Frontmatter
OJS for Everyone: The Practical Guidebook
First Edition · 2026 · RSYN Research LLP
Preface
Open Journal Systems (OJS) has democratised scholarly publishing for thousands of journals around the world, many of which are run by small teams with limited technical resources. Yet the official documentation, while comprehensive, can be challenging to navigate for newcomers and day-to-day practitioners.
OJS for Everyone: The Practical Guidebook was created to fill that gap — a single, role-oriented reference that any journal stakeholder can pick up and immediately use, regardless of their technical background. It covers OJS 3.5+ and is updated continuously as the platform evolves.
This guide is published as an open-access, living document under CC BY 4.0. Contributions from the community are welcomed via the GitHub repository.
Acknowledgements
This guide draws on the outstanding open-access documentation produced by the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) at Simon Fraser University, including the Learning OJS guides, the PKP Admin Guide, and the PKP Documentation Hub. We are grateful to the entire PKP team and the global OJS community for their ongoing work.
We also acknowledge the contributions of all journal editors, reviewers, authors, and system administrators whose day-to-day experience of OJS has shaped the practical focus of this guide.
How to Use This Guide
This guide is organised by role. Navigate to the section that matches your role in the journal:
- New to OJS? — Start with About OJS, then choose your role below.
- Setting up a server? — Go to Site Administrator.
- Managing a journal? — See Journal Manager.
- Handling submissions? — See Editor or Section Editor.
- Submitting a manuscript? — See Author.
- Reviewing a paper? — See Reviewer.
Each role section begins with an overview of responsibilities, followed by step-by-step guides for common tasks. Every page ends with a Further Reading section linking to the official PKP documentation and community resources.
Contents at a Glance
Book Information
- Title & Verso Page — bibliographic details
- Copyright & Licence — CC BY 4.0
- Disclaimer
- Privacy Policy
- Terms of Use
Introduction
Roles
- 🖥️ Site Administrator
- ⚙️ Journal Manager
- ✏️ Editor
- 📂 Section Editor
- 🔖 Guest Editor
- 🔍 Reviewer
- 📝 Author
- 📋 Copyeditor
- 🖨️ Layout Editor
- 🔎 Proofreader
- 💳 Subscription Manager
- 📖 Reader