Application instructions

The applicant for the subsidy must always be a registered scientific society (hereinafter referred to as a ‘society’ or ‘organization’).

Application form

  • The application form becomes accessible on the first day of the application period, 1 September , on TSV’s website.

  • The form can be supplemented throughout the application period until 30 September.

  • The online form requires registration for the service when the service is used for the first time. If a society was registered last year and the password is lost, a new password can be set on the application form page. If a society uses a general e-mail address, we recommend using it for registration.

  • If the same person is submitting applications for several societies, each of the societies must be registered separately. Please note: The same e-mail address can be used to register in the application service for publishing or international activities only once. If the same person is submitting applications for subsidies on behalf of several societies, a different e-mail address must be used for each society.

  • If the e-mail address of the society’s contact person is used in registration and the contact person later changes, the society must replace the old e-mail address with the new contact person’s address under ‘Profile’ in the application service.

  • The browser must allow Javascript, pop-up windows and cookies (during the session).

  • You can print out the information entered on the online form.

  • The online service will close once the application period closes. Late applications will not be processed.

The application must contain a filled-in application form, the requested appendices and an itemization form for each activity for which subsidies are applied for (itemization form for publishing subsidies: periodical publications; itemization form for publishing subsidies: monograph series; or itemization form for subsidies for international activities). Please note: Beginning with the autumn 2018 application round, there is a separate itemization form for monograph series! An incomplete application will not be processed.

Delivery of appendices

The following should be appended to an application:

  • income statement and balance sheet of the applicant organization, as well as an auditor’s report or a performance audit report for the previous financial year

  • operating review of the applicant organization or other similar statement for the previous financial year

  • in the case of new applicants, the statutes of the applicant organization

  • specimens of periodical publications (journal or yearbook) if the publications are not published openly on the internet (1 copy).

The appendices should be sent electronically on the online form together with the application. Only the printed specimens of publications should be sent in one copy to the following address:

The Federation of Finnish Learned Societies
Kirsi Siitonen
Kirkkokatu 6
FI-00170 Helsinki

For further information, please contact: 
subsidies for publishing and international activities: Science Secretary Kirsi Siitonen, tel. +358 9 228 69 269, kirsi.siitonen(at)tsv.fi 
In the event of technical problems with the application form, please contact Head of ICT Jani Laatikainen, e-mail jani.laatikainen(at)tsv.fi, tel. +358 40 864 9878.

Instructions for completing the application form

All the figures requested must be stated in whole numbers without any fractions, and do not use dots, commas or spaces between thousands.

Committee Select only one committee.

Number of members and membership fee State the actual figures at the time of application.

 

Itemization form for the publishing activity for which the subsidy is sought: Periodical (journal or yearbook)

Please state the name of the series in the Name of publication series field. Do not enter the issue number or year of the publication. A separate itemization form must be filled in for each journal or yearbook.

Number of annual articles refers to the number of peer-reviewed articles. Reviews, book reviews etc. are not included in this number. If a journal or yearbook is published biennially, you should state the information for the years in which it is published.

Open access online publication refers to publications that are available for everyone to read free of charge on the internet, while subscription refers to publications on a licensed online service, such as Elektra.

Publisher’s actions to promote open access:

OKM's (the Ministry of Education and Culture) decision (OKM/30/524/2021) defines the conditions of the publication support as follows: "The open publishing activity supported by the government grant must be compatible with the funding conditions of the Academy of Finland." This means the following:

  • Book series and journals can promote open publishing either by publishing the entire series or its' scientific parts freely online or by allowing the green open access. The author is responsible for the green open access.

  • Publisher's open access policy must be stored in the international SHERPA/RoMEO database, where authors can easily check which version of the text they are allowed to save.

  • Scientific journals must allow parallel publishing in a repository of either the published version (version of record) or an approved manuscript prior to publication.

  • Scientific journals must either use or allow parallel publishing under one of the following Creative Commons licences: CC BY 4.0, CC BY-SA 4.0, CC0 or CC BY-ND.

