Open Journal Systems (OJS) is a journal management and publishing system developed by the Public Knowledge Project at the University of British Columbia, through its federally funded efforts to expand and improve access to research. The development is currently overseen by a partnership consisting of the PKP, the Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing and the Simon Fraser University Library.

Currently over 11,500 titles are using OJS (as of December 2011) in ten languages. Browse some of these journals here: http://pkp.sfu.ca/ojs-journals

What precisely is OJS and what does it do?

• OJS is a journal management and publishing system.

• It assists with every stage of the refereed publishing process, from submissions through to online publication.

• Editors (not IT staff) configure the requirements, the sections, and the review process.

• The submission and management of all content is online.

• There is a subscription module, for those choosing to use it, with delayed open access options.

• There is comprehensive indexing of content as part of a global system.

• OJS includes Reading Tools for content, based on the subject field and editors’ choice.

• Users communicate via email notification, which includes a commenting ability for readers.

• There is context-sensitive online Help support as well as a user support forum.

• It is locally installed and locally controlled.;

Why Open Journal Systems?

Open Journal Systems software is unique because it was developed to assist with every stage of the refereed publishing process, from submissions through to online publication and indexing by way of its online interface. This can be helpful for those who find that they require a more organized and automated workflow for online journal publication, or for those who are new to the journal publishing process. A quick upload option that bypasses this system also exists for publishers that are in favour of their current workflow or would like to mount archival issues.

Slick look, rapid development

Open Journal Systems provides a modern online presence for electronic journals. Its slick, customizable interface is easy to navigate and a pleasure to use. Created with the non-technical user in mind, OJS allows for very rapid development and deployment without the worry of creating databases and programming interfaces. One simply needs to decide on a colour scheme/ design, upload some data, and the OJS software automatically displays and indexes articles and issues.

Automatic Indexing for Searching and Browsing

In addition to its easy startup, OJS software takes full advantage of its online format by allowing journal readers many searching options. Readers can choose to search the entire full text of journal articles, to narrow their search to titles, authors, or abstracts, or to search all of the above for maximum hits. Readers can also browse journals by author, title or issue.

This extended functionality can greatly enhance the ability of readers to quickly find articles that are of interest to them, as opposed to relying on scanning tables of contents in print-only journals. And the best part is that all of this searching and browsing functionality happens automatically as each issue is published!

OJS is loaded with features

Users of the Open Journal Software system are able to handle subscriptions and limit access to different levels of information within the journal, such as openly displaying the table of contents but limiting the full text of articles to subscribers.

Data stored within the Open Journal Software system is exportable, allowing for journal portability and integration with larger databases such as Scholar’s Portal. This opens up the journal to a very large potential online readership.

For more information about OJS, visit the site at:
http://pkp.sfu.ca/?q=ojs