Instructions for Authors

Submit your publication idea or manuscript to the editorial board by email to metrospektiivi@metropolia.fi. For text articles, a manuscript with attachments will be sent, and for podcast and video series, a plan and episode-specific manuscript. At the editorial board, a responsible editor is assigned to your submission to manage the publication process from start to finish, provide editorial feedback on the structure, message and language of the manuscript and provide technical guidance on the technical implementation of the AV materials. Finally, the responsible editor will take the finished publication to the online media platform. In the editorial process of professional articles, the responsible editor is accompanied by a content expert from an expert group who assesses the proposed publication from a content perspective, comments and suggests changes where necessary. There are one to three editorial rounds. The editorial board also has the right to decide not to publish a proposal.

Authors grant Metropolia the right to publish their work in Metrospective by accepting a publishing consent at the end of the publishing process. The authors retain the copyright that is not transferred by the consent. The authors are responsible for ensuring that the publication respects the copyright of third parties.

The editors reserve the right to make minor technical changes (e.g. correction of typing errors). Any major edits or changes will be negotiated with the authors.

The authors warrant that they have produced the publication themselves and that it is previously unpublished. Both the authors and the publisher agree to comply with the The Finnish National Board on Research Integrity’s The Finnish Code of Conduct for Research Integrity and Procedures for Handling Alleged Violations of Research Integrity in Finland 2023 (PDF)

All publications of Metrospective are openly available to all, free of charge. Text articles are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International license. This means that the article may be freely quoted, remixed, edited, distributed and copied anywhere and by anyone after publication, as long as the author and source are acknowledged and any new material edited, shared or based on the work is always redistributed under the same license (CC BY-SA 4.0). Podcasts and videos are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC-BY-ND) 4.0. This means that the publications can be used and distributed freely, including for commercial purposes, but may not be modified or edited. You can find out more about CC licences on the Creative Commons website.

Please include the following information with your publication proposal:

• Name, title and organisation
• Brief description of yourself (100–150 characters with spaces)
• A longer description of yourself (300–400 characters with spaces)
• Link to your People Finder profile (staff members of Metropolia)
• Links can be added to the description (LinkedIn profile, Research.fi researcher profile, Orcid profile)
• If you are not a staff member of Metropolia, we attach a 1200×1200 px photo of the author.
• 3–5 suggestions for keywords for your publication. Suggest also one or several themes from the list: Business, Technique and technology, Culture, Well-being and Health, Learning, Research and Development or Society and Working life.

 

We use the Harvard Name-Year System as our citation system in Metrospective. References are enclosed in parentheses within the body of the paper, and a list of references is included at the end of the article.

• The title of your publication should be succinct and memorable.
• The beginning of the text (ingress) is important because the first sentences stand out on the publishing platform. The ingress is a paragraph that introduces the text and clarifies or completes the title. A good introduction is short, two or three sentences.
• Use descriptive and succinct subheadings. A simple “introduction” or “conclusion” is not sufficient as a heading, at least a descriptive subtitle is needed. Do not use capital letters, full stops, colons or dashes in headings. Stick to a maximum of two levels of headings.
• Please indent long quotations (more than 40 words or more than two sentences) in the manuscript. Do not use italics or quotation marks.
• Avoid italics in the manuscript.
• Spelling: do not use automatic spelling in the manuscript file.
• It is possible to insert links in the body text. Formulate descriptive link texts that show the reader where they are going and what they will find there. For example, “Read more” is a bad link text. “Read more about Metropolia’s trainings” or “More information about accessibility, pdf file” describe to the user both the content found through the link and the format of the material. Similarly, if the link leads to material in a foreign language, this should be indicated.

• Please, submit photos and illustrations as separate files, either as email attachments or via the cloud. If you use a cloud service, save the images in a web folder (e.g. Google Drive or Sharepoint) and share the link to the folder with the editor at metrospektiivi@metropolia.fi. Make sure that the editor has access to the folder.
• Tables containing only text can be made in the body text using the table function of a word processor. It is important that the table is not locked so that the text can be copied. Tables can also be supplied as a separate Excel file. For accessibility, keep the tables as simple as possible. Also consider whether a large table can be split into several parts.
• All pictures, figures and tables need a caption.
• For all pictures and figures, create an alternative text (alt text) that explains the essential content of the picture to those who cannot see it. Do not repeat the caption as it is in the alternative text, as the screen reader will read both. Illustrations or images whose content is explained in the main text do not need an alternative text.
• All graphic material is copyrighted. Copyright and licensing information should always be included with the images, preferably as part of the caption. You should mention the author of the image, even though the image is published under the Creative Commons license, you should mention the author of the image. It is the responsibility of the authors to obtain the copyrights to the images.
• Make sure that the images you publish in your article have the necessary permissions.

Image banks where you can search for a header image

Metropolia Media Bank

Free of charge image banks (please note the license conditions, author’s details included):

• Pexels.com
• Pixabay.com
• Unsplash.com
• Helsingin kaupunginmuseo: Helsinkikuvia.fi (Finnish)
• Kansallisgallerian kuvapalvelu (Finnish)

Diversity imagery:

• Disabled and here, Affecttheverb.com
• Queer in Tech, Flickr.com
• Gender spectrum, Vice.com

If you can’t find a suitable image from a free source, you can also use the Adobe Stock selection.

• Please provide a link to the Adobe Stock photo you want milla.amankyyro@metropolia.fi
• Indicate the publication to which the image is linked.

 

Metrospective’s editorial board looks at the plans for the podcast series and the script for each episode, and comments on them before recording. You can get in touch when you have an idea or, at the latest, when you have planned the podcast series in more detail and scripted the episodes.