  • In case an author does not insist on the use of one of the above mentioned licencies the scientific journal can select the licence freely.

  • Openness can be implemented with a delay, i.e. an embargo. According to EU recommendations, the length of the delay can be a maximum of 6 months in natural sciences and 12 months in the arts and humanities and in social sciences.

 

 Printing must be submitted to competitive bidding at least every three years to keep its costs reasonable. If the requirements concerning content (e.g. map pages) limit the possibility to obtain several bids, this should be stated in the additional information.

An expert procedure in a publication can consist of a peer review, which should apply to at least scientific articles in a journal. The users of a peer-review label should tick the box beside “The series uses a label for peer-reviewed scholarly publications”. Other applicants should explain the reviewing method they use. For instance: “Blind review by two experts”.

Please note: An open manuscript submission policy is a condition for receiving state subsidies, meaning that publications whose material is regularly compiled using a closed invitation process (e.g. publications based on invited guest seminars) cannot be granted a state subsidy. 

The circulation must be stated for each year. Please state estimates for the current year and for the year for which the subsidy is sought. The information should be provided for each periodical publication. Enter only numbers in the fields. Do not separate thousands with a dot, comma or space. (The correct way of entering a figure: 2500)
The information for the previous year should be based on the operating review. If no issues were published in a certain year, please mention this in the additional information.

Please note: As of 2017, the printing of too large a number of copies of a journal or yearbook is considered a factor that reduces the amount of the state subsidy. If more than 50 copies of an issue are left to be sold individually or stored, you should present a reason for the size of the edition in the additional information field.

Subscription prices should be entered as numbers and all fields must be filled in. You can enter ‘0’ if necessary.

Income refers to the proceeds from the entire series, including proceeds from the sales and licensing of older issues in the year for which the subsidy is sought. You must fill in the proceeds for each year. The proceeds for the previous year should be based on the financial statements, while the proceeds for the current year and the year for which the subsidy is sought are estimates. If no issues were published in a certain year, please mention this in the additional information. The proportion of member subscriptions and membership fees recognized as income for the publication series should be entered under ‘Subscription and sales income’ or ‘Other income’. The proportion allocated to the publication series from membership fees should be estimated based on how large a share the publication represents of the services and/or benefits the society offers to its members. Please note: Open access publications must also have some form of income other than the state subsidy (e.g. share of membership fees). 

The state subsidy received in the previous year and current year and the one being applied for should be entered in separate fields under income. In accordance with the competition regulations of the European Union, the aim is that, as a general rule, public subsidies do not exceed 30% of expenses. Under Other subsidies, you should enter any other subsidies and grants received. If another subsidy/grant has been given for other activities besides publishing activities, or if it is distributed over several years, this should be stated in the ‘Further information’ box.

The totals sums are calculated automatically on the online form. Decimals should be separated with a comma (,). Do not separate thousands with dots, commas or spaces, and do not enter any other extra characters.
 

Expenses allocated from general administration to Other expenses:

The recipient of a special subsidy (subsidy for publishing activities) may also use the subsidy for the general expenses. These general expenses must be stated under Other expenses. General expenses include expenses incurred from the recipient’s general administration that cannot be directly allocated to a certain unit or project. These expenses may amount to a maximum of 15% of the expenses of the project being subsidized, and in the accounts they must be:

  • allocated clearly and justifiably to the purposes of the project

  • in line with the project’s budget

  • documented separately

  • incurred from the same activity throughout the period of use.

General expenses must be based on actual expenses that can be proven to have been incurred. General expenses recorded for a project must be shown in the accounts on the cost centre report of the project.

General expenses include:

  • Personnel expenses in general administration (e.g. executive director, chief financial officer, accountant, administrative manager, office employee). A person whose employment relationship is not affected by individual changes in the number of projects can be considered to be a member of the general administration personnel.

  • Expenses from the meetings of the senior decision-making bodies of the subsidy recipient.

  • Postage, telecommunications, copying and office expenses in general administration.

