- OJS includes the Default theme; six more official themes (Manuscript, Bootstrap3, Health Sciences, Classic, Immersion, Pragma) are free in the Plugin Gallery.
- For most journals the Default theme, with your logo, colours and a small custom stylesheet, is the safest and most accessible choice.
- Never install nulled or unknown-source themes: a theme is PHP code with full access to your journal.
What an OJS theme controls
An OJS theme is a plugin that controls how your journal's public website looks: the header, navigation, homepage, issue table of contents, article pages, sidebar and footer. Themes contain Smarty templates (the .tpl files people often call an "OJS template") plus LESS/CSS stylesheets and a little JavaScript.
A theme does not change your content or workflow. Articles, issues, users, review settings and journal information stay exactly the same when you switch themes. That makes it safe to try different OJS themes on your own journal before deciding.
Two related things are easy to confuse:
- Theme: the website design, chosen under Settings → Website → Appearance.
- Manuscript template: the Word or LaTeX file authors use to format their paper. Many journals offer one under Submissions, but it has nothing to do with the website theme.
List of free official OJS themes
The Public Knowledge Project (PKP), which develops OJS, maintains a small set of official themes. All of them are free, open source and responsive. According to the PKP Plugin Gallery at the time of writing, each theme below has releases for OJS 3.3, 3.4 and 3.5. Always install the release that matches your exact OJS version; the gallery only offers compatible releases.
1. Default theme (built in)
Look: a clean layout with a coloured header bar, a primary menu, a sidebar for blocks and a light footer. Best for: most journals, especially new journals and university journals that want stability and accessibility.
Notable options: header colour; typography with seven font combinations (Noto Sans, Noto Serif, Noto Serif/Noto Sans, Noto Sans/Noto Serif, Lato, Lora, and Lora/Open Sans); showing the journal summary on the homepage; and using the homepage image as the header background. From OJS 3.4, the Default theme also has an option to show a usage-statistics chart (bar or line) on article pages.
Version notes: ships with every OJS 3 release. PKP states that the Default theme has been externally audited for accessibility since OJS 3.3 (colour contrast, keyboard navigation, focus states). It is also the best base for a custom stylesheet or child theme.
2. Manuscript (Default child theme)
Look: a boxed layout that mimics a paper document, using the Montserrat font. Best for: journals that like the Default structure but want a more distinctive, document-style look with almost no extra work.
Notable options: header colour and an accent colour. Because it is a child of the Default theme, it removes the parent's typography and header-image options. Version notes: free in the Plugin Gallery; CSS written for the Default theme usually works with it, because it uses the same HTML.
3. Bootstrap3
Look: standard Bootstrap 3 components with 18 built-in style variants (the base style plus Bootswatch looks such as Cerulean, Flatly, Journal, Lumen, Paper, Readable, Sandstone, United and Yeti, and dark styles like Darkly, Slate and Superhero). Best for: developers who know Bootstrap and want a starting point for their own design.
Version notes: a community-built theme hosted in PKP's GitHub organisation and available in the Plugin Gallery. PKP's own documentation says it is designed as a base for developers and is not recommended if you want a polished look without customisation. Bootstrap 3 is also an older version of the framework.
4. Health Sciences
Look: clean and modern with a centred logo, strong typography and a bright default turquoise colour. Sidebar blocks appear in the footer rather than beside the content. Best for: medical, nursing, pharmacy, public health and other science journals, or any journal wanting a crisp, modern look.
Notable options: one main theme colour (the theme's documentation suggests bold, vivid tones); recent releases also offer the usage-statistics chart option. The theme's README recommends a homepage image of about 2000 × 1000 pixels and a wide logo with a transparent background.
5. Classic
Look: plays on colour and font contrasts inspired by literary classicism, using the Cardo serif typeface. The journal summary can appear over the homepage image. Sidebar blocks appear in the footer. Best for: humanities journals such as history, literature, philosophy, classics, linguistics and religious studies.
Notable options: a primary colour (default yellow) that affects the footer and menu hover background, plus a journal-summary setting.
