Open Journal Systems
Encyclopedia
Open Journal Systems is an open-source software
for the management of peer-reviewer academic journals, created by the Public Knowledge Project
, released under the GNU General Public License
.
The software has a 'plugin' architecture, similar to other community-based projects such as WordPress
, allowing new features to be easily integrated without the need to change the entire core code base. Some of the plugins contributed to OJS include tools to facilitate indexing in Google Scholar
and PubMed Central
, a feed plugin providing RSS
/Atom
web syndication feeds, a COUNTER plugin, allowing COUNTER statistics and reporting, and more. Open Journal Systems is also LOCKSS
-compliant, helping to ensure permanent archiving for ongoing access to the content of the journal.
To improve reader's engagement, PKP has developed a series of Reading Tools, which provide access to related studies, media stories, government policies, etc. in open access databases.
, uses either a MySQL
or PostgreSQL
database, and can be hosted on a Unix-like
or Windows
web server.
, and others. A growing body of publications and documentation is available on the project web site.
is also collaborating closely with the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to develop scholarly research portals in Africa, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Vietnam.
OJS, as well as the Erudit publishing system, is being used in the Synergies project, creating a scholarly portal for Canadian social sciences and humanities research. OJS is also being used for research portals in Brazil and Catalonia, Spain.
Other open source journal management systems include:
Open-source software
Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
for the management of peer-reviewer academic journals, created by the Public Knowledge Project
Public Knowledge Project
The Public Knowledge Project is a non-profit research initiative of the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia, the Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing at Simon Fraser University, the Simon Fraser University Library , and Stanford University...
, released under the GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
.
Design
OJS was designed to facilitate the development of open access, peer-reviewed publishing, providing the technical infrastructure not only for the online presentation of journal articles, but also an entire editorial management workflow, including article submission, multiple rounds of peer-review, and indexing. OJS relies upon individuals fulfilling different roles, such as the Journal manager, editor, reviewer, author, reader, etc.The software has a 'plugin' architecture, similar to other community-based projects such as WordPress
WordPress
WordPress is a free and open source blogging tool and publishing platform powered by PHP and MySQL. It is often customized into a content management system . It has many features including a plug-in architecture and a template system. WordPress is used by over 14.7% of Alexa Internet's "top 1...
, allowing new features to be easily integrated without the need to change the entire core code base. Some of the plugins contributed to OJS include tools to facilitate indexing in Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes most peer-reviewed online journals of Europe and America's largest...
and PubMed Central
PubMed Central
PubMed Central is a free digital database of full-text scientific literature in biomedical and life sciences. It grew from the online Entrez PubMed biomedical literature search system. PubMed Central was developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine as an online archive of biomedical journal...
, a feed plugin providing RSS
RSS (file format)
RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format...
/Atom
Atom (standard)
The name Atom applies to a pair of related standards. The Atom Syndication Format is an XML language used for web feeds, while the Atom Publishing Protocol is a simple HTTP-based protocol for creating and updating web resources.Web feeds allow software programs to check for updates published on a...
web syndication feeds, a COUNTER plugin, allowing COUNTER statistics and reporting, and more. Open Journal Systems is also LOCKSS
LOCKSS
The LOCKSS project, under the auspices of Stanford University, develops and supports an open source system allowing libraries to collect, preserve and provide their readers with access to material published on the Web. The system attempts to replicate the way libraries do this for material...
-compliant, helping to ensure permanent archiving for ongoing access to the content of the journal.
To improve reader's engagement, PKP has developed a series of Reading Tools, which provide access to related studies, media stories, government policies, etc. in open access databases.
Versions
Originally released in 2001, OJS is currently in version 2.3.3. OJS is written in PHPPHP
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...
, uses either a MySQL
MySQL
MySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
or PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL, often simply Postgres, is an object-relational database management system available for many platforms including Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, MS Windows and Mac OS X. It is released under the PostgreSQL License, which is an MIT-style license, and is thus free and open source software...
database, and can be hosted on a Unix-like
Unix-like
A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
or Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
web server.
User communities
A strong user community has developed around the software, with many active participants, and significant enhancements being contributed to the project from the Brazilian Institute for Information in Science and Technology (IBICT), the Journal of Medical Internet ResearchJournal of Medical Internet Research
The Journal of Medical Internet Research is a peer-reviewed open-access medical journal established in 1999 covering eHealth and "healthcare in the Internet age". It is edited and published by Gunther Eysenbach. The journal is widely regarded as one of the pioneers in open access publishing...
, and others. A growing body of publications and documentation is available on the project web site.
Translations
OJS has been translated into eight languages (English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish), with an additional ten languages (Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Persian, Hindi, Japanese, Norwegian, Thai, Vietnamese) in development. All translations are created and maintained by the OJS user community.Public use
The Public Knowledge ProjectPublic Knowledge Project
The Public Knowledge Project is a non-profit research initiative of the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia, the Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing at Simon Fraser University, the Simon Fraser University Library , and Stanford University...
is also collaborating closely with the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to develop scholarly research portals in Africa, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Vietnam.
OJS, as well as the Erudit publishing system, is being used in the Synergies project, creating a scholarly portal for Canadian social sciences and humanities research. OJS is also being used for research portals in Brazil and Catalonia, Spain.
Usage statistics
As of December 2010, OJS was being used by at least 7,500 journals worldwide. A selected list of OJS journals is available on the PKP web site.See also
- Open access journalOpen access journalOpen access journals are scholarly journals that are available online to the reader "without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself." Some are subsidized, and some require payment on behalf of the author.Subsidized journals...
Other open source journal management systems include:
- DPubSDPubSDPubS , developed by Cornell University Library and Penn State University Libraries, is an open access publication management software...
- ePublishing Toolkit
- GAPworks
- Hyperjournal
- OpenACSOpenACSThe Open Architecture Community System is an open-source web application framework licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL.The Open Architecture Community System provides:...
- SOPS
- TOPAZ
- Scopemed
External links
- Open Journal Systems - Public Knowledge Project - Website
- A Survey and Evaluation of Open-Source Electronic Publishing Systems, Mark Cyzyk and Sayeed Choudhury, Johns Hopkins UniversityJohns Hopkins UniversityThe Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...