- OJS = Open Journal Systems, free and open-source journal software made by the Public Knowledge Project (PKP), now based at Simon Fraser University.
- It manages the full editorial workflow (submission, review, copyediting, production) and publishes a journal website with indexing-friendly metadata.
- OJS is powerful but needs proper hosting, configuration, a good theme and regular updates to look professional and stay secure.
What is OJS? Full form and meaning
OJS stands for Open Journal Systems. It is a free, open-source web application that journals use to receive manuscripts, manage peer review, edit and produce articles, and publish them on a public journal website. When people say "an OJS journal", "jurnal OJS" or "plataforma OJS", they mean a journal whose website and editorial office run on this software.
In simple terms, OJS is two things at once:
- An editorial office behind a login, where authors submit, editors assign reviewers, reviewers send recommendations and the production team prepares final files.
- A public journal website that shows the current issue, archives, article pages, PDFs and journal policies, with the metadata that Google Scholar, Crossref, DOAJ and other services read.
OJS is written in PHP and stores its data in a MySQL/MariaDB or PostgreSQL database. You install it on your own server or hosting account, or you use a provider that hosts it for you. It is not a single website or portal: every journal runs its own OJS installation at its own address.
Who makes OJS: the Public Knowledge Project, UBC and SFU
OJS is developed by the Public Knowledge Project (PKP), a non-commercial initiative focused on open access to research. A short history:
- 1998: John Willinsky starts the Public Knowledge Project at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. This is why searches like "OJS UBC" still appear and why older tutorials mention UBC.
- 2002: the first version of Open Journal Systems is released.
- 2005: PKP begins its partnership with Simon Fraser University (SFU) Library.
- 2016: OJS 3.0 is launched, a full redesign of the software.
- 2022: PKP joins SFU's Core Research Facilities Program. PKP describes itself today as a Core Facility of Simon Fraser University.
The official home of OJS is therefore pkp.sfu.ca. Downloads, documentation (docs.pkp.sfu.ca) and the community support forum (forum.pkp.sfu.ca) all live there. OJS Academy is an independent service provider and is not affiliated with PKP.
What the OJS platform does, end to end
An OJS journal covers the whole life of an article in one system:
- Author submits online
The author registers on the journal website, completes a submission checklist, uploads the manuscript and enters metadata such as title, abstract, keywords, co-authors and ORCID iDs.
- Editors screen and assign
An editor checks scope and quality, then sends the paper to review or declines it. Section editors can be assigned to handle specific subject areas.
- Peer review
Reviewers are invited by email, read the files, and submit comments and a recommendation through OJS. Anonymous review is supported, and every round is recorded.
- Editing and production
Accepted papers go to copyediting, then production, where the final versions (galleys) are prepared, usually PDF and sometimes HTML or XML.
- Publishing and distribution
The article is scheduled into an issue (or published continuously), gets a DOI if configured, and is exposed to search engines, OAI-PMH harvesters and indexing services.
Everything is logged: who did what and when, which emails were sent and which decisions were taken. That audit trail is valuable when indexers or authors ask how your peer review works.
The OJS editorial workflow: four stages
In OJS 3.x every submission moves through four stages, visible as tabs in the editorial dashboard:
| Stage | What happens | Typical people involved |
|---|---|---|
| Submission | Initial check of scope, formatting and similarity. Editor sends to review, accepts without review (rare) or declines. | Editor, section editor, author |
| Review | One or more rounds of peer review. Editor records a decision: request revisions, resubmit for review, accept or decline. | Editor, reviewers, author |
| Copyediting | Language and style editing of the accepted manuscript, with author queries and approval. | Copyeditor, author, editor |
| Production | Layout of final galleys, proofreading, metadata check and scheduling for publication in an issue. | Layout editor, proofreader, production editor |
Small journals often have one or two people doing all of these jobs, and that is fine. OJS lets one person hold several roles. Larger journals can split the work across a team and use discussions, notifications and deadlines to keep things moving.