6. Immersion
Look: full-width header image, large typefaces (Spectral paired with Roboto) and bold colour blocks. Best for: arts, design, architecture and culture journals that want a striking visual profile.
Notable options: background colours for the journal description and announcements areas; a colour for each section of each issue (set in the issue's data); a choice of no abstracts, faded abstracts or full abstracts on issue pages; and section descriptions when the Browse By Section plugin is enabled. Your logo sits over the homepage image, so use a transparent logo with good contrast.
7. Pragma
Look: minimalist, inspired by the tables of contents of early periodicals, with a single customisable colour and an embedded PDF viewer on article pages. The homepage image is shown in monochrome by default, and sidebar blocks move to the footer. Best for: text-focused journals in the social sciences, law, economics or education that prefer a calm, typographic design.
Good to know: PKP notes that Pragma only shows the homepage image when there is a journal summary or a homepage announcement, and it does not show article thumbnails on the homepage.
OJS theme comparison table
This table summarises PKP's own theme documentation (Designing Your Journal: Theme Features) and the theme source code.
| Theme | Where to get it | Colour options | Font choice | Sidebar blocks | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Default | Built in | Header colour | Yes (7 options) | Sidebar | Most journals; accessibility; customising |
| Manuscript | Plugin Gallery | Header + accent colour | No | Sidebar | Simple, paper-like look |
| Bootstrap3 | Plugin Gallery | 18 preset styles | Via preset style | Sidebar column | Developers building on Bootstrap |
| Health Sciences | Plugin Gallery | Primary colour | No | Footer | Medical and science journals |
| Classic | Plugin Gallery | Primary colour | No | Footer | Humanities journals |
| Immersion | Plugin Gallery | Description, announcement and per-section colours | No | Footer | Arts and visually led journals |
| Pragma | Plugin Gallery | Single colour | No | Footer | Minimalist, text-focused journals |
Only the Default theme has been formally audited for accessibility. PKP describes the other themes as having accessible features but not yet audited, so test them with your own content if accessibility rules apply to your institution.
Which is the best OJS theme for your journal?
The best OJS theme is the one that stays compatible with upgrades, loads quickly, works on phones and makes your journal's credibility signals easy to find: aims and scope, ISSN, editorial board, policies and the current issue. Use this decision guide:
| Your situation | Recommended theme | Why |
|---|---|---|
| New journal, small team, little technical help | Default (or Manuscript) | Lowest maintenance, best documented, safest during upgrades. |
| University with several journals | Default + a shared child theme | One codebase, consistent branding, easy to update. |
| Medicine, nursing, pharmacy, life sciences | Health Sciences | Clean, modern, highly legible article pages. |
| History, literature, philosophy, languages | Classic | Scholarly serif typography and a traditional feel. |
| Arts, design, architecture, culture | Immersion | Full-width images and colour blocks per section. |
| Social sciences, law, economics, mostly PDF articles | Pragma | Minimal, typographic, embedded PDF viewer. |
| Strict accessibility requirements | Default | The only externally audited official theme. |
| Developer wants full control of the design | Child theme of Default, or Bootstrap3 as a base | Keeps your code separate from the parent theme. |
Tip: a "professional" look comes mostly from content
Editors often ask for a "professional OJS theme" when the real problem is an empty homepage, a blurry logo or missing policies. A sharp logo, a clear journal description, a visible ISSN, a complete editorial board page and a tidy footer make any official theme look credible to authors and indexers.
How to install and activate an OJS theme
The Default theme is already installed. For the other themes, install from the Plugin Gallery (you must be logged in as the site Administrator; journal managers can enable themes that are already installed):
- Open the Plugin Gallery
Go to Settings → Website → Plugins → Plugin Gallery and find the theme in the list.
- Install the theme
Click the theme's name to see its description, maintainer and compatibility, then click Install and confirm.
- Enable it
Open the Installed Plugins tab, scroll to Theme Plugins at the bottom and tick the checkbox next to the theme.
- Activate it
Go to Settings → Website → Appearance → Theme, choose the theme from the dropdown and click Save. Refresh the page to reveal the theme's own options, adjust them and save again.
