Frequently Asked Questions
My journal is not affiliated with York University. Can you help us?
Our resources are limited to helping the York community. There are, however, several service options available:
- The Electronic Text Centre at University of New Brunswick offers journal hosting services which range from journal hosting to full service.
- Simon Fraser University also offers hosting services for Open Journal Systems.
- Scholartime and Scholarly Exchange also host Open Journal Systems.
- The Open Humanities Alliance may also be an option if your journal is accepted by their board.
I would like to create a brand new journal using Open Journal Systems. How do I get started?
See our Questions about getting started section.
Our journal requires subscription revenue to survive. Can OJS limit access to subscribers?
OJS provides incredible flexibitly with respect to subscribers. The full text of articles for selected issues can be made visible to a list of subscribers, and hidden from the general public.
A journal can choose to have a rolling embargo period where issues become open access after a certain number of months or years.
The subscription module for OJS is robust. In addition to allowing users to log in with a username and password, the subscription module can manage institutional subscriptions by domain or IP range without requiring a login and password.
Can OJS manage editorial submission workflow?
OJS is comprehensive in the way it manages editorial workflow. Authors, peer reviewers and editors create accounts with the system. Authors submit articles to the journal website. Editors log into the website to assign peer reviewers. Peer reviewers are notified via email through the website that they have a review request. They can then log into the system to perform their reviews.
The OJS software allows all user groups to see the status of articles in process at all times, and tracks the progress of the article so that nothing is lost.
Here is a link to a diagram of the OJS submission workflow.
What formats can I publish my articles in OJS?
OJS can publish in a variety of formats, the most common being HTML, PDF, GIF and JPEG. Streaming of audio and video is also possible.
What types of statistics are captured?
We capture a variety of statistics. See: Gathering Statistics
How do I let others know about my new OJS journal?
New Jour Electronic Journals and Newsletters is the place to announce your own (or to forward information about others’) newly planned, newly issued, or revised ELECTRONIC NETWORKED journal or newsletter. It is specially dedicated for those who wish to share information in the planning, gleam-in-the-eye stage or at a more mature stage of publication development and availability.
It is also the place to announce availability of paper journals and newsletters as they become available on — move into — electronic networks. Scholarly discussion lists which regularly and continuously maintain supporting files of substantive articles or preprints may also be reported, for those journal-like sections.
http://gort.ucsd.edu/newjour/NewJourWel.html
LIS-e-journals list is an informal open list, set up under the auspices of the United Kingdom Serials Group, (UKSG), for HE staff and other parties involved with electronic journals to discuss matters relating to e-journals provision, including administration & management, licensing, matters of access, consortia deals etc. (Online journal announcements are often posted to this list.)
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=LIS-E-JOURNALS&X=&Y=
What are the costs involved?
Currently, there are no costs involved, as it is intended that those publishing with OJS will learn to be self sufficient. This, however, may change in a few years when economic models for journal publishing through OJS are examined.
