OJS version : 3.3.0.10
Our OJS journal is taken over/hosted by another University,using OJS. What are the steps to take to export the complete journal to another OJS?
Hi @geejee66,
If you’re not hosted together with other journals (in a multi-journal installation journals live in the same database), then you just need to ask the IT staff for a database/file backup and restore it on a new server.
Otherwise, you’ll have to export data somehow, I guess the most popular way is through the “Native XML” plugin (which will require you to import the data using the same major version of OJS), you might see other ways here: https://docs.pkp.sfu.ca/admin-guide/3.3/en/data-import-and-export
Best,
Jonas Raoni
Hi Jonas, thanks for the reply. I have one other journal in the same OJS installation (a student-test journal to let them experience peer-review), but i’m not 100% sure it is in the same database. is there a way to check this?
Hi,
Without internal access to the system, I just know a way to know if the installation is hosting more journals.
Example:
Here’s a journal
https://journals.lib.sfu.ca/index.php/urbandesignmentalhealth
If you replace the urbandesignmentalhealth by index/oai?verb=ListSets (e.g. https://journals.lib.sfu.ca/index.php/index/oai?verb=ListSets), then you should be able to view the other journals which are part of this installation.
But if your journal is hosted with a custom domain, it’s not going to work 
Best,
Jonas Raoni
My two cents about this… the native xml plugin could be tricky.
You need to take in consideration:
- Both OJS need to be in (almost) the same exact version.
- Both OJS need almost same configurations (sections, languages, etc.)
- …
Cheers,
m.
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Hi Marc, you are absolutely right. i cannot guarantee that both OJS are in the same version, nor have the same configuration. So i guess the only option is to make a folder of each submission, containing the original submission and all that followed… (editor comments, reviews, revised versions etc. etc. ) a lot of copy and paste!
Exactly! As far as I can recall some information is imported automatically (e.g. non-existent sections), but others not (perhaps this can be improved, but I didn’t stop to analyze).
Best,
Jonas Raoni
Hi @geejee66,
Depending on how much content you have, that will be very painful. It’s better to install the same OJS version on the target hosting, import the data, then upgrade the system.
If you have few content, the quick submit plugin will help you to insert data faster.
Best,
Jonas Raoni
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We are planning to export it to another University, with their own OJS installation and configuration. So i think that won’t be possible. The export consists of max 20 submission, in different stadia of the workflow, but not yet published.
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You mean the other university has an older version?
As far as you can’t downgrade your origin OJS… the only option you would have here is quicksubmit (unless @ajnyga has an ace in his sleeve).
If not, and destination is a newer OJS, my approach here would be use docker to install the same version (this is why we keep images from versions since 2.4.5 and the dockerimages are ready to start from a simple db-dump and private-public files)…
Once dockerized, you will be able to upgrade till you arrive to the destination OJS, configure properly and finally, export with the native import-export plugin to the final OJS.
Sounds like a long run, but it can be done in a morning (the most annoying part is manually mirroring the configs).
BTW @jonasraoni, I had this question in my head for a while: do you think would be useful/feasible to implement a plugin (or something) to export-import a journal configuration?
If yes I will fill a FR.
Hi Marc, I don’t know the OJS version of the other University. Could also be a higher version of OJS. They’re running OJS for quite some years now and have their own configuration. Our journal (submissions, no issue yet) stops at our university, and they offered to host it in the future.
I had this question in my head for a while: do you think would be useful/feasible to implement a plugin (or something) to export-import a journal configuration?
Due to the multi-journal support (which makes the alternative of moving a single journal more complex), I’d like to be able to export everything that belongs to my journal (users, statistics, plugins, settings, files, …) into another OJS instance easily. Perhaps that should be the role of the Native XML Plugin (with backward/forward compatibility) 
Given the amount of settings that OJS has (including the ones from the plugins), doing it manually (if you did a lot of customizations) becomes a Herculean task.
Best,
Jonas Raoni
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