Running the journal

Setting up the journal

  • The journal’s name and ISSN must be approved
  • The University library can add the journal’s logo and adapt the website template to the specifications of the journal
  • The University library assists in setting up the journal on the platform. rmen.

When establishing the journal, there has to be a discussion and decisions made concerning:

  • The managing editor
  • The technical contact person
  • Other editorial staff
  • The type of peer review
  • The license
  • The activation of digital preservation services

Day-to-day operations and user support

The editorial staff are responsible for day-to-day operations and the journals’ editorial tasks. The main role of the University library is user support, providing assistance and the instruction of the platform users, beyond the available documentation and online courses. The University library is responsible for the technical side of the publishing platform.

Please try to find the answer on your own. However, if you are at a complete loss or need to discuss something in connection with journal publishing, do not hesitate to contact us at ojs@oslomet.no.

Documentation and online courses relating to the publishing platform (OJS)

Our platform runs on Open Journal Systems (OJS).

Due to limited staff working on the journals at the University library, we depend on the editorial staff being able to be as independent as possible when handling issues that come up or strive to do so in the long term. We therefore strongly encourage that you spend some time to familiarize yourselves with available official documentation and online courses concerning the day-to-day operations and tasks on the platform. These resources are developed by The Public Knowledge Project (PKP) who is heading the development work of OJS.

Optional functionality

OJS offers a number of optional functionalities/plugins that can be activated upon request from the journal. Below folloe some useful and widely used plugins for our journals:

Digital preservation (PKP PN)

Secure journal storage is a free service in OJS which we strongly recommend activating. OJS has a plugin that permits the journal to sign up for the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN), which uses the LOCKSS program for decentralized distributed digital preservation. This ensures continuous access to the journal in case of a force majeur or if the journal is no longer active and is removed from the web, in that it can be revitalized by the PKP PN.   

The terms of use for this service must be validated by the managing editor before activation.

Secure storage is also one of the requirements to secure the DOAJ Seal of Approval, which Open Access journals should strive to obtain.

Statistics and metrics (PaperBuzz)

OJS gathers a lot of data which can be visualized in the statistics module of the administration interface. The data is, however, not available for the journal’s readers. Plugins, such as PaperBuzz, can be activated to display downloads and social media activity on the article summary pages.

Citations (Scopus/Crossref Plugin)

Depending on the setup, activating this plugin permits displaying citations from Scopus, Crossref Cited-By, a link to the article in Google Scholar and Europe PMC on the article summary pages. This would be useful when calculating the journal’s and the article’s impact factor.