Possible Bug: Sender's Bio Added as a Message When Assigning an Editor in Workflow

Software Support
1

Hi,

I have noticed an issue in OJS 3.4.09 where, when assigning an editor in the workflow, the content of the sender’s bio is automatically added as a Message to the editor, and a message is created. This behavior seems unintended, as it does not align with standard workflow practices and can lead to confusion or unnecessary clutter in communication.

Could anyone confirm if this is a bug or an intended feature? If it is a bug, are there any known fixes or workarounds?

Here are the details of my setup and steps to reproduce the issue:

  • OJS Version: 3.4.09

  • Steps to Reproduce:

    1. Assign an editor to a submission in the workflow.

    2. Observe that the sender’s bio is added as a Message to the editor.

    3. A new message is created automatically.

  • Expected Behavior: The sender’s bio should not be included as a message when assigning an editor.

  • Actual Behavior: The sender’s bio is appended as a message.

I have searched the PKP-forum but could not find any mention of this issue.

Thank you for your assistance!

Best regards,
Obi

2

Hi @obi,

Interesting. Which email template are you using? The one I tested and used used the $contextnamevariable, but it didn’t show the signature explicitly.

-Roger
PKP Team

4

This is what I see in my OJS v3.4.0-9 list of ‘Content to insert’ and the template doesn’t support $contextName:

{$authorSubmissionUrl}
Insert
The author’s URL to the submission
{$authors}
Insert
The full names of the authors
{$authorsShort}
Insert
The names of the authors in a short string, like “Barnes, et al”
{$contactEmail}
Insert
The email address of the journal’s primary contact
{$contactName}
Insert
The name of the journal’s primary contact
{$journalAcronym}
Insert
The journal’s initials
{$journalName}
Insert
The journal’s name
{$journalSignature}
Insert
The journal’s email signature for automated emails
{$journalUrl}
Insert
The URL to the journal’s homepage
{$mailingAddress}
Insert
The mailing address of the journal
{$passwordLostUrl}
Insert
The URL to a page where the user can recover a lost password
{$recipientName}
Insert
The full name of the recipient or all recipients
{$recipientUsername}
Insert
The username of the recipient or all recipients
{$submissionAbstract}
Insert
The submission’s abstract
{$submissionId}
Insert
The submission’s unique ID number
{$submissionPublishedUrl}
Insert
The URL to the published submission
{$submissionTitle}
Insert
The submission’s title
{$submissionUrl}
Insert
The URL to the submission in the editorial backend
{$submissionWizardUrl}
Insert
The URL to the submission in the submission wizard
{$submissionsUrl}
Insert
The URL to view all of a user’s assigned submissions
{$userProfileUrl}
Insert
The URL for a user to view and edit their profile