Theseus is a shared service for universities of applied sciences that enables open online access to theses and publications.
The student is responsible for uploading their own thesis to Theseus. The upload must be completed before graduation. If a thesis has multiple authors, one of the authors uploads the thesis on behalf of the others. The student(s) must hold full copyright for all parts of the thesis being uploaded.
The thesis is uploaded along with its appendices. If an individual appendix is long and/or contains, for example, a separate table of contents or other material that makes it difficult to include as part of the main thesis, it can be uploaded as a separate PDF file in Theseus. There is no limit to the number of separate PDF files. If the thesis includes parts that cannot be uploaded online in PDF format (e.g., a CD), a note must be added in the “Remarks” section of the submission form.
The thesis can be uploaded to either the public or restricted section of Theseus. Theseus also serves as an archive, so a paper copy of the thesis is not requested.
After uploading, the thesis will appear in Theseus once the collection administrator at your university of applied sciences has verified the thesis information. If the thesis is not approved, you will receive a notification at the email address you provided. Once you have made the necessary corrections, you can upload your thesis to Theseus again.
If you choose to upload your thesis to the public section of Theseus, your thesis will be published in full text in Theseus, where it is openly accessible to everyone. Your thesis will receive a permanent URN, which can be shared and easily cited, for example, in a CV.
If you choose to upload your thesis to the restricted* section of Theseus, the metadata of your thesis (e.g., author, title, subject) and the abstract will be openly accessible in Theseus. However, the thesis is not secret—it can be read from KAMK library workstations (see section on Public Access to Theses).
*“The student always has the right to decide whether they want to publish their thesis in an open collection. However, the thesis is also a public document, so the university of applied sciences must provide it for reading upon request, even if it has been uploaded to a restricted collection” (Act on the Openness of Government Activities 21.5.1999/621).
A thesis prepared at a public educational institution is, in principle, a public document (Constitution of Finland 12.2 §, Act on the Openness of Government Activities 1 §). Therefore, the thesis report is a public document, and confidential material should not be included. The public nature of the thesis ensures the fair and equal assessment of theses.
At KAMK, it is not possible to create a thesis that is entirely confidential. If, for a compelling reason, confidential material must be included in the thesis, it cannot be part of the thesis report used for assessment. If the thesis contains confidential material, this must be indicated in the abstract of the thesis report.
Examples of ways to prepare a thesis:
The thesis report, including appendices, is written so that it does not contain any confidential material, making it fully public. In this case, the thesis and its appendices together form the complete work to be assessed.
A public, assessable version of the thesis report and appendices is prepared. In addition, a separate appendix or report containing confidential information is prepared for the client. This section is not considered in the formal assessment of the thesis.