User roles in OJS
OJS controls what each person can see and do through roles. The main ones are:
| Role | What it can do |
|---|---|
| Site Administrator | Manages the whole installation: creates journals, system settings, plugins and caches. Usually the technical person or host. |
| Journal Manager | Configures one journal: settings, sections, users, email templates, theme and workflow. Keep this role to a few trusted people. |
| Journal Editor | Sees all submissions, assigns section editors and reviewers, and makes editorial decisions. |
| Section Editor | Handles the submissions assigned to them, usually within one subject section. |
| Reviewer | Sees only the papers they are invited to review and submits reviews and recommendations. |
| Author | Submits manuscripts, responds to revision requests and approves copyedits. |
| Copyeditor, Layout Editor, Proofreader | Production roles that work on accepted papers in the copyediting and production stages. |
| Reader | Receives notifications of new issues and announcements, and can access content if the journal restricts access. |
Journal managers can rename roles, create new ones and decide which roles people may choose for themselves at registration. Letting anyone self-register as a reviewer is a common source of low-quality accounts, so review those settings early.
Key features of Open Journal Systems
- Many journals, one installation. A university or publisher can run several journals from one OJS install, each with its own path, settings, team and design.
- Multilingual. The interface is translated by the community into many languages, including Bahasa Indonesia, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Turkish and French, and journals can publish metadata and articles in more than one language.
- OAI-PMH. OJS includes an OAI-PMH endpoint, the standard protocol that aggregators and library discovery services use to harvest journal metadata.
- Google Scholar-friendly. Article pages output the citation meta tags that Google Scholar reads, and OJS produces a sitemap. See our Google Scholar indexing guide.
- DOIs. OJS can assign DOIs and deposit metadata with Crossref (and DataCite). In OJS 3.4 and later there is a dedicated DOI management area; in 3.3 this is handled through the DOI and Crossref plugins.
- Plugins. A built-in Plugin Gallery adds features such as ORCID integration, PKP Preservation Network archiving, extra themes and export formats.
- Themes. PKP ships a default theme and several free official themes, and you can build a custom theme with Smarty templates and LESS/CSS. Compare them in our OJS themes guide.
- Statistics. Built-in reports on article views, downloads and editorial activity such as submissions, acceptance rates and review times.
- Emails and reminders. Editable email templates and automatic reminders for overdue reviews.
- Import/export and API. Native XML import/export, user import and a REST API, so your content is never locked in.
OJS versions: 2.x and 3.x explained
There are two big generations of OJS, and the difference matters:
| Version | Status | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| OJS 2.x | End of life | Old interface, no longer maintained or patched. Journals still on 2.x should upgrade to 3.x for security and compatibility. |
| OJS 3.0 – 3.2 | Outdated | First generation of the redesigned OJS 3. No longer updated; upgrade to a current release. |
| OJS 3.3 | Older long-term support release | Still widely used and receiving critical fixes for a limited period. Plan an upgrade. |
| OJS 3.4 | Current generation | Introduced central DOI management, a reworked email template system and background jobs. |
| OJS 3.5 | Newest long-term support release | The recommended choice for new journals if your server runs a recent PHP version. |
Release status changes over time, so always check the official OJS download page before installing or upgrading. Server needs for each version are covered in our OJS system requirements guide.
OJS, OMP and OPS: PKP's family of applications
PKP builds three related applications on the same code base, so they look and work alike:
For journals: articles, issues, peer review and continuous or issue-based publishing.
For books and monographs: chapters, edited volumes, series and catalogues. Version 1.0 was released in 2013.
For preprint servers, where papers are shared before formal peer review. Released in 2020, built in consultation with SciELO.
If you publish both a journal and a book series, you will typically run OJS and OMP side by side, often on the same server.
Who uses OJS journals?
OJS is the most widely used open-source journal platform in the world. PKP's own usage data counts tens of thousands of active OJS journals in well over 100 countries, and the largest single community is in Indonesia. You will find OJS journals at:
- Universities and faculties that publish one or many journals, often managed by the library or a research office.
- Scholarly societies and associations that want control over their own journal.
- Independent and small publishers launching new titles.
- Research institutes and government bodies publishing open access research.
