Procedure lay-out and printing doctoral thesis/invitations/announcements

Important: Start this procedure at least five weeks before you have to send your final thesis to the jury members! 

Font style doctoral thesis

• The font for the thesis is Verdana 9pt. More information about the layout can be found at ‘Tekstblok-formaat’ (pdf, 64 KB).

Request unique depot number

• Fifteen working days before printing of the thesis (proof), you need to deliver the document ‘Koninklijke Bibliotheek Albert I (pdf, 144 KB)’ to Katrien.vanheusden@uhasselt.be.
• You will receive a unique depot number which you need to enter in the document 'application form' (see next step) 
• XOD will keep three copies of your doctoral thesis. One for the library of Hasselt University and two for the Royal Library in Brussels (keep this in mind when determining the print run!)

Application form cover doctoral thesis 

• For the cover, inside page, invitation and announcement of your doctorate, you must fill in the application form correctly and send it to phd@uhasselt.be (subject: Application form COVER - name + first name - defense date) ATTENTION:
  • All information (title thesis, title Prof. Dr, names, affiliations, …) included in the application form must correspond with the data in your approved end phase of My Doctoral file.
  • Changes must be requested and approved upfront via the faculty
  • Regarding entry boxes 7&8 (placing of logos) of the application form: deviations on this will not be allowed.
  • Incomplete application forms will not be processed.
  • The PhD student and UHasselt promoter are responsible for checking the proposed designs and submitting their approval for printing to the layout department.

• Please arrange this at least 10 working days before you want to print the proof of your PhD thesis.
• Exclusively for a PhD thesis in the Audiovisual and Visual Arts and Architecture, a photograph or a drawing may be inserted on the cover. The layout office can provide you with more information about this.

Printing the PhD thesis 

• The PhD thesis should always be printed recto-verso. Please ensure that all chapters begin on odd pages. We only add the title page to the document. The rest of the pagination and layout is your responsibility.
• Proof: You can request a proof at least eight working days before you need to send your final thesis to the jury members. More information about printing your proof can be found under ‘How can I print my thesis?’ If the upload takes place in the morning (before 10 am), you can collect the proof the next day at Xod Campusshop Diepenbeek at 11 am. Both cover and contents will be delivered loose-leaf. If no changes have to be made to the thesis, you can inform XOD by email (print@xod.be), mentioning how many copies of the final thesis you want to print.
• Final print: It takes five working days to print your final thesis, so please upload your final thesis into the system no later than five working days before you have to send your final thesis to the jury. It is advisable to perform a test beforehand, so that you do not have any last-minute surprises. The delivery takes place on the 5th day at the latest at Xod Campusshop Diepenbeek at 11 am. You will receive a confirmation by email when the delivery has taken place.

The inner material of your PhD thesis: black and white, or colour? 

Following three colour options are possible:

• Print in “Black and White”
• Print in “Full Colour” (The entire content is printed in full color, which results in a much more expensive final price).
• Print in “Mixed”. Here you should specify the "PDF pages" (*) to be printed in full colour. Example: "21,22,31-38,50"(= Print pages in color are "21", "22", from "31 to 38" and finally "50". It’s important that you only use commas (,) and hyphens (-) and no spaces or other punctuation marks.

(*) “Pdf-Page number” is the number from the current page in in the ‘page navigation window’ and not the self-created pages on the document pages!

For Your Information: The page numbers on the document pages don’t always match the page numbers displayed below the page thumbnails and on the “page navigation” toolbar. Because certain PDF’s contain front pages, such as a table of contents, it’s possible that the numbers of the pages don’t match with the numbering on the “page navigation” toolbar.

For example: “A3 on 81,82,83”
Example page navigation toolbar: 

Prices per unit: Price A4 

Black-white

Recto: € 0.0633
Recto-verso: € 0.0893

Full-color

Recto: € 0.2289
Recto-verso: € 0,4362

How can I print my thesis (both proof and final print)? 

After applying for the depot number (see step 2 above) you receive:

• an email with a unique depot number
• After receiving the email with the unique depot number, you can start filling in your application form so the whole PHD-procedure can start (see “Application form cover doctoral thesis” here above).
• After receiving the approved cover and title page from the layout department, you can instruct Xod, the printing company and Campusshop of UHasselt, to start the proof printing process. 

  You can do this by uploading the files (cover, inner page and interior) including your name in the title of each file via xod.wetransfer.com and sending an email to print@xod.be with all the details of the order. You will receive a confirmation when the printing has been started.

Required information:

• print color (b/w, color, or mixed)
• invoice details  
  • OR: UHasselt with Purchase order number/cost place (If UHasselt agreed to pay for the printing). The printing process will start immediately.
  • OR: Private billing address (If you need to pay it yourself). A payment link will be provided to you and needs to be paid before the printing process starts.
• Only 1 copy will be made for the proof print

Delivery time proof print: Check “Printing the PhD thesis” above and take into account the opening hours, closing days and holidays of Xod Campusshop. You can find the up-to-date opening hours of Xod Campusshop at www.xod.be/openingsuren.

After checking the proof print you can inform Xod via print@xod.be whether the proof print was ok.

• If yes, please let Xod (print@xod.be) know how many copies you prefer for the final print. You will receive a confirmation when the printing has been started.
• If not, please upload the adapted files (cover, inner page and interior) including your name in the title of each file via xod.wetransfer.com again with the adapted printing details of the order emailed to print@xod.be. You will receive a confirmation when the printing has been started.

Required information:

• print color (b/w, color, or mixed)
• invoice details
  • OR: UHasselt with Purchase order number/cost place (If UHasselt agreed to pay for the printing). The printing process will start immediately.
  • OR: Private billing address (If you need to pay it yourself). A payment link will be provided to you and needs to be paid before the printing process starts
• Requested number of copies for the final print

Delivery time final print: Check “Printing the PhD thesis” above. and take into account the opening hours, closing days and holidays of Xod Campusshop. You can find the up-to-date opening hours of Xod Campusshop at www.xod.be/openingsuren.

Detachable outer cover around the PhD thesis (optional) 

According to the Doctoral Regulations of Hasselt University, the doctoral thesis must be written in accordance with the house style rules as determined by the University Board. This implies that no image, photos, or drawings are allowed on the cover of the doctoral thesis. As PhD student you may, if you wish, – on your own initiative and at your own expense – design/print a detachable outer cover by an external printing office. The internal Hasselt University services/faculties cannot offer support in this regard. The layout of the official cover must still follow the Hasselt University guidelines. Three official printed versions of the doctoral thesis, which will be included in the Royal Library of Brussels (x2) on the one hand and in the Hasselt University library (x1) on the other hand should be presented without detachable outer. A detachable outer cover may however be placed around the other printed copies of the doctoral thesis. You may use this template, or develop your own. The proposed template is tailored to a doctoral thesis and can be exported to a PDF file for printing by an external printer. If you wish to use a detachable outer cover, Hasselt University recommends to still include the following:

• The logo of Hasselt University (or, if applicable, the tUL logo, or the logo of the second university in case of a joint PhD/joint supervision);
• The phrase “Doctoral dissertation submitted to obtain the degree of ‘insert doctoral discipline’’’;
• The name of the PhD student;
• The title of the doctoral thesis;
• The names of the promoter(s) and, if applicable, the co-promoter(s) with affiliations;