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OJS for EveryoneThe Practical GuidebookRSYN Research LLP

Submission Metadata

Metadata is Step 3 of the OJS submission wizard. Accurate, complete metadata is critical for indexing, discoverability, and citation. Take time to enter it carefully — this is what appears on the article page, in CrossRef, Google Scholar, DOAJ, and every other indexing service.

Title and Subtitle​

FieldGuidance
TitleFull article title, sentence-case (capitalize first word and proper nouns only), no trailing period
SubtitleOptional; some journals use a separate subtitle field
tip

If your title includes a colon, put the text before the colon as the title and the text after as the subtitle — this helps with citation parsing.

Abstract​

Enter the full abstract in the text box. Formatting guidance:

  • Follow the word/character limit in the journal's Author Guidelines (typically 150–300 words).
  • Paste from your manuscript — OJS accepts basic formatting (bold, italic, paragraph breaks).
  • Do not include references or citations in the abstract.
  • For structured abstracts (Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions), use the headings your journal requires.

Keywords​

Keywords improve search and discoverability. To add keywords:

  1. Type a keyword in the keyword field.
  2. Press Enter (or click the "+" button) to add each keyword as a separate tag.
  3. Add 4–8 keywords as specified in the Author Guidelines.

Good keyword practice:

  • Use terms that appear in the title and abstract.
  • Include both specific and broader terms (e.g., "CRISPR gene editing" and "genome editing").
  • Avoid duplicating exact title words unless they are critical index terms.
  • Check whether the journal uses a controlled vocabulary (e.g., MeSH for medical journals).

Contributors (Authors and Co-Authors)​

The submission wizard pre-fills your own details as the first contributor. To add co-authors:

  1. Scroll to the Contributors section.
  2. Click Add Contributor.
  3. Fill in the contributor form:
FieldNotes
Given NameFirst/given name
Family NameSurname/family name
EmailRequired; co-author receives notifications
CountryCountry of affiliation
AffiliationInstitution name and department
Contributor RoleAuthor, Translator, or Other
ORCID iDOptional but strongly recommended
Bio StatementShort biography (optional; displayed on article page)
  1. Click Save to add the contributor.
  2. Repeat for each additional author.

Author Order​

Drag contributors in the list to reorder them. The order in the list is the order in which authors appear on the published article.

Corresponding Author​

Check "Principal contact for editorial correspondence" for the author who will receive editorial notifications. This is usually the submitting author but can be any co-author.

ORCID Integration​

If the journal has ORCID integration enabled, contributors can authenticate their ORCID iD:

  1. Click Request ORCID Authorization next to a contributor's entry.
  2. The contributor receives an email asking them to authorize the connection.
  3. Once authorized, the ORCID iD is verified and linked to the article metadata.

Funding Information​

If required by the journal or your funder:

  1. Scroll to the Funding section (may be a custom metadata field depending on your journal's configuration).
  2. Enter funding agency names and grant/project numbers.
  3. Some journals require funder information in a specific format — check the Author Guidelines.

Language​

If the journal supports multilingual submissions, select the language of the submission. This affects language tagging in the metadata exports.

Additional Metadata Fields​

Depending on the journal's configuration, you may see additional fields:

  • Cover Image — some journals accept author-provided cover images for issues
  • Rights — copyright statement or Creative Commons licence selection
  • Source — for articles reprinted from elsewhere
  • Subject — controlled subject classification

Complete all fields marked as required (indicated with an asterisk *).

Saving and Proceeding​

When all required fields are complete, click Save and Continue to proceed to Step 4 (Confirmation).

warning

Do not close your browser or navigate away without saving — your metadata may be lost. If you need to step away mid-submission, click Save to preserve progress.

Further Reading​