• In the plan, define the target audience for the series, i.e. the listener profile, and the aim of the series, for example by answering these questions. What change do you want to achieve? Why is it important to address the topics covered in the series? After writing the objectives, reflect again on the audience profile of the series – is it the right one?
• The script for an episode is a rough blueprint that can very well change and alter in the recording situation. However, it will help the authors to remember the key issues and to sequence the work, and the editors to assess whether the publication criteria are met.
• The final length of the episode will be influenced by the number of panelists and the manner the discussion flows naturally in the recording situation. However, a good guideline is that a 20-minute episode will allow you to cover two topics, and a 30–45 minute episode will allow you to cover three topics or even go into more depth on one topic. Consider what makes sense for the aim of the series and the audience.
•  Send the series plan and scripts to the editorial board for comments well in advance of the recording sessions.

The realization phase includes recording and editing the podcast, as well as working on and compiling the materials needed for publication.

• You can make the podcasts entirely yourself, partly in-house and partly outsourced, or buy the whole package from outside.
• The services of Metropolia’s digital studios are at your disposal. For tips on external service providers, please contact the editorial board.
• You can download the theme music for your podcast from Metropolia’s Media bank.

The editor will store the audio files to be published on SoundCloud, from where they will be imported into Metrospective as embeds. The author will provide the editorial board with all the necessary material for publication:

• the finished audio files
• the alternative text for the audio files
• the main series and episode-specific images, e.g. of the recording session
• short introductory texts about the series and the episodes
• publishing consents from all those who appear in the podcast episodes and author information of those who wrote them.

Audio file format

To ensure the best sound quality, it is recommended that the file be delivered in a lossless recording format:

• WAV
• FLAC
• AIFF
• ALAC

If required, any SoundCloud-accepted file format is acceptable, including OGG, MP2, MP3, AAC, AMR and WMA.

Alternative texts to episodes

An alternative text, or transcription, is made for each episode in accordance with the accessibility requirements.

• The alternative text should be as accurate a text version of the audio content as possible. Finnish-language podcasts are transcribed in Finnish, English-language podcasts in English. The text must be readable, i.e. unnecessary repetition and filler words must be removed.
• Please, tell us who is speaking in each case. When the speaker appears for the first time, mention the full name. After that, you can use just the first name. If there are several speakers with the same name, the full name is used throughout the alternative text. Start a new paragraph when the speaker changes.
• In addition to the speech, other sounds in the podcast are also mentioned in square brackets in the alternative text, for example [happy music] or [laughter].

Podcast series and episode descriptions and author information

Each podcast series will have its own series page. We will need:

• the name of the series
• a concise and informative description of the series, 250–450 characters
• a photo describing the content of the series (see header photo instructions for more details).

See example:  Korkeapainetta-podcast.

Each episode is a publication. For this, you will need:

• the title of the episode, including the episode number, e.g. Episode 1: The importance of community in writing
• An inviting, succinct and informative introduction, including the names of the panelists, 250–450 characters.
• a photograph of the recording situation, 1400 x 1095 px or alternatively use the header photo of the series
• author information about the interviewees and the scriptwriters of the episode (see author description guidelines)
• any other author information, e.g. recording, editing.

Submission of the audio file and transcript to the editor

Save the audio file to be published, the transcript file and the document containing the name, description and author information in an online folder (e.g. Google Drive or Sharepoint) and share the link to the folder with the editor at metrospektiivi@metropolia.fi. Make sure that the editor has access to the folder.

Metrospective publishes both single videos or series of videos. The Metrospective editorial board will review the plan for the video series and the script for each episode and comment on them before the recordings. You can get in touch when you have an idea or, at the latest, when you have planned a video or series in more detail and written a script.

Send the series plan and the scripts for individual videos to the editorial board for comments well in advance of the recording sessions.

The editor will store the published videos on YouTube, from where they will be imported into Metrospective as embeds. The author submits the necessary materials (finished video files, subtitle files for the episodes, main series and episode images, short introductory texts, publishing consents from all the actors and scriptwriters, and other author information) to the editorial board for publication.

Video file format

When saving a video file for publication, it is a good idea to use the most common file formats, for example:

• MP4
• MOV
• WMV
• AVI

If required, the published video file can be submitted in any of the formats accepted by YouTube.

Video subtitling, audio description or alternative text

All videos published in Metrospective must be subtitled in accordance with accessibility requirements.

• We recommend that you use the .srt file format for subtitling. This is more accessible than “burning” (open captions) into the video and also allows the addition of translation subtitles where necessary.
• In addition to speech, other sounds in the video are also mentioned in the subtitles in square brackets, e.g. [happy music] or [laughter].
• If the video does not contain speech, an audio description or alternative text will be provided in accordance with accessibility requirements.

Video series and episode titles, descriptions and author information

Each video series will have its own series page. For this, you will need:

• series name
• a concise and informative description of the series, 250–450 characters
• a photo describing the content of the series (see the detailed instructions for the header images).

Each video forms a separate publication. For this, you will need:

• the title of the episode, including the episode number, e.g. Section 1: The importance of community in writing
• an attractive, succinct and informative introduction, including the names of the people featured in the video, 250–450 characters
• screenshot as main image, 1400 x 1095 px or alternatively use a photo chosen as the main image for the series
• author information on the persons appearing in the video and on the scriptwriters (see author description guidelines)
• any other author information, e.g. editing.

Submitting a video file to the editor

Save the video file to be published, the subtitle file and the document containing the name, description and author information of the video in an online folder (e.g. Google Drive or Sharepoint) and share the link to the folder with the editor at metrospektiivi@metropolia.fi. Make sure that the editor has access to the folder.