- Check the result
Open your journal in a private browser window. If the old styles still appear, an administrator can clear the cache under Administration → Clear Template Cache (this also clears compiled stylesheets).
Manual upload (when the Plugin Gallery is blocked)
Some servers cannot reach the gallery. In that case:
- Download the right release
Get the
.tar.gzpackage from the theme's official repository (for examplegithub.com/pkp/healthSciences/releases). Pick the release built for your OJS version, not simply the newest one. - Upload it
In Installed Plugins, click Upload a New Plugin, choose the file and save. Alternatively, extract it into
plugins/themes/on the server so the folder name matches the theme (for exampleplugins/themes/healthSciences). - Enable and activate
Enable it under Theme Plugins, then select it under Appearance → Theme as above.
If OJS reports that "the uploaded plugin archive does not contain a folder that corresponds to the plugin name", the folder inside the archive has the wrong name. Rename it to the plugin's short name and try again.
Theme options: colours, typography and header image
After you select a theme and refresh Settings → Website → Appearance, its options appear under the theme dropdown. What you can change depends on the theme (see the comparison table), but the typical controls are:
- Colour: paste the exact hex code from your logo or university brand guide (for example
#0B3D63). Check that white header text stays readable on it. - Typography: only the Default theme offers a font choice. Serif pairs (Noto Serif, Lora) feel traditional; sans-serif (Noto Sans, Lato) feels modern.
- Header background image: in the Default theme, tick the option to use your homepage image behind the header. Use a dark or simple image so the journal title stays readable.
- Journal summary on homepage: shows the summary from Settings → Journal → Masthead. Turn this on; it tells new visitors what you publish.
Logo, homepage image, page footer, sidebar blocks, favicon and a custom stylesheet are journal settings that work with every theme. Our OJS theme customization guide walks through each one, with a ready-to-paste footer and CSS snippets for the Default theme.
Community and commercial OJS themes
Beyond the official set, the Plugin Gallery also lists themes built by other organisations and developers. At the time of writing these include:
| Theme (as listed in the gallery) | Notes | OJS versions listed |
|---|---|---|
| Academic Free Theme | Third-party, Bootstrap 3-based design | 3.3 |
| Material Theme | Community theme | 3.3, 3.4, 3.5 |
| Ammonite Theme | Community theme | 3.4, 3.5 |
| SMW Immersion | Developed by a journal team, based on Immersion | 3.5 |
| Individualize Theme | Designed to let editorial staff adjust design and layout | 3.3, 3.5 |
Gallery listings change, so check the current entry in your own OJS before deciding. One lesson from the gallery: the maintainers of a university-built theme listed there have announced it will no longer be updated and now recommend switching back to the Default theme. Before adopting any non-official theme, check when it was last released and whether a version exists for the OJS release you plan to upgrade to next.
Some companies also offer commercial "premium" OJS themes outside the gallery. We do not recommend specific vendors, but you can judge any of them with these questions:
- Is there a release for your exact OJS version, and a clear plan for the next major version?
- Who maintains it, how are updates delivered, and how long are they provided?
- Can you see a live journal using it, including article pages on a phone?
- Does it override many core templates? The more it overrides, the more likely it is to break after an OJS upgrade.
- Does it keep the meta tags, ORCID display, licence information and PDF links that indexing depends on?
- Can you switch back to the Default theme without losing anything?
Avoid nulled, pirated and unknown-source themes
"Nulled" themes are copies of commercial themes with the licence check removed, shared on forums and file-sharing sites as "OJS themes free download". They are one of the easiest ways to compromise a journal.
A theme is code, not just a design
An OJS theme is a PHP plugin. Once enabled, it runs with the same access as OJS itself: your database, user accounts, unpublished manuscripts and reviewer files. A modified theme can hide a backdoor, inject gambling or "slot" spam links that only search engines see, or redirect visitors to malware.
- Security: look for warning signs such as obfuscated code (
eval,base64_decode, long encoded strings) or files that do not belong to a theme. If you have already used such a theme, follow our hacked OJS cleanup guide. - No updates: pirated copies never receive fixes, so they tend to break at the next OJS upgrade, often with a blank page or HTTP 500 error.
