Production and distribution of doctoral and licentiate thesis plus communication

1. Layout

There are mandatory layout templates for Halmstad University’s doctoral dissertations/licentiate theses. The templates and instructions for how to use the templates are available for download from Halmstad University Press.

Halmstad University Press

You send your finished print file to Media-Tryck in Lund at least six weeks (30 working days) before the date of the public defence/licentiate seminar. The dissertation/thesis must be available in printed format three weeks (21 working days) before the public defence/licentiate seminar in order to be registered (the ”spikning”, see below).

Please note that the weeks during the month of July, the last week of December and the first week of January are excluded. Contact Media-Tryck well in advance if there is a risk that the time frame cannot be followed.

You will receive a digital proof (a pdf) for approval before printing. If you want a physical proof, you must send your documentation seven weeks (35 working days) before the date of the public defence/licentiate seminar.

Send your print file and the following information to the printer’s with a copy to the responsible communications officer at your School:

• State whether it is a doctoral dissertation or a licentiate thesis.
• Title of the dissertation/thesis.
• Your name and the School where you work.
• Specify the delivery date (the delivery date must be no later than the day before the ”spikning”).
• Specify the number of copies (if not specified, 100 copies of the thesis/dissertation will be printed).
• Optional: Photo of you (personal portrait) and short text for the back. The text must be a maximum of 500 characters in the font Adobe Garamond Pro, 10 points.
• Optional: high-resolution image (300 dpi) for the front of the cover in JPG format.

If your dissertation/thesis consists of several separate articles, you can submit them in one (1) print file. That is, all the content in a single document in the format 140x170 mm with the articles in the correct order. It is also possible to submit the articles separately, as separate files. Then the printing company arranges the insert and puts the articles in the correct order with a cover page before each article.

The publisher Halmstad University Press assigns each dissertation/thesis an ISBN and serial number and sends this to the doctoral student and the printer.

Please respect the timetable! For a more detailed timetable, see the next chapter: Dissertation and licentiate seminar

Send your print file(s) to media-tryck@service.lu.se

Free online course

You can take a free online course called ”Formatting and delivering a print-ready thesis as a PDF”. The course will help you avoid the most common problems when compiling your thesis into a print file. The course is held by Media-Tryck in Lund.

You must register no later than three working days before each course date. State that you are a PhD student at Halmstad University when you register. You will receive the link to the course on the same day as the course takes place.

• Course dates 2024
  • 11 September, at 10.15–12.00
  • 9 October, at 10.15–12.00
  • 13 November, at 10.15–12.00
  • 11 December, at 10.15–12.00

Register for the course: media-tryck@service.lu.se

2. Production

Production and duplication of doctoral and licentiate theses along with appendices take place through the agency of the University and within its resources. The School in which the doctoral student has carried out his/her doctoral education covers the printing costs as well as other possible production costs relating to the thesis. A minimum of 50 copies of the thesis must be printed.

If additional copies are to be printed, the student must have confirmation from the respective School concerning the decision and the cost of printing from the respective school before the order is made to the Communications Department.

The University does not pay for duplication other than by means of the cheapest form of production or in a greater size or number than that which is stated in the Guidelines for the production and distribution of doctoral and licentiate theses.

3. Distribution list

The Committee for Doctoral Education establishes the distribution list. What copies have to be sent, and to where, is pre-printed on forms which are mentioned below. If you want copies to be distributed to additional departments, this must be indicated on the form’s back, and the form must be submitted together with the application for the public defence of doctoral thesis or the licentiate seminar.

Forms:

• Distribution list – doctoral thesis Pdf, 92.2 kB, opens in new window.
• Distribution list – licentiate thesis Pdf, 115 kB, opens in new window.

In accordance with Swedish law, the printing house must deliver legal deposit copies (so-called “pliktexemplar”). The University library is responsible for cataloguing the electronic legal deposit copies, in accordance with the Legal Deposit Act for Electronic Materials (2012:492).

The Campus Services department (Caretaker’s Office) distributes the doctoral thesis/licentiate thesis to those listed in the established distribution list.

4. Notification of the date of the defence of a doctoral thesis/licentiate seminar and electronic publishing

The thesis must be made public no later than three weeks before the public defence of the doctoral or before the licentiate seminar. This is done by means of the doctoral student registering the thesis in the University’s publication database (DiVA), this is called ”spikning”. This also generates a receipt that the ”spikning” has been completed. There is also a notification of the date in the University calendar on the external and internal websites where the public defence of the doctoral thesis/licentiate seminar is to take place. The notification must consist of a place and time for the public defence of the doctoral thesis/licentiate seminar, the doctoral student's name, the title of the thesis, a summary of the thesis, and the name of the opponent.

At least three school weeks before the public defence of the doctoral thesis or before the licentiate seminar, the full-version of the thesis (for compilation theses, only the introductory chapter) must be available on DiVA. For compilation theses, all parts of the thesis have to be registered in DiVA before the thesis is registered and the full-version of the introductory chapter is made available.

Note: DiVA is the primary source for both doctoral/licentiate thesis and public defence of the doctoral thesis/licentiate seminars. The DiVA entries (with links to the full-versions) should always be linked when the University is communicating about the doctoral/licentiate thesis and public defence of the doctoral thesis/licentiate seminar. By promoting the DiVA publication rather than parallel publishing the thesis on other sites, you can make use of the download statistics, as well as ensure the quality of the file's integrity through the use of a checksum.

5. Publication in printed form

Doctoral/licentiate theses (including appendices and articles) are to be made available in print at Halmstad University's library at least three academic weeks before the public defence of the doctoral thesis/licentiate seminar. The Caretakers' Office is responsible for the delivery. Each School determines how the dissertation should otherwise be made available.

Halmstad University library must receive one copy of the thesis. The archive at Halmstad University shall also have one copy of the thesis.

Halmstad University Press has more information regarding the publication.

Information from Halmstad University Press

Search for the University's dissertations in LIBRIS External link.

6. External, popular communication

At least four academic weeks* before the public defence / seminar, the relevant Communicator, or the equivalent, sends a questionnaire to the doctoral student. This also occurs before some licentiate seminars.

The answers to the questions of the questionnaire must be submitted to the relevant Communicator no later than three term weeks* before the public defence. Even after the questionnaire has been filled in, the relevant Communicator may require to do an additional interview. The answers to these questions often – depending on the focus and results of the research – form the basis of a popular scientific article and usually a press statement that the Communicator formulates and publishes in the appropriate channels. In certain cases, a short amendment may be sufficient. Images and any film clips may need to be taken. 

The publication usually takes place before the seminar/public defence. The texts are always published in Swedish, and often in English too.

The notification regarding a seminar/defence is made via the University's calendar and is described in section 4. The Communications Department also publishes the information via the University's Twitter and Linkedin accounts.

To make sure the result is known to different groups in general, it is important that doctoral students, supervisors, among others, contribute in the disseminating of popular scientific material via different networks.

* Please note that ’term weeks’ implies that the weeks between spring term and autumn term are not taken into account, as well as the period around Christmas and New Year. Therefore, please take this into consideration and contact the Communications Department in good time.