order other dissertation-related services from Unigrafia.

For example, we offer graphic design and layout of a dissertation. Ask us also about image processing and data visualization; designing graphs and tables is our specialty. See more about our graphic services here.

You can also order a video recording of your dissertation from Unigrafia. See more about our streaming services here.

Helsingin yliopiston väitöskansio
Väitöskirjan sivujen palkit

Q&A

Order the books so that they are delivered no later than the display day (5 or 10 business days before the public examination).

Allow a total of 11 full business days for printing and delivery. Unigrafia or the printing company does not work on public holidays or weekends.

  • DAY 1: The material is checked on the next business day after the order.
  • DAY 4: The PDF proof is delivered on the fourth business day.
  • DAY 6: The proof is approved during the morning.
  • DAY 10: The books are completed .
  • DAY 11: Delivery to the customer/institution/Punamusta pickup point.

If home delivery has not been ordered, the books can be picked up from the Vantaa pickup point on the next business day after the delivery.

Please note that correction rounds always extend the delivery time, as corrections may not be made on the same day. After corrections, a new proof will always be sent for approval.

If the schedule is not sufficient, please discuss an expedited schedule with us separately. We charge €124 for expediting the prepress phase. If printing time is also expedited, there is an additional charge of €186 for expedited work.

If the layout of the thesis is done at Unigrafia, the delivery time is 4-5 weeks. A graphic designer will be assigned, and the exact schedule will be agreed upon on a case-by-case basis well in advance before the work begins, at least about 6 weeks before the defense.


The price is calculated based on the number of pages, copies, use of color and additional services ordered for the book.

The estimated price of a doctoral dissertation at the University of Helsinki can be calculated by completing  Dissertation order form/calculater. The form provides an estimate of the final price of printing after the university’s printing support. The final price is also influenced by, for example, the amount of corrections made during the proofing phase.


We need the material for electronic and printed publications in print-ready PDF format, unless the design and/or final layout of the book is ordered separately from Unigrafia. Electronic versions should meet accessibility requirements. You can find more detailed information about accessibility in the adjacent column under Accessibility guidelines and writing template.

When the book will also be printed, it is important that all the fonts you have used in Your document are embedded in the file. You can download instructions for making a valid PDF with the Word program here.


Aalto University’s dissertation orders are sent via the publication platform. University of Helsinki dissertations are ordered via the order form. See below for more detailed university-specific links. The common thing is that all material is always delivered as a PDF file ready for printing. We scale the pages, insert interleaves if needed, check the fonts and margis of pages. You can only send the material in Word format if you have ordered graphic design or page layout from us in advance.

If there are separate publications (articles) in your dissertation, name them in the order as they will be in the printed product, for example:  1_Matin_dissertation.pdf, 2_Matin_art1.pdf, 3_Matin_art2.pdf and so on.  Also upload the files in the same order they are put in the book.

Before sending, check that files are not locked or password protected, including articles. We cannot use protected files.


We will send a proof in PDF format to your email. Read thoroughly especially all cover texts. Check also the order of the pages, page numbers and color pages. If you notice an error in a draft, send a new PDF of the pages to be changed as a reply to the message, and also write us a separate list of all corrections. You will receive a new print when the corrections have been made and the pages have been changed.

All the prepress steps must be done for the changeable pages, and after even a small correction, we must convert a new file to printing house. Therefore, the repair rounds always take at least half an hour. We charge for repairs based on the time spent on the work as an hourly charge of €107,26 (incl. VAT). The minimum charge for an extra repair round is half an hour,  €53,63 .

For alterations made when the material is already in print as well as other additional work, we charge an hourly rate 107,26 €/h, (VAT incl.).


The dissertation binder, i.e. the celebration binder of the custos and the opponent, is a silver-colored ring binder. Binders are specially designed to ease the discussion between You, opponent and custos. We cut the spine off a book, insert white interleaves between each pages for markings and notes and bind the book with silver cloth coated ring binder.

You can order for example one for the opponent, one for the custodian, and one for yourself. The price of one folder is €24.80.

The order form on dissertations of University of Helsinki has a section where the number of dissertation binders is entered. In Aalto University’s order form is no place for them, so mark in additional information if you want to order them.

Dissertation binders are prepared in connection with the printing of the books. Therefore, they cannot be ordered afterwards.


Printed books are delivered approximately 6 days after the approval of the print.

