User Management in OJS

This guide will walk you through the process of creating a new user as the Journal Manager, assigning roles to users as Journal Manager, merging multiple user accounts into one account, and the self-registration process in OJS.

Creating a New User

1. Log in as Journal Manager and click “User Home” in the navigation bar. From “User Home” click on “Journal Manager” to open up Journal Manager admin options. Under the “Users” headline, click “Create New User” to begin setting up the account:
   
2. Clicking “Create New User” will direct you to a simple form where you can input information about the user you are creating. In this form you can input personal information, create a username, assign a password, assign a user role, and fill in user profile information (E.g., Affiliation, Reviewing Interests, Bio Statement).
3. The only required fields here are First Name, Last Name, Username, Password, and Email Address. OJS also has an option for generating a random password, if desired. You can also select options to send a welcome email to new users with the assigned username and password and/or require users to change their password when first logging in. It is important to note that only one account can be registered to an email address.
4. When you have filled in the required fields and any additional information you wish to include scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Save”. If you are creating multiple accounts in one sitting there is also an option to “Save and Create Another.” If you selected the “Send the user a welcome email containing their username and password” option, the user will receive an automated email after clicking save. The user can then sign in and edit or input additional information for their user profile by logging in and navigating to “User Home.”

Assigning User Roles

1. The Journal Manager is also responsible for assigning user roles to registered accounts. After creating an account, whether self-registered or created by the Journal Manager, the Journal manager can enroll users into desired user roles. Log in as the Journal Manager, navigate to the “User Home” page, and click “Journal Manager” for admin options.
2. Under “Users”, click “Enroll a User from this Site in this Journal.” This will direct you to a page called “Enrollment,” which shows a list of all user accounts registered to the site.
   
3. To enroll a user to a new role, simply check which user or users you wish to assign to a given role. Then, using the drop-down menu for “Enroll user as” select the appropriate role. These options change depending on whether you decided to create Copyeditor, Layout Editor, and/Proofreader roles or assign these tasks to Editors and Section Editors (4.5-4.7 Management, Journal Setup). When you have selected the desired user and user role, click “Enroll Selected Users” to make the change.

Merging User Accounts

Sometimes a user might create multiple accounts for an OJS installation (or a user might self-register when the Journal Manager has already created an account for the user). To resolve this, OJS allows the Journal Manager to easily merge user accounts. After logging in as the Journal Manager, navigate to “User Home” and click “Journal Manager.” Next, click the “Merge Users” link under “Users.” This will take you to a list of all users assigned to the journal. To merge users, simply click the two accounts you want to merge and click “Merge Users”. The account(s) selected first will be deleted and any submissions, assignments, etc. will be attributed to the second account.

User Self-Registration

Depending on the Registration Settings chosen by the Journal Manager in Step 4.3 Management, Journal Setup, Readers, Reviewers, and/or Authors may be able to self-register for a journal website. If you are unsure whether or not the journal supports self-registration, please contact the journal’s Primary Contact (listed on the “About the Journal” page).

1. Navigate to your desired journal’s homepage and click “Register” in the navigation bar. This will direct you to a registration form where you can input your user information. In this form you can input personal information, create a username, create a password, fill in your user profile information (E.g., Affiliation, Reviewing Interests, Bio Statement), and select your desired user role. The journal’s “Privacy Statement” will appear at the bottom of the page after the registration form.
2. The only required fields here are First Name, Last Name, Username, Password, and Email Address. You may also be required to fill in a “Validation” field if the journal has Captcha enabled. Simply enter the text displayed in the Captcha image box in this field. OJS also has an option for generating a random password, if desired.
3. When you have filled in all the required fields, scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Register.” User information can be edited, changed, or added by signing in, navigating to “User Home”, and clicking “Edit My Profile.”