diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 0d65d76f41..90d50d1b08 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-sudo: required
+os: linux
 dist: bionic
 language: node_js
 
@@ -35,10 +35,11 @@ before_install:
   - google-chrome-stable --version
 
 install:
-  # Start up DSpace 7 using the entities database dump
+  # Start up a test DSpace 7 REST backend using the entities database dump
   - docker-compose -f ./docker/docker-compose-travis.yml up -d
   # Use the dspace-cli image to populate the assetstore. Triggers a discovery and oai update
   - docker-compose -f ./docker/cli.yml -f ./docker/cli.assetstore.yml run --rm dspace-cli
+  # Install all local dependencies (retry if initially fails)
   - travis_retry yarn install
 
 before_script:
@@ -49,9 +50,14 @@ before_script:
   #- curl http://localhost:8080/server/
 
 script:
+  # build app and run all tests
   - yarn run ci
-  - cat coverage/dspace-angular-cli/lcov.info | ./node_modules/coveralls/bin/coveralls.js
 
 after_script:
   # Shutdown docker after everything runs
   - docker-compose -f ./docker/docker-compose-travis.yml down
+
+# After a successful build and test (see 'script'), send code coverage reports to coveralls.io
+# These code coverage reports are generated by the coveralls node module in our package.json
+after_success:
+  - cat coverage/dspace-angular-cli/lcov.info | ./node_modules/coveralls/bin/coveralls.js
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 21a89400bf..0bbf156c9d 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@
     "codelyzer": "^5.0.0",
     "compression-webpack-plugin": "^3.0.1",
     "copy-webpack-plugin": "^5.1.1",
-    "coveralls": "3.0.0",
+    "coveralls": "^3.0.0",
     "css-loader": "3.4.0",
     "cssnano": "^4.1.10",
     "deep-freeze": "0.0.1",