OJS Editorial Process

This guide will assume your journal is using different users enrolled as Copyeditors, Layout Editors, and Proofreaders. However, in many journals the Editor or Section editor may fulfill some or all of these roles (defined by the Journal Manager in Setup Steps 4.5-4.7). If you are an Editor or Section Editor that is tasked with fulfilling one or more of these roles, you can follow the same steps described below (only logged in as Editor or Section Editor rather than Copyeditor, Layout Editor, and/or Proofreader).

Please note that OJS tries to set a recommended workflow that accommodate the most complicated editing processes (involving separate users for each role) or the simplest editing process (one Editor overseeing and completing each step of the Editing process). For example, once the Review Process is complete and the final reviewed version of a submission is sent to Copyediting, the Editor might decide that the submission does not need to undergo the full Copyediting process and instead can move directly to Layout Editing. To do so, all the Editor must do is navigate to the submission’s “Editing” page, download the file from “Initial Copyedit” and upload it as the “Layout Version” under the “Layout” heading. And if the file has already been formatted according to the journal’s standards, the Editor can upload it directly as the “Galley,” or display, file. At any point in the Editing process, the Editor can also schedule the submission for publication under the “Scheduling” heading on the submission’s “Editing” page.

Finally, if the Editor decides to upload a fully formatted and proofread submission during the Submission Process, OJS will give them the option of bypassing the entire review, copyediting, layout editing, and proofreading processes upon finalizing their submission. OJS will upload the submission file to the “Galley” field on the Editing page, and the Editor will be able to immediately schedule the submission for publication. This option is only available to Editors, but it demonstrates how flexible OJS approaches the Editing process.

This guide will try to describe the Editing process in OJS at its most complex. OJS provides a framework but it is ultimately up to the journal manager to define workflow. Here is an example of a typical workflow for Editing in OJS:

Review Decision→ Copyediting → Layout Editing → Proofreading → Publication