I see that both OJS 2.X and 3.0 have import and export functionality for articles and issues and for users. Is the file format unchanged between these versions? That is, can you export from an OJS 2.X site and import into an OJS 3.X site? I’m interested in this because we are looking into moving hosting services, so it would be more straightforward to do this than to upgrade code and move it between servers.
Hi @kshawkin,
The XML formats have changed – we may write an XSL transformation to go from OJS 2.x to OJS 3.x, but haven’t done that yet.
I would recommend doing a migration/upgrade rather than import/export process. The XML import/export doesn’t take all content (e.g. peer reviews, journal settings, etc).
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team
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Okay. Let’s say you want to preserve peer reviews, journal settings, etc., but need to switch to hosting services. Do you know of anyone who has successfully migrated an OJS instance from one machine to another? Are we talking about an SQL dump and recreation of the same tables on another server?
Hi @kshawkin,
Yes, simply moving the database, files directory, and installation files over to a new server will be enough. Just make sure you get file permissions OK, and that your config.inc.php refers to the right locations for the database and files. And as always, ensure that your files_dir contents can’t be accessed directly via the web server.
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team
We switched servers, hired a coder, everything – could never get the migration/upgrade to a new site to work. I was hoping there’d be a way to import users, too… If anyone has any ways, even clunky ways, to make this work, I’m all ears.
Hi @maggiesokolik,
Can you describe where you got stuck?
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team
We were getting nothing but a blank page for the home page. We gave up and just did a new clean install of 3.0 and are dealing manually with our old submissions. Not convenient, but we couldn’t wait any longer. We still want to find a way to import our old database info, though.
Hi @maggiesokolik,
Did you check your PHP error log? A blank page almost always indicates a message should appear there.
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team
Hi @asmecher
Just wondering if there has been any progress with writing the XSL transformation?
Cheers
Hi @LuqmanH,
You mean an XSL to transform OJS 2.x import/export to the OJS 3.x import/export? No, we haven’t made any concrete plans around this yet. Can you describe what you plan to use it for? I may be able to recommend something else instead.
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team
Hi
Yes SL to transform OJS 2.x import/export to the OJS 3.x import/export. Do you know if there is a workaround short of the database migration you suggested earlier in this thread?
Hi @LuqmanH,
The regular upgrade process (described in docs/UPGRADE) is the best and currently only way to turn an OJS 2.x installation into an OJS 3.x installation. Is there a reason you’re looking to avoid it?
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team
@asmecher
We are building a new site on OJS 3 for a journal that was hosted by an external service on OJS 2.x so we’re not upgrading as such. We are looking at simpler ways to to import the back issues and user data other than manually adding.
Hi @LuqmanH,
Do you have access to a database dump and archive of the files directory from the 2.x install? If so, you can use that plus the OJS 3.x codebase to perform an upgrade; then, if you already have an OJS 3.x install you want to bring that data into, you can export from the upgraded install into the one you want to host.
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team
@asmecher
I don’t have that access but might be able to if I ask the current hosts nicely…Our university IT dept manages our OJS database so they would need to perform this upgrade. I think they were hoping for a different solution… 
We need to export content from an OJS 2.x site managed by a commercial firm (external to our servers) and import it into our OJS 3 installation (on our servers). There is no option to update the site managed by the commercial firm to OJS 3 first. Are there possibilities now for export/import that were not there 2 years ago, when this thread went dormant?
As far as I know, one problem on OJS2 doesn’t export paper references in xml format.
@asmecher - can you point me to a resource that talks about how I can work with a 2.x database dump to import content into OJS 3? We haven’t been able to get the upgrade process to work (I’m not the IT person so I’m fuzzy on the details). But we can get a fresh OJS 3 install running and we have access to the old data. I was hoping the XML Export/Import would work, but it sounds like not. I’d be satisfied with migrating the issue & article metadata even if we had to re-add the PDFs manually. Any idea how we can proceed with this? Thanks!
Do you have access to a database dump and archive of the files directory from the 2.x install? If so, you can use that plus the OJS 3.x codebase to perform an upgrade; then, if you already have an OJS 3.x install you want to bring that data into, you can export from the upgraded install into the one you want to host.
Hi @kenirwin,
The way to get OJS 2.x content into OJS 3.x is definitely the upgrade process. If you can describe where you’re getting stuck there, I can potentially help.
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team