Several suggestions for OJS 3.0.2

Hi,

I have been using OJS 3.0.2 for our journal for two weeks. Can I make some suggestions on adding some simple features to help editors work easier with submissions?

  1. It would be very convenient to add another Editor Decision option (button) to Reject and Archive submissions by using the SUBMISSION_UNSUITABLE template. In 2.4.8 or earlier versions we had to use this option (in the article summary page) very often due to low quality submissions.

  2. Would it be possible to add back the highlighted background in the list of articles under the Submission or Review category for those that need Editor’s attention (review completed etc.), just like in OJS 2.4.8 or earlier versions? I understand that in 3.0.2 there is a new Task menu that displays notifications, but events such as review overdue or a reviewer completes his/her review cannot be shown there.

  3. In Submissions, under My Assigned, I usually have to search for recently submitted articles because the top of the list is filled with those submitted earlier and under Review. It would be very convenient to add tags/buttons for different categories of Submission/Review/Copyediting etc. for a quick access.

Many thanks.

Best regards,
Yan

Hi @yan,

  1. Are you looking for something distinct from the “Decline Submission” action?

  2. @NateWr is working on this now, for possible inclusion in the OJS 3.1 release. (Gory details: Routing events between handlers in the JS framework · Issue #2163 · pkp/pkp-lib · GitHub)

  3. @NateWr’s work may also address this, but I’m not sure – Nate?

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

Hi @asmecher,

Thanks for your reply.

Basically we reject submissions at two stages: 1) After pre-screening (plagiarism checking) the quality of the manuscript by editor, 2) Based on reviewers’ comments. Usually we decline many submissions before sending them for review (the 1st case), then the option provided in 2.x comes very handy:

which uses the email template SUBMISSION_UNSUITABLE. But I couldn’t find if this option is available in 3.0.2, and we had to manually type email messages.

Another option is to provide a template selection in addition to EDITOR_DECISION_DECLINE after choosing Decline Submission. But adding another button to Reject and Archive Submission would be really convenient for editors.

Best regards,
Yan

@NateWr’s work may also address this, but I’m not sure – Nate?

Yes, assigned submissions are ordered with the most recently submitted at the top.

Hi @NateWr, @asmecher,

That would be great. If tabs for different categories of Review/Submission etc. can be added, that would be even better.

Another issue I just realized after using 3.x is the dates of editor decisions, sent emails etc. Now I have to check the Editorial History to see all stages of the workflow and their dates. I was very much used to looking at the list of submissions page to see the dates in 2.x. Is there any plan to add the display of dates back? Perhaps dates can be placed on the Editor Decision button (also to indicate which decision was made), and next to ‘Send Reminder’ for reviewers etc., basically for every event when an email is sent or a decision is made.

Best regards,
Yan

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Glad to hear 3.1 will have these changes. One related issue is that when you see the Active tab, articles that you have already published are there marked published. I don’t see the point of that. It’s just going to make that Active window endlessly long! In the old system, they would show up in Copy Editing until published, and then disappear. In 3.0.2 there is a Production tab and that makes sense. It segregates the galley proof stage from copy editing, but when you publish the issue, it should disappear, no?