  • Costs of auditing and the operating review.

  • Costs arising from outsourced activities in so far as the commissioned services are related to general activities, such as the outsourcing of financial administration.

  • Costs of IT and information systems related to general administration, unless these are covered by a separate subsidy.
     

Income and Expenses. The income and expenses arising from publishing activities must be separated in the organization’s financial statements from those arising from other activities, and the income and expenses of different series must be itemized so that the information presented on the application and the accounting statement can be verified. If necessary, please provide as an appendix an extract from the general ledger in which the income and expenses are stated for each series. Another option is to ask the auditor of the society to provide a separate statement stating that the state subsidy has been used in accordance with the instructions and the agreement. You can obtain a model for the statement from the Head of Publications at TSV. The publisher is responsible for the costs of the statement.

The total sums of income and expenses must match for the year for which the subsidy is sought.

Please note: If the publisher has submitted an accounting statement for the series in question during the year of application, the income and expense figures reported for the previous year or possibly corrected in the accounting statement should be entered on the application. 

Other publishing organizations: In the case of a jointly financed series (with other publishers in Finland or abroad), the role of the partner (share of income and expenses etc.) must be clearly stated. TSV will request additional information, if necessary.  

Reasons for the application and additional information should be stated briefly, if necessary. Here you can supplement the information in the other fields or state whether the publishing series includes development projects etc. for which the amount of the subsidy being applied for has been increased.

 

Itemization form for the publishing activity for which the subsidy is sought: Monograph series

Please state the name of the series in the Name of publication series field. Do not enter the issue number or year of the publication. The titles of the separate volumes of the monograph series can be added to the additional information field. A separate itemization form must be filled in for each series.

Printing must be submitted to competitive bidding at least every three years to keep its costs reasonable. If the requirements concerning content (e.g. map pages) limit the possibility to obtain several bids, this should be stated in the additional information.

The expert procedure in the publication must be a peer review. The users of a peer-review label should tick the box beside “The series uses a label for peer-reviewed scholarly publications”. Other applicants should explain the reviewing method they use. For instance: “Blind review by two experts”. Please note: An open manuscript submission policy is a condition for receiving state subsidies, meaning that publications whose material is regularly compiled using a closed invitation process (e.g. publications based on invited guest seminars) cannot be granted a state subsidy.

The circulation must be stated for each year. Please state estimates for the current year and for the year for which the subsidy is sought. For monograph series, please state average figures if the circulation numbers for different volumes vary. Enter only numbers in the fields. Do not separate thousands with a dot, comma or space. (The correct way of entering a figure: 2500)

The information for the previous year should be based on the operating review. If no issues were published in a certain year, please mention this in the additional information.

Income refers to the proceeds from the entire series, including proceeds from the sales and licensing of older issues in the year for which the subsidy is sought. You must fill in the proceeds for each year. The proceeds for the previous year should be based on the financial statements, while the proceeds for the current year and the year for which the subsidy is sought are estimates. If no titles were published in a certain year, please mention this in the additional information. The proportion of member subscriptions and membership fees recognized as income for the publication series should be entered under ‘Subscription and sales income’ or ‘Other income’. The proportion allocated to the publication series from membership fees should be estimated based on how large a share the publication represents of the services and/or benefits the society offers to its members. PLEASE NOTE: Open access publications must also have some form of income other than the state subsidy (e.g. share of membership fees).

The state subsidy received in the previous year and current year and the one being applied for should be entered in separate fields under income. In accordance with the competition regulations of the European Union, the aim is that, as a general rule, public subsidies do not exceed 30% of expenses. Under Other subsidies, you should enter any other subsidies and grants received. If another subsidy/grant has been given for other activities besides publishing activities, or if it is distributed over several years, this should be stated in the ‘Further information’ box.

The totals sums are calculated automatically on the online form. Decimals should be separated with a comma (,). Do not separate thousands with dots, commas or spaces, and do not enter any other extra characters.
 

