Describe the issue or problem
We created a category for a special issue in an OJS journal. Articles in this category can only be sorted via the category’s preset sorting options.
Because the issue uses page numbers, the sorting option “Publication Date (oldest first)” is particularly important.
However, when using any sorting option other than Title (A–Z), unexpected and inconsistent behavior occurs.
Expected behavior:
Articles should consistently appear in the selected sorting order (especially by publication date, oldest first).
Actual behavior:
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With three articles, sorting by Publication Date (oldest first) works as expected.
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As soon as a fourth article is added, the order becomes incorrect and no longer reflects the publication dates.
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For other non-alphabetical sorting options, the order changes unpredictably after reloading the page. Sometimes the selected sorting is applied, sometimes it resets or switches without any changes being made by the user (other than a page reload).
Steps I took leading up to the issue
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Create a category for a special issue.
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Add three published articles to the category.
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Set the category sorting to Publication Date (oldest first).
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Verify that the sorting works correctly.
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Add a fourth article to the same category.
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Reload the category page.
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Observe that the article order is no longer correct.
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Change the sorting to another option (other than Title A–Z).
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Reload the page multiple times and observe that the sorting order changes inconsistently.
What application are you using?
OJS 3.3.0.21