Aalto University dissertations

We always send 6 of the books to the Finnish National Library. The rest to the books are delivered to Department address in Aalto University.  The university pays for the delivery to the department. The print house sends a message about the completion of the work automatically.

Dissertations of the University of Helsinki

Depending on the faculty, we send 6 or 7 of the books to the Finnish National Library. We will deliver the rest to the address you provided. This delivery is subject to a charge (62 euros). You can also pick up the books free of delivery costs from the PunaMusta press in Vantaa on weekdays between 10 am and 2 pm. The address is Koivuhaantie 2 A, 01510 Vantaa. The books are usually at the pick-up point the next business day after delivery. PunaMusta sends a message about the completion of the work automatically.

Unfortunately, the exact time of the transport cannot be booked separately and the driver does not call in advance; therefore make sure that there is a recipient present at the delivery address throughout the day. If the delivery address is in an apartment building with a door code, mark the check as the delivery address.

Dissertations are usually delivered by Posti to the door. If you choose pickup as the delivery method, the books can only be picked up on the business day following delivery.


Unigrafia delivers the electronic online version directly to the university library. All articles are included in the online version’s display copy (not in the public web). They will be removed from the public version by the library. The online version is only published on the day of the announcement: at Aalto University 10 days and at the University of Helsinki 5 days before the public examination.

Layout and accessibility

The first page of the dissertation is the title page. If you write your dissertation for Aalto University, the initial pages, including the title page, will be created on the Publication platform. See more from Instructions on how to use the publication platform

All inner pages of the University of Helsinki’s dissertation are made by yourself. The first page, the title page, must include the name of the book and the candidate, as well as the date and place of the doctoral dissertation.

On the second page (behind the title page) you should place the book’s ISBN number (International Standard Book Number) for both printed and electronic publications. If your book is published in a series, the ISSN number (International Standard Serial Number) of the series is also written on the page. In that case, ask the editor-in-chief of the publication series for all numbers.

If your book is not published in any series, order ISBN numbers from the National Library. Mark your own university as the publisher of the book.

 


Aalto University

Doctoral theses of Aalto University’s have standard covers that are created on the publishing platform. You can get more detailed instructions from your university.

University of Helsinki

At the University of Helsinki, covers are generally typed in Unigrafia. Remember to check all texts on the PDF-proof , including the spine and back cover! With the order form, you choose which covers you want for your book.

Dissertationes Universitatis Helsingiensis cover

If the book is published in series Dissertationes Universitatis Helsingiensis, we will type the covers into its cover template. The colors of the cover are determined by the faculty. If you attach a cover image to the files, we will choose a pictorial cover template. The format of the picture varies, so check the printout that the image is correctly positioned.

Helsinki University basic cover: 

If the book is not published in any series, and you choose “Helsinki University cover”, we will type the covers into the cover template made for dissertations. The colors of the cover are determined by the faculty. If you attach a cover image to the files, we will choose a pictorial cover template. The size of the picture is about 11×18 cm (horizontal). About 3 mm is cut off from the right and bottom edge of the picture during the cutting phase. Check the printout that the image is correctly positioned.

Another series

If your dissertation is published in a publication series, enter the ISSN number of the series in your order, and we will automatically choose the covers on the correct base.

Own cover

A self-designed cover is also possible. We recommend using a professional graphic designer for your own cover, so that the cover file is not only technically functional, but also visually stylish. We are happy to consult about the use of the university logo in advance and calculate the width of the back for you.

If you have your own cover layout, please attach a file. The cover file must be a ready-to-print PDF file including a back cover, spine, and front cover with min. 3mm bleeds and cutting marks. If the file is not ready to print, any corrections made by Unigrafia will be charged separately.


Photo originals can be delivered to the press either as digital images, photographs, slides, negatives or drawings. The processing or joining of separate images to the file is always charged separately. Usually the pictures and graphics are already placed in a file. If you do the layout of pages yourself, but need a graphic artist to edit your images or graphics, You can order the work in advance from Unigrafia’s graphic artist.

Digital images can be separated into two groups – tonal images and line drawings. Tonal images include color images and images containing different shades of gray. Shades can be either photographs or drawings. Line drawings are, for example, logos and simple drawings that do not contain shades, as well as images that mainly contain text.