Expenses allocated from general administration to Other expenses:

The recipient of a special subsidy (subsidy for publishing activities) may also use the subsidy for the general expenses of the activities. These expenses must be stated under Other expenses. General expenses include expenses incurred from the recipient’s general administration that cannot be directly allocated to a certain unit or project. These expenses may amount to a maximum of 15% of the expenses of the project being subsidized, and in the accounts they must be:

  • allocated clearly and justifiably to the purposes of the project

  • in line with the project’s budget

  • documented separately

  • incurred from the same activity throughout the period of use.

General expenses must be based on actual expenses that can be proven to have been incurred. General expenses recorded for a project must be shown in the accounts on the cost centre report of the project.

General expenses include:

  • Personnel expenses in general administration (e.g. executive director, chief financial officer, accountant, administrative manager, office employee). A person whose employment relationship is not affected by individual changes in the number of projects can be considered to be a member of the general administration personnel.

  • Expenses from the meetings of the senior decision-making bodies of the subsidy recipient.

  • Postage, telecommunications, copying and office expenses in general administration.

  • Costs of auditing and the operating review.

  • Costs arising from outsourced activities in so far as the commissioned services are related to general activities, such as the outsourcing of financial administration.

  • Costs of IT and information systems related to general administration, unless these are covered by a separate subsidy.
     

Income and Expenses The income and expenses arising from publishing activities must be separated in the organization’s financial statements from those arising from other activities, and the income and expenses of different series must be itemized so that the information presented on the application and the accounting statement can be verified. If necessary, please provide as an appendix an extract from the general ledger in which the income and expenses are stated for each series. Another option is to ask the auditor of the society to provide a separate statement stating that the state subsidy has been used in accordance with the instructions and the agreement. You can obtain a model for the statement from the Head of Publications at TSV. The publisher is responsible for the costs of the statement.

The total sums of income and expenses must match for the year for which the subsidy is sought.

Please note: If the publisher has submitted an accounting statement for the series in question during the year of application, the income and expense figures reported for the previous year or possibly corrected in the accounting statement should be entered on the application.

Other publishing organizations: In the case of a jointly financed series (with other publishers in Finland or abroad), the role of the partner (share of income and expenses etc.) must be clearly stated. TSV will request additional information, if necessary.

Reasons for the application and additional information should be stated briefly, if necessary. Here you can supplement the information in the other fields or state whether the publishing series includes development projects etc. for which the amount of the subsidy being applied for has been increased. Here it is worth presenting a justification if theses are published in the monograph series, as it is not recommended that subsidies be granted for the publication of theses except for special reasons, such as illustration expenses being too high for the author of the thesis.

 

Itemization form for the international activity for which the subsidy is sought

Subsidies can be applied for to cover membership fees of international scientific organizations. In addition, subsidies are granted to cover the costs of travel to meetings for the Finnish members of the boards of international scientific organizations and the Finnish members of the editorial teams of international publications. The amount being applied for should be entered in whole euros without using a thousands separator.

In the Membership fees of international organizations field, you can enter the amount of the membership fee, plus any fees charged by banks for cross-border payments. Other administrative expenses cannot be allocated to this subsidy.

In the Name of international organization/publication field, enter the name of the international organization or the international publication.

In the Position of responsibility field, enter the position under which the person is travelling (e.g. “member of the journal’s editorial team”). Please note: You should state the traveller's position in the international organization/editorial team, not with the Finnish society.

In the Destination field, state the city or country in which the meeting is held. If the location is not known, provide the most accurate details possible on the trip at the time of application in the Additional information field, stating at least the continent on which the meeting is to be held.  

The meeting expenses applied for may include flights and a hotel for 1–2 nights. The subsidy does not cover per diems or possible conference accreditation fees if the meeting is held in conjunction with a conference.

The memberships and representations must be stated in the society’s operating review. The membership fees and travel expenses must be recognized on the income statement so that the expenses reported on the accounting statement can be verified.

The amounts being applied for should be entered in whole euros without using a thousands separator.

 

Updated 18.8.2022 12.53