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OJS for EveryoneThe Practical Guidebook

Managing Your Reviewer Profile

Keeping your reviewer profile up to date helps editors match you with submissions that suit your expertise, and ensures you receive review invitations you are able to act on.

Accessing Your Profile​

  1. Log in to OJS.
  2. Click your username in the top-right corner to open the User Menu.
  3. Select View Profile.

Your profile is divided into tabs: Identity, Contact, Roles, Public, Password, and Notifications.

Updating Your Reviewing Interests​

Reviewing interests are keywords that describe the topics, methods, and fields you are qualified to review. Editors search these keywords when selecting reviewers.

  1. Go to View Profile → Identity.
  2. Scroll to the Reviewing Interests field.
  3. Type a keyword and press Enter (or click the tag that appears) to add it.
  4. Click the × on an existing tag to remove it.
  5. Click Save at the bottom of the page.
tip

Use specific terms rather than broad disciplines. For example, prefer "randomised controlled trials", "Bayesian statistics", or "post-colonial literary theory" over "medicine" or "literature".

Setting Review Availability​

Some OJS configurations allow reviewers to signal their availability so editors do not send invitations during busy periods.

  1. Go to View Profile → Roles.
  2. Under the Reviewer role, locate the Review availability option (if enabled by the journal).
  3. Toggle availability to Active or Not available as appropriate.
  4. Click Save.

If your journal does not display this toggle, communicate availability by declining invitations with a note, or by contacting the editor directly.

ORCiD Integration​

Linking your ORCiD identifier to your OJS profile enables verified attribution and simplifies future imports across PKP platforms.

StepAction
1Go to View Profile → Identity
2Click Connect with ORCiD
3Sign in to ORCiD in the pop-up window
4Click Authorize access
5Return to OJS — your ORCiD iD is now displayed with a verified badge
note

ORCiD integration must be enabled by the journal's Site Administrator. If the Connect with ORCiD button is absent, contact your journal manager.

Updating Contact Details​

Keeping your contact details current ensures you receive review invitations and system notifications reliably.

  1. Go to View Profile → Contact.
  2. Update your Email, Phone, Affiliation (institution name), and Country as needed.
  3. Click Save.
caution

Changing your email address changes the address used for all OJS login and notifications. Ensure the new address is active before saving.

Accepting and Declining Invitations Based on Interests​

When you receive a review invitation, OJS displays the submission title and abstract. Use this information to decide whether the work falls within your expertise:

SituationRecommended action
Submission matches your reviewing interestsAccept and complete the review
Topic is adjacent but unfamiliarAccept only if you can review responsibly; disclose any limitations in your comments to the editor
Outside your expertiseDecline and suggest an alternative reviewer if possible
Conflict of interest (co-author, institution, competitor)Decline immediately and note the conflict

Updating your reviewing interests regularly reduces mismatched invitations and saves editors time.

Managing Notification Preferences​

OJS can send email notifications for a range of events. You can reduce inbox noise by disabling notifications you do not need.

  1. Go to View Profile → Notifications.
  2. Review the list of notification types. For each type you see two columns:
    • Enable notifications — shows an alert in your OJS dashboard
    • Email notifications — sends an email to your registered address
  3. Tick or untick boxes as needed.
  4. Click Save.

Recommended settings for most reviewers:

Notification typeDashboardEmail
New review assignment✅✅
Review deadline reminder✅✅
Editor decision on reviewed submission✅✅
New discussion message✅✅
Journal announcements✅Optional
Submission accepted / publishedOptionalOptional
tip

If you review for multiple journals on the same OJS platform, notification preferences apply globally across all journals. Set them to match the journal where you are most active.

Further Reading​