Describe the issue or problem
I recently upgraded to OJS 3.5.0-1 and encountered an issue: a Section Editor who has already been assigned to a submission cannot access the assigned article properly.
Here’s what I found:
The Section Editor is correctly assigned to the submission.
However, when logged in and trying to manage the submission, they receive the following error: “You don’t currently have access to that stage of the workflow” — which prevents them from adding reviewers.
I tested the same setup on a local server using the exact same database, and everything works fine there.
The issue only occurs on the online server.
I also noticed that on the online server, the currentUserAssignedRoles variable is empty, even though the user clearly has roles assigned in the database.
Has anyone experienced a similar issue? Could this be related to server configuration, permissions, or session handling?
Thank you for sharing this — I’ve actually experienced the exact same issue after upgrading to OJS 3.5.0-1, and it’s been quite frustrating to troubleshoot.
Like you, I noticed that Section Editors are correctly assigned to submissions, but when they try to access the workflow, they’re met with the error: “You don’t currently have access to that stage of the workflow” — which blocks them from assigning reviewers or progressing with the editorial process.
I also confirmed that the currentUserAssignedRoles variable is coming up empty on the live server, despite roles being properly assigned in the database. What’s even more puzzling is that the same database works perfectly on a local environment, which suggests the issue may be related to server configuration, session handling, or caching — though I haven’t been able to pinpoint the exact cause.
I’ve spent considerable time searching for a solution, checking permissions, clearing caches, and reviewing role assignments and workflow settings, but unfortunately, none of the fixes resolved the issue.
As a result, I’ve decided to downgrade back to OJS 3.4.0-9 for now to restore full functionality and ensure editorial workflows aren’t disrupted. It’s not an ideal long-term solution, but stability for our journal is a priority.
I’d be very interested to hear if anyone has found a real fix for this in 3.5.0-1, or if this is a known bug that’s being addressed in an upcoming release.
I wonder if this might be a time zone related issue. If you’re able to replicate the issue repeatably, could you try accessing the submission a second time 24 hours later to see if it has started working?
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team
The results show that the server time matches my local timezone (Asia/Jakarta), and there doesn’t appear to be any significant discrepancy.
Regarding your suggestion to try accessing the same submission again after 24 hours, I’ve done that. Unfortunately, the assigned roles still don’t appear, even after more than 24 hours have passed.
Interestingly, a few days ago I rebooted the server and also removed system limits related to io, vmem, and nproc. Shortly after that, currentUserAssignedRoles started appearing correctly. However, I’m not sure which of those actions actually resolved the issue—or if it was just a coincidence. The roles only remained visible for a short time, and eventually disappeared again from the section editor’s submission view.
If there are any further technical steps I can try, I’m happy to follow your guidance. I’m also open to checking specific parts of the code if needed, although I’m not yet fully familiar with OJS’s internal structure.
Thanks again for your support. I really appreciate the help from the PKP team.
I also have the same issue after upgrading to OJS 3.5.0.1 from 3.4.0-8
Section editors can’t see review stage of the submissions that were previously assigned. The message is “You don’t currently have access to that stage of the workflow.”
I could complete the upgrade process using mysql8-server on my local Macports MAMP, since I had the previously reported bug (https://github.com/pkp/pkp-lib/issues/11529) due to MariaDB. Then I uploaded the database to online server.
My site uses default theme, English and Turkish for both website languages, and submission languages. Primary locale is Turkish for both.
In OJS 3.5.0-1 config, The time zone is time_zone = “Europe/Istanbul”, Short and long date formats are unmodified,
[i18n]
; Default locale
locale = en
; Database connection character set
connection_charset = utf8
; collation = utf8_general_ci
The dabatabes tables are innodb, and utf8mb3_general_ci.
In OJS administration settings panel, I recently changed Turkish date-time format, as in screenshot.
And restoring Turkish date-time format to default settings didn’t solve the problem.
By the way, the section editors can see the review forms by clicking the letter icons on the submission dashboard. And yes, the section editors can see the review stage successfuly on my local test server. I also get the same experience like @zimporano and @totoandri .
So, it will not be surprising for me if revealed that it is due to MariaDB-MySQL8-server incompatibility. I am not a software developer, I regret not being able to contribute more.
I installed and configured MariaDB 11.8.4 on my local test server, and used instead of mysql8-server.
The section editors can reach the review stage normally, and make any operations.
No fatal error is recorded on the php logs of the live server.
This is quite annoying for me. I hope a solution is found soon.
Best regards,
Additional:
Hi all,
When I log in as an author, I noticed that the authors also can’t see the review stage. Although the editor requested a revision, they have no access to the editorial decision, as in post of @totoandri .
I wanted to ask—are you currently using LiteSpeed as your online server? If so, it’s possible that OJS may not function properly with LiteSpeed under certain configurations. In my experience, switching to PHP-FPM helped resolve visibility issues in the review stage.
I hope this suggestion helps. Also, thank you for sharing your detailed observations—they’ve been very helpful for others experiencing similar issues.
Hi @totoandri
Exactly as you stated, the server uses Litespeed as the web server.
I resolved the issue by moving the journal site to another server. Everything seems to work normal for now.
Thank you for providing the information.
Best regards,
Uğur
I am using MariaDB and authors keep getting “You don’t currently have access to that stage of the workflow.“ despite enabling the stages via Users & Roles.
Hi @muhdlawal
Based on the question you asked, I’m guessing you don’t have a local web testing server environment.
I experienced the same problem (on a hosting package with Litespeed, php-fpm and mariadb) and could reach a solution only by moving to an Apache based web server. Although I cannot be absolutely sure, I think this problem might be caused by the Litespeed web server installed in shared hosting packages.
If possible, you can contact your hosting provider and ask if they can test the journal site on a server with Apache installed. If the problem resolves on the server with Apache, PHP-FPM, and MariaDB, you can take the necessary steps to move it to that server.
Best regards,
We are experiencing a similar issue. Authors are unable to access the copyediting and production stages, but they can access the submission and review stages. I have tested this issue on both types of servers, and the problem persists. One journal OJS is working fine after the upgrade, but another journal OJS has this issue.
@asmecher@drugurkocak Following the update to version 3.5.0.3, users are now unable to access the all work follow sections. Previously, on 3.5.0.2, users had access to the submission and review stages.