- Reputation: a journal caught using pirated software, or serving spam links, loses trust with authors, Google and indexing databases.
Install themes only from the PKP Plugin Gallery, the official repository linked from a gallery entry, or a developer you have a direct agreement with.
Free OJS theme vs custom theme
You do not have to choose between "free" and "custom". Most well-designed journals sit somewhere on this scale:
| Approach | Skills needed | Uniqueness | Upgrade safety |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official theme + options, logo and footer | None | Low to medium | Excellent |
| Official theme + custom stylesheet | Basic CSS | Medium | Very good (re-test after upgrades) |
| Child theme of Default | CSS/LESS, some PHP and Smarty | High | Good: your code stays separate from the parent |
| Fully custom theme | Experienced OJS developer | Complete | Needs maintenance for every major OJS release |
A free theme is enough when your priority is a reliable, credible journal site. A custom design makes sense when you need to match a university or society brand, run several journals with a shared identity, or present a distinctive homepage. If you want a design built around your brand that still upgrades cleanly, our OJS theme design service builds child themes and custom themes on top of PKP's maintained code rather than replacing it.
OJS theme launch checklist
- The theme comes from the Plugin Gallery or an official repository, and matches your OJS version.
- Logo is sharp, has alt text and does not overflow on a phone.
- The journal summary, ISSN, publisher and current issue are visible on the homepage.
- Menus link to About, Editorial Team, Submissions, policies and Contact. Our journal policy templates help with the policy pages.
- Article pages show the abstract, authors, licence and a working PDF link.
- Article page source still contains
citation_titleandcitation_pdf_urlmeta tags. - Text and buttons keep enough colour contrast, and the site works with a keyboard.
- You tested on a real phone and at least two browsers.
- Unused theme plugins are disabled, and you know how to restore the Default theme if something breaks.
Next steps: add the plugins most journals need with our essential OJS plugins guide, then fine-tune the design with the customization guide. Prefer to hand the design work over? Talk to us about custom OJS theme design.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are OJS themes free?
Yes. The Default theme ships with every OJS 3 installation, and the other official PKP themes (Manuscript, Bootstrap3, Health Sciences, Classic, Immersion and Pragma) are free to install from the Plugin Gallery inside OJS. Like OJS itself, they are open-source software released under the GNU GPL.
Which is the best theme in OJS?
There is no single best OJS theme. For most journals the built-in Default theme is the safest choice: it is accessible, responsive, well maintained and the easiest to customise. Health Sciences suits medical and science journals, Classic suits humanities journals, Immersion suits visually led arts journals and Pragma suits minimalist, text-focused journals.
Where can I download free OJS themes?
Inside OJS: log in as Administrator and open Settings → Website → Plugins → Plugin Gallery. Every official theme is listed there and installs in one click. If your server blocks the gallery, download the release that matches your OJS version from the theme's official GitHub releases page and upload it with Upload a New Plugin.
Will changing the theme delete my articles or settings?
No. A theme only changes how the public website looks. Articles, issues, users, logos and journal settings stay the same when you switch themes. Theme-specific options (such as colours) belong to each theme, and a custom stylesheet you uploaded may need adjusting for the new layout.
Are OJS themes responsive on mobile phones?
Yes. All the official PKP themes are responsive and adapt to phones and tablets. Problems on mobile usually come from oversized logos, wide tables pasted into pages or custom CSS that was only tested on a desktop screen. See our OJS theme customization guide for mobile-safe CSS.
Does the theme affect Google Scholar indexing?
It can. Google Scholar reads the citation meta tags that OJS adds to article pages. All official themes keep these tags, but a badly built custom or pirated theme can drop them or break PDF links. After changing themes, view the source of an article page and confirm the citation_title tags are still there. More in our Google Scholar indexing guide.
Can I use a different theme for each journal on one OJS installation?
Yes. Themes are enabled and selected per journal under Settings → Website, so each journal on a multi-journal installation can use its own theme, colours and stylesheet.