The best image formats are TIF, EPS and JPEG images. The resolution must be 300 dpi for color images and 600 dpi for line images. A lower resolution (72 dpi) is sufficient for online versions, but Unigrafia will take care of reducing the resolution when creating the online version if necessary.

If you scan images for your dissertation, it is recommended to save the images in TIF format. So take the possible size conversion into account when scanning images – especially if the printed image is larger than the original (e.g. stamps). Images can always be reduced in size, but it is not possible to enlarge them without reducing the quality.

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

Inserting a picture in Word
You can safely insert images into a Word document. Make sure you use high quality print quality settings when saving the PDF file that you upload to the publishing platform or Unigrafia order form.

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

Please note that if an image or other element reaches the edge of the page, you should add 3 mm of cutting space to each page, and the elements that reach the edge (the image or, for example, the background color) should go “outside the page” by 3 mm.

If you have any elements to be print in colors, you must provide us with a list of all color pages, as we process them differently in the prepress department. Remember also, that if you order printing job in black and white, also Your e-version is black and white.


The university recommends standard materials for dissertations. The cover board is fully coated multi-layer board Invercote Creato 260 g and the inner paper is dust-free, uncoated base paper Multioffset 100 g. Multioffset is completely white paper. These are standard materials according to the price list for both Aalto University and University of Helsinki dissertations.

For a small additional price, 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 fully coated Galerie art silk 300 g/m2 cardboard. They are slightly softer in tone and clearly of higher quality than the basic paper option.

The Natural package (formerly named Basic) uses Scandia Natural White paper quality. The paper is slightly cream-toned, uncoated and pulp-free.

Remember to mention in the order if you want to use higher quality paper!


The pages are sent to us as a PDF file, but they do not have to be the correct size. If they are made in A4 size, we scale them in Unigrafia to the final B5 size. If there will be separate articles in the book, please send them separately. We scale each one separately and join them together when finished.

Margins

Typically, the page size is A4 when writing. However, the size of the final book is B5, which is 84% of an A4 page. The left and right margins of the dissertation page must be at least 2.5 cm in A4 size, because when the page is reduced, the margin also narrows. The binding of the book reduces the inner margins even more. The top and bottom margins can be 2.5 cm or wider.

You can see how the final page is working by reducing the printouts of the manuscript with a standard copier.

Page numbers

Page numbers are usually placed at the bottom of the page and centered, where they can be quickly found. The commands (Insert – Page Numbers…) take you to the page number menu. Choose (Position: – Top of page (Header) and (Alignment: – Center). The first page will not have a page number, so uncheck the command (Show number on first page).

If you want the page number of the book to always be on the outer edge of each page, take into account when numbering the pages that the left-hand pages will be even and the right-hand pages will be odd. For left-hand pages (with even numbers), select left-hand numbering. In Microsoft Word, the page numbering on the outer edge of the pages is selected.


The book should be limited to a maximum of two different fonts. For example, a grotesque font (such as Arial) can be used in titles, reference and image texts and an antique type (such as Georgia) for body texts . The difference between headings and body text must be clear for accessibility and readability. Remember to mark the structure of the publication using ready-made style templates..

The pages are often finished in A4 size. Then suitable fonts for thesis are for example following fonts:

  • Main headings (1-level) Arial Bold 16 p.

  • body text Georgia, 12 p, space between lines 15 ( or multiple 1,2).

  • Headins in level 2 Arial Bold 14 p.

  • Headins in level 3 Arial 14 p.

  • For reference and caption, Arial, point size 10, line spacing 10.

Note that if the page is made directly to B5 size, i.e. on a 176 * 250 mm page, the font is about 2 points smaller!


If you want, you can order the layout of your thesis from Unigrafia’s graphic designer. We usually use a ready-made template designed for dissertations, but if you wish, we can design an individual layout for your book. The cover can as it is in publication series or university’s “ready-made cover”, or we can design it individually. We can use  your ready-made photo or drawing or make cover without any picture. Our graphic designer can also create the illustration for the cover or search for a suitable image from the image bank.

If you only need help designing the cover or finishing the layout of individual tables or patterns, ask us for an offer or advice. Send an offer request by filling out the form or by sending a contact request using the contact form on the left side of the page.


Our instructions on how to make an accessible file with Word are written into a Word template file. You can download the file for the Finnish doctoral thesis (text and instructions in Finnish) here and for the English thesis here.

You can view the University of Helsinki’s guidelines on accessibility here.