What’s the Scholarly Communication Department Working On?

This post was authored by Scholarly Communication Graduate Student Jenny Hoops.

This week, the Scholarly Communication Department has been hard at work preparing for the upgrade to our new publishing platform, Open Journals Systems 3 (OJS 3). Our priorities have included providing outreach for our journal editors and managers, integrating IU branding and accessibility information, and creating a consistent design for the overall website while allowing each journal to maintain a unique aesthetic.

The department offered three training sessions for journal managers and editors over the course of last week. These sessions highlighted the differences between the OJS 2 and OJS 3, emphasizing the streamlined process of submission management and the various technological improvements.

Attendees were also able to see OJS 3 in action for the first time, as the training included a demo of the editorial workflow and a general overview of settings and features. While one of these workshops was available via Zoom in order to access editors not able to travel to IU, the two in-person sessions will include a series of hands-on activities in a test space of OJS 3.

For those editorial teams unable to attend one of the training sessions, the following resources will be of interest:

• Zoom link of training session: https://iu.app.box.com/file/284985204643
• New OJS 3 wiki, with in-depth instructions on new features and functionality: https://wiki.dlib.indiana.edu/display/IUSW/OJS+3+Instructions+for+Editors

On April 5, we will be enacting a freeze on all of our journal content in order to facilitate final implementation of OJS 3. Users will be unable to submit new articles, engage in any editorial activity, or publish any issues during these four days, but articles will still be accessible for the general public. By April 9, OJS 3 will go live, and full functionality of both journal websites and the editorial workflow will be reinstated. If you have any questions about this timeline, training sessions, or OJS 3 generally, contact iusw@indiana.edu.