Researcher's guide to responsible and open science

Trepo is the open institutional repository of Tampere University, which contains theses, self-archived research publications, and other material produced at the University.

The collection Monographs and series is intended for the publication of e.g. reports, working papers, guides, conference publications, and faculty series.

Why publish in Trepo?

• Quick publication process via electronic forms.
• Publications are openly available and the platform also enables the use of CC licenses.
• Publications get ISBN and URN identifiers.
• The long-term preservation of the publications is ensured.
• Publications can be easily found on search engines.

How to publish in Trepo?

• At least one of the authors must be affiliated with Tampere University, and the publisher is a faculty or unit of Tampere University.
• Apply for an ISBN: ISBN application form. ISBN identifiers must always be clearly legible in the publication.
• When your publication is ready for release, fill out the form and attach the final version of the publication as a PDF: Publish a monograph or a serial publication.
• The layout, editing, cover design, printing, and marketing of the publication are the responsibility of the author. A shared, branded publication cover template has been designed for Tampere University's publications, it can be used if needed. You can see it in the Marketing Material Bank.

NB: Research articles are self-archived to research information system TUNICRIS: Self-archiving.

University publication series

Most of the publications in the collection Monographs and series are monographs that are not part of any publication series. Some units and research centres have their own publication series. The units are responsible for establishing the series and coordinating the publishing. The ISSN is an international identifier for a publication series that can be used to identify the series. An ISSN can be applied for a series in which the publishing activity is continuous and, in principle, indefinite. Multi-volume works and publication series belonging to projects are not ongoing publications, as they are usually designed to have an end date. When establishing new series, ISSNs can be applied for from the The Finnish national ISSN Agency.

Accessibility ensures equality. Digital accessibility means that all individuals are able to receive the information in an accessible format regardless of the situation at the time or possible individual limitations for the use. Accessibility is crucial for people with special needs due to, for instance, mental and physical disabilities and for elderly people. The documents are challenging for individuals who use low vision aids.

Accessibility means the consideration of human diversity in digital services. In other words, it corresponds to accessibility in the physical world. 

Accessibility Directive

In Finland, accessibility is required also by the Act on the Provision of Digital Services, which applies to the online content and services produces by universities and other authorities. The accessibility requirements cover both digital design of websites and documents on the websites.These are especially the theses that are published in Trepo.

Accessible PDFs

The most important thing to remember is to pay attention to the accessibility early on when creating a document. To make a PDF document accessible, you must first make the original Word document accessible and then convert it into PDF/A format using the appropriate procedure. A correctly saved PDF document contains all of the structures included in the Word document, which, for example, a visually impaired person can utilise to read the document using a screen reader.

At least the following should be taken into consideration in accessible Word documents:

• The file structure (headings, paragraphs, lists) is created using the Styles menu, not, for example, by changing the font size.
• The font is sufficiently large and intelligible, while the contrast between the font and background is sufficient.
• Images have text alternatives that describe the image content to those unable to see the images.
• Tables are created with the table tool of Word or Excel, and they contain a header row.
• The language and title (not the same as file name) of the document are assigned in the properties.
• Accessibility is ensured using Word’s Check Accessibility function.

On the intranet of TUNI, you can find more information on making the documents accessible:

Accessible files

saavutettavasti.fi website (in Finnish only)