Masthead & Editorial Team

The masthead is the publicly visible listing of your journal's editorial team — the Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editors, Editorial Board members, and other roles. A well-maintained masthead establishes the journal's credibility and helps readers understand its governance.

Accessing Masthead Settings

Settings → Journal → Masthead

The Masthead tab in Journal Settings is where you configure the editorial team listing that appears on your journal's About → Editorial Team page.

Adding Editorial Team Members

1. Go to Settings → Journal → Masthead.
2. Scroll to the Editorial Team section.
3. Click Add Item.
4. Fill in:

Field	Notes
Name	Full name of the editorial team member
Role	Free text — e.g., "Editor-in-Chief", "Associate Editor", "Statistical Reviewer"
Affiliation	Institution or organisation
Bio	Short biography (optional but recommended)
Email	Optional; displayed publicly if entered
URL	Link to personal/institutional profile
Image	Profile photo (optional)

5. Click Save.

Organising the Team Display

Team members appear in the order they were added. To reorder:

• Drag and drop the items in the list (most OJS versions support this).
• Or delete and re-add in the desired order.

Common display order conventions:

1. Editor-in-Chief
2. Associate Editors / Deputy Editors
3. Section Editors (by section)
4. Editorial Board (alphabetical)
5. Technical / Production staff

Roles vs. OJS User Roles

The Masthead editorial team listing is independent of OJS user accounts and permissions. A person can appear on the masthead display without having an OJS user account, and conversely, an OJS user with the Editor role does not automatically appear on the public masthead.

This separation is by design — it lets you display advisory board members or honorary editorial board members who are not active in the system.

ISSN and Journal Identity Fields

The Masthead tab also contains key journal identity fields:

Field	Where it appears
Journal Name	Site header, metadata exports
Journal Initials	DOI suffixes, file names
Abbreviation	CrossRef metadata, index displays
ISSN (Print)	Metadata, DOAJ, CrossRef
ISSN (Online)	Metadata, DOAJ, CrossRef
Publisher	CrossRef metadata, copyright page

Getting an ISSN

If your journal does not yet have an ISSN:

1. Identify your national ISSN centre at issn.org/services/requesting-an-issn.
2. Submit an application with your journal's title, URL, and a sample issue or table of contents.
3. ISSN registration is free in most countries and takes 2–4 weeks.
4. Enter both print ISSN and electronic ISSN once obtained.

info

You need an ISSN before applying to DOAJ, CrossRef, and most indexing services. Apply as early as possible.

Displaying the Masthead on Your Site

The editorial team listing appears automatically at:

About → Editorial Team

This page is generated from the masthead entries — no additional configuration is needed. Ensure your journal's navigation menu includes a link to About pages so visitors can find it.

Keeping the Masthead Current

• Review and update team members annually or whenever there are board changes.
• Add new members promptly to give them proper recognition.
• When members leave, either remove them or move them to an "Emeritus" or "Former Editorial Board" section.

Further Reading

• Learning OJS — Journal Settings: Masthead — Official masthead configuration guide
• ISSN International Centre — Register or look up your journal ISSN