Most OJS journals are open access, but OJS also supports restricted and delayed access models. Because OJS is so common, editors, reviewers and authors in many regions already know how to use it, which lowers the learning curve for your team.
Pros and cons of OJS
Strengths
- Free and open source, with no vendor lock-in.
- Complete editorial workflow with a full audit trail.
- Standards built in: OAI-PMH, DOI deposits, ORCID, Google Scholar tags.
- Widely recognised by indexers, librarians and authors.
- Large community, documentation and a public support forum.
- Runs one or many journals in one installation.
Limitations
- Needs technical skills to install, configure, upgrade and secure.
- The default theme looks generic until you customise it.
- Editors need some training; the dashboard is powerful but not obvious at first.
- Email delivery, spam registrations and outdated installations are common problems.
- Major upgrades (for example 3.3 to 3.4 or 3.5) need careful testing, especially with custom themes and plugins.
The honest summary
OJS is the right tool for most scholarly journals. Problems usually come from how it is set up and maintained, not from the software itself.
OJS vs WordPress or a normal website for a journal
Many new journals start with a WordPress site that lists PDFs. That looks quick, but it misses most of what a journal needs:
| Need | OJS | WordPress / normal website |
|---|---|---|
| Online submission and peer review | Built in, with roles and an audit trail | Forms and email; no real review workflow |
| Article metadata for Google Scholar | Generated automatically on every article page | Must be added manually or with extra plugins |
| OAI-PMH harvesting | Built in | Not available by default |
| DOI registration with Crossref | Built-in plugins and deposit tools | Manual XML deposits |
| Issues, volumes and archives | Native structure | Improvised with pages or categories |
| Recognition by indexers | Familiar, standard platform | Harder to evaluate |
| Design flexibility | Good with themes and custom CSS | Excellent |
A common and sensible setup is both: OJS for the journal itself, and WordPress for a publisher or society homepage that links to it.
How to get started with OJS
If you have decided OJS is right for your journal, these guides walk you through the next steps:
- How to start an academic journal with OJS: scope, editorial board, policies, ISSN, DOIs and your first issue.
- How to install OJS step by step: cPanel and VPS installation with email, cron and SSL.
- Best free OJS themes: choose a design that looks credible to authors.
Prefer to have specialists handle the technical side? OJS Academy has 10+ years of experience and has supported 80+ academic journals. Our OJS services cover installation, theme design, hosting, upgrades and indexing preparation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the full form of OJS?
OJS stands for Open Journal Systems. It is free, open-source software from the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) for managing peer review and publishing scholarly journals online.
Is OJS really free?
Yes. OJS is free, open-source software released under the GNU General Public License. You can download, install and modify it without a licence. What you still need is a server or hosting account, a domain, and someone to install, configure, update and back it up.
Is OJS made by the University of British Columbia (UBC)?
The Public Knowledge Project, which makes OJS, was started in 1998 by John Willinsky at the University of British Columbia, which is why older material mentions UBC. Since 2005 PKP has worked with Simon Fraser University Library, and today it is a Core Facility of Simon Fraser University. The official website is pkp.sfu.ca.
Is there one central OJS portal where I log in?
No. Every journal runs its own OJS installation on its own website, with its own user accounts. To submit or review for a journal, you register on that journal's site. One installation can host several journals, but there is no single global OJS login.
Will using OJS get my journal indexed in Scopus or DOAJ?
No software can do that on its own. OJS gives you the technical basics indexers expect (clean metadata, OAI-PMH, DOI support, Google Scholar tags), but acceptance depends on editorial quality, policies, a real editorial board and a consistent publishing record. See our journal indexing guide.
Which OJS version should a new journal use?
Install the newest stable release your server can run. At the time of writing PKP lists OJS 3.5 as its current long-term support (LTS) release. Do not start a new journal on OJS 2.x, which is no longer supported. Check our OJS system requirements before you choose.
Do I need coding skills to run an OJS journal?
Editors and journal managers do not. Day-to-day work happens in the browser. Installation, upgrades, email setup, security and theme customisation do need server and PHP skills, which is where an experienced team such as our OJS services can help.
