OJS Submission Process

In this section, you will be walked through the process of an Author submitting their article to a journal and how the Editor assigns submissions to an Editor or Section Editor to begin the review process.

Submitting an Article

Submitting an article or another submission type to a journal is a fairly simple process. Each journal might have different submission policies, so this will walk you through the basic steps for submission but please contact the journal’s Journal Manager and/or Editors if you have more specific questions about their individual submission procedures.

For most journals using OJS, potential authors must create an account for the site and register as an Author before submitting their work. Many sites allow Authors to Self-Register accounts (see "User Management" for instructions how), but some might require the Journal Manager to create an account for you. If you are unsure, please contact the site’s Journal Manager.

1. Log-in as an Author and navigate to the “User Home” page in the navigation bar of the journal site. Once on the “User Home” page, click “New Submission” to begin the submission process.
   
   
2. Clicking “New Submission” will direct you to a 5-Step Process for submissions “1. Start,” “2. Upload Submission,” “3. Enter Metadata,” “4. Upload Supplementary Files,” and “5. Confirmation.”
   
   
3. In “1. Start,” you will first select what “Journal Section” you will be submitting your work to. “Journal Sections” are defined by the Journal Manager but typically refer to the type of article you are submitting (e.g. “Article,” “Book Review”).
   
   After selecting a Journal Section, you will need to read through and check off the journal’s prepared Submission Checklist. These checklists refer to submission requirements for the Journal such as file formatting and bibliographic standards. You must check each of the boxes to continue.
   
   Before moving on to “2. Upload Submission,” you then will need to read through the journal’s Copyright Notice and Privacy Statement. Finally a text-box is provided in the form where you can fill out any comment you might have for the Editor (optional). When you are finished, click “Save and Continue” to proceed to the next step in the submission process.
   
   
4. In “2. Upload Submission,” you will select your file and upload it to the site before continuing on to the next step. Detailed instructions are provided on the page, but you must make sure you click “Upload” after choosing your article file but before clicking “Save and Continue” to proceed to the next step of the submission process.
   
   
   
5. In “3. Enter Metadata,” you will enter information about yourself, a Title and Abstract for your submission, and indexing information about your submission. Based on what you filled out when creating your account, much of the person information will be filled out automatically. Read over and include any additional information you might want to add. You can also choose to “Add Author” and enter their personal information if the piece is co-authored.
   
   Next, you will enter a “Title” and “Abstract” for your submission, before entering indexing information about your submission. This information may be different depending on the journal (e.g. “Subject Classification,” “Keywords,” “Geo-spatial Coverage”). After entering indexing information, you can enter any contributors or supporting agencies and enter references for your submission. To proceed to the next step, click “Save and Continue.”
   
   
   
6. “4. Upload Supplementary Files” is an optional step where you can upload any supplementary files to accompany your submission (e.g. data sets, source texts, resource instruments). Some journals may require you to upload secondary files. If you are unsure, contact the Journal Manager. You can also enter additional information about your supplementary files, such as “Title,” “Type,” “Keywords,” and “Language.”
   
   Also, as in “2. Upload Submission,” make sure to click “Upload” after choosing your file but before proceeding to the next step by clicking “Save and Continue.”
   
   
   
7. In the final step of the submission process, “5. Confirmation,” all you will need to do is review your submission. This step will display the files you uploaded in the “Upload Submission” and “Upload Supplementary Files” steps so that you can double-check to make sure you uploaded the correct file. Once you have confirmed, you may click “Finish Submission” to complete the submission process.
   
   
   
8. After clicking “Finish Submission” you will receive an email to the address linked to your user account that confirms your submission. Once completed, the Author can track their submission’s progress through the Review, Editing, and Publication process by logging in, navigating to “User Home,” and clicking “Author.” This will take you to a page where you can see the status of your current and past submissions and begin a new submission.
   
   
   

Assigning Submissions

After Authors submit their work to a journal, the submissions are listed as “Unassigned” until the Editor assigns the submission to an Editor or Section Editor to start the review process. Editors will be notified via email when an Author makes a new submission to the journal.

1. Log in as Editor and navigate to User Home. Click “Editor” to view the “Editor Home.” In the “Editor Home” page, Editors can view all submissions that are “Unassigned,” “In Review,” “In Editing,” and “Archives,” (published or past submissions). Click “Unassigned” to view a listing of all unassigned submissions.
   
   
   
2. Next, simply click on the submission’s title. This will direct you a Summary page for the submission. In addition to assigning the submission, you can also edit or add to the metadata provided by the Author for their submission.
   
   
   
3. To assign a submission, all the Editor must do is click “Add Section Editor,” “Add Editor,” “Add Self.” If you click “Add Section Editor” or “Add Editor” you will be directed to a listing of all Section Editors (or Editors) assigned to the journal. Click the desired user’s name, then click “Record” to complete assigning the submission. You can also click “Add Self” to assign yourself to guide the submission through the review process.
   
   On this page, the Editor can also reject a submission before review, if desired, by clicking “Reject and Archive Submission.”