Open Journal Systems: The Digitization of Academic Journals
More and more library publishers are using Open Journal Systems (OJS), Open Monograph Press (OMP), and Open Preprint Systems (OPS) developed by the Public Knowledge Project (PKP). However, out of these three sub-projects, OJS stands out.
The goal of the highly adaptable and scalable architecture of OJS is to enhance the publication process and promote academic journals by increasing readership, creating a space for scientific conversation, improving publication quality, and encouraging open access to scientific research. The software is released under the GPLv2 license, which can be freely downloaded, used, and modified if necessary.
OJS’ key benefit is that it streamlines the submission and editorial workflow. The system offers the technical infrastructure that supports journals from the time an author submits a manuscript to the time it is peer-reviewed and published, as well as indexing. The tool establishes a clear and transparent split of users into groups such as readers, authors, reviewers, and editors, granting each group suitable system rights. OJS allows for electronic submission, revision, and publication of articles by combining the above tasks into a single platform dedicated to the entire publication process.
The increased citation and prominence of their publications benefit authors the most. Furthermore, the user interface simplifies contact with the editors, and all publication data is centralized. As a result, the author may track reviews, manage files, and oversee the entire online editing process. Also, authors can use OJS to deposit papers, offer metadata, and refer to editor and reviewer changes.
Using OJS by the reviewer to examine an article submission has resulted in a significant increase in efficiency and automation of the review process. It provides all relevant timeframes from the review process — such as the deadline for replying to an invitation to review a manuscript and the deadline for submitting the review of the same. OJS allows reviewers to send copies of article files with comments or revisions after the evaluation. The reviewer can submit notes in OJS for both the author and the editorial staff. Also, the reviewer can check if the author has made the proposed corrections.
However, OJS is a platform designed to help editors handle the publication process remotely using a web browser. These features clearly show that OJS enables the implementation of an extensive and fully customizable article review system, allowing the verification of submission quality and timeliness and contributing to the creation of a reviewer database. Furthermore, OJS promotes communication between users of the site, both inside (discussions on specific articles) and externally (emailing, mailing lists), greatly assisting the editorial team’s job.
One of the advantages of utilizing OJS is that Google Scholar automatically indexes the content of a journal updated using this tool. OJS also allows the transmission of metadata, which means the actual integration of the journal with indexing systems in selected databases, thanks to the ability to install extra plugins. Furthermore, the available plugins allow OJS to be integrated with a variety of publishing services like Crossref, ORCiD, and DOAJ. From a technological standpoint, useful platform functionalities include the event log, statistics and reporting elements, and – most importantly – the ability to create the final composition of the issue for publishing.
Global technological advancements impact science in terms of research and presentation, particularly in academic papers. One result of this approach is the gradual digitization of scholarly journals. And to lead this digitization, universities and other research institutions must adopt and adapt OJS as the primary platform for their home-grown University Press Systems.
About the Author
Rahul Guhathakurta (ORCID: 0000-0002-6400-6423).
