Articles have disappeared

Software Support
1

Hi,

All articles I was in the process of editing, reviewing, managing, etc for the upcoming number of my journal all suddenly gone. It also happens to other people who collaborates in my journal and have rights to access. A few old articles still appear (see screenshot - before the issue that screen was full of articles that were in the review process and I was managing/editing). Please can someone help me what’s going on and how to solve it?

Thank you so much.

Screenshot 2022-09-26 at 12.29.40

2

Also, when reviewers click in the article’s link, it just shows “404 Not Found” - I have quite some people contacting me asking about what happens - please, can someone help me? Thank you!!

3

Which version of OJS are you using?
Are lost articles available in the database?
When did this happen? Did you update or do something different?
Is your journal multilingual or monolingual?

4

Hi,

Many thanks for your message. I respond below.

  • OJS version is: 3.2.1.4
  • I’m unsure what you mean by “the database” but the articles don’t show up anywhere in my OJS. Neither where they were, nor searching by name, nor when clicking in the link sent to reviewers.
  • It happened last Thursday.
  • I didn’t update or did anything.
  • Multilingual
5

Just to be clear, the articles that have disappeared are those that were in the review process for the next issue of the journal. Articles that were already published or rejected are still accesible

6

Were there Sections in your journal? And can you have deleted it?

There is a low probability that your articles have been lost/deleted.

  1. You need hosting/database access information.
  2. If you are not proficient in database management, it would be helpful to get support.
  3. It should be checked whether there are related submissions in the database or not.
  4. If there are related submissions in the database, the reason why they do not appear should be determined and the problem should be fixed.
  5. If there are no relevant posts in the database, you need a site backup. If backed up before.
7

Thank you. I’m very grateful for your message but also pretty confused. I just don’t get most of the points, sorry. Re point 2: Where can I get support to help me find these articles?

Thank you!

8

Hi @Tomas,

what you have in this tab?
image

9

Hi @Lazar_Stosic,

Thanks for your message. In that tab there are a few old papers, but not the ones that were in the review process for the next journal issue.

10

What is about in Archived? When you enter the name of title there need to be presented, even more was deleted or other…
image

11

Thank you - The articles (and their reviews, etc.) aren’t in none of these spaces (“active”, “archive” or when you search for them)

12

Do you have backups on the date when you have got these articles? Something happened with database, the same does not records. If you have, make backup to the date when all works. An make daily backup.

13

The same person who would have helped you setup the OJS system should be able to help you. If that person is not available and you don’t have database access or hosting system access, then it might be an issue. Do you have any details wrt where and how this system has been setup for you?

14

Thank you all for the messages and help. I finally found the responsible for my OJS database and it wasn’t possible to recover all these data lost. They weren’t neither anywhere nor backed up. It’s unfortunate and, even tho this has been the biggest issue with OJS platform, it wasn’t the first one :confused:

15

Unarchived (with ongoing editorial process) articles have a very small chance of being deleted. I still think your articles may exist in the database.
Could the person who responsible for OJS share what kind of review they did, along with screenshots?