Managing Users and Authors

This page helps to show what different roles are capable of in OJS, and best practices for setting roles.

Depending on a given User's assigned "Role" within the journal, they will have different options available upon logging in. Making sure each User is assigned the correct Role is a great way to make the experience easier.

What can Journal Managers do?

Journal Managers can access all parts of their journal and manage the journal website - the left hand sidebar includes options for automating indexation, creating DOIs, by-passing the peer-review process, and more. While it is great to have these options as a Journal Manager, making sure that the right people have the proper access to the website and journal is a key functionality of OJS - and it can be managed easily by changing a user's "Role" within the journal.

What do Authors See?

As a Journal Manager, you have access to all of the functionality of OJS - this is great for managing a journal, but can be overwhelming for editors or authors who simply need to log into OJS to complete one simple task. That is why the experience is built specifically for different roles - below is an image of what an standard author might see when logging in to OJS.

This is what Authors and Reviewers might see when logging into OJS. Notice the limited options on the left-hand side - this user only has the ability to track submissions; either that they have authored or are reviewing.

What do Reviewers See?

"Reviewer" is another common role for an OJS user. Like authors, the amount they are able to see when logging into OJS for simplicity's sake. In addition OJS also has changable, automated emails for each time a submission changes stages or moves to another user. Below you will see an automated email from the "Library Test Journal" asking a potential reviewer if they would be interested in conducting a peer-review. The deadline and title of the piece are populated via simple form as you assign a review within OJS.

This is a sample email to a reviewer. Key information, such as the Journal Name, Article Title, Due Dates, etc, populate based on your choices for review and the broad information around the journal.

After following the link, the Reviewer will see their version of the OJS dashboard - which is not dissimilar to what you as an Editor might see - but Reviewers have a lot fewer options and the experience is streamlined for their needs.

The Reviewer will see a simple screen with their assigned projects without access to the back-end of your journal site. In the example above, the review is set to "Double-Anonymized" - so there is no author information available to the reviewer outside of the document.

After clicking the "View" button on the right hand side, the Reviewer will be brought their review dashboard, where they will make their way through four tabs. The tabs take the Reviewer through the process

• The First tab gives them Metadata and deadline information,

• The Second tab covers any Reviewer Guidelines specific to your journal,

• The Third tab allows the Reviewer to download the article and add comments directed to the author and editor or just the editor, and requires a suggestion about acceptance, resubmission, rejection, etc.

• And finally the last tab confirms completion of their review.

This is what a reviewer will see once they have accepted the assignment and begun the process of the review.

Built-in Communication

Open Journal Systems has hundreds of Email Templates that are set up to automatically send to users when they log in for the first time, submit an article, are selected for review, the list goes on. Knowing how to edit and customize these email notifications are a great way to make directions clearer or personalize the communication.

To find these template emails follow the instructions below:

• First navigate to the "Settings > Workflow" section of the OJS dashboard

• Then click on the "Emails" tab and scroll down to see all of the email templates and edit them as little or as much as desired