We have been using OJS since 2011 and had very good experience with it. Thank you for developing such an amazing journal system.
Two weeks ago we upgraded our system from 2.4.8 to 3.0.2 and now we are having various issues at the moment. Our upgrading history is 2.3.0.0 → 2.3.4.0 → 2.3.6.0 → 2.3.8.1 → 3.0.2.0, and we never had any problem during the upgrade. For the current system of 3.0.2, our main problems can be divided into major ones and minor ones:
Major Issues:
Title and Abstract cannot be displayed even for the published articles. They also cannot be modified (after typing and saving, the space becomes blank again).
Some email templates cannot be loaded such as REVIEW_COMPLETE, REVISED_VERSION_NOTIFY, and REVIEW_CANCEL etc. In fact, a blank email is sent when one of these template is supposed to be loaded. And they are already enabled in system settings. So far we have no problem with other templates such as SUBMISSION_ACK and PASSWORD_RESET etc.
In OJS 2.4.8 I modified the system to allow accepted articles in future issues to be displayed for public, for adding the In-Press articles page. After upgrading to 3.0.2, I realized that the authentication scheme has been changed so I would like to ask if there is any simple modification to the system to by-pass the validation check? Just like what Bruno posted in this reply? Future issue plugin - #5 by beghelli
In the Workflow Setting under Components, the list cannot be displayed. However, when uploading a file in the submission or editorial process, the components in the drop-down list can be displayed properly and selected. See the screenshot below.
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.
Minor Issues:
If the TinyMCE plugin is disabled, reviewers’ comments cannot be inserted when pressing the “+ Add Reviews to Email” button. This is not really a problem since we can always enable TinyMCE. I list it here just in case you would like to look into this problem.
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.
In 2.x, it is possible to set user’s signature. However, this option is not available in 3.0.2. So the sent emails always inserted old signatures set in our previous system but cannot be modified in the new one. I had to modified the database directly to make the change.
In some commercial journal systems, if a submission has incomplete document or incorrect information, the editors have the option to put the submission back to the ‘unsubmitted’ stage. I was wondering if this feature can be implemented in future releases of OJS?
I’m sorry for posting a lot of questions in one post. But I think some of the above problems may be related. Thank you very much for taking your time.
Several of these issues, e.g. not being able to save forms, empty emails, and empty listings, seem to relate to your language configuration. Have you changed your language configuration during upgrade? Can you review your Site Administrator’s “Languages” form to ensure that everything there looks OK?
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team
Thanks for your suggestion. I have checked the language setting, and the Locale may be incomplete (see below).
I tried the ‘Reload defaults’ but all the problems still remain. Could you suggest how to fix the locale manually? I don’t think I changed the language configuration during upgrade.
I forgot to mention that the title/abstract not displaying problem only exists in Metadata. In other parts of the workflow, the information can be displayed properly.
Could you also suggest how to by-pass the authentication so that in-press articles in future issues can be made available to public? I used to modify /pages/issue/IssueHandler.inc.php but the code has changed quite a lot in 3.0.2. Is this line in function _setupIssueTemplate($request, $issue, $showToc = false) used for authentication?
$issue = $this->getAuthorizedContextObject(ASSOC_TYPE_ISSUE);
I was unable to trace further where to modify the code.
I took over the editorship from 2011 and upgraded the system to OJS 2.3. Since then we have always been publishing in English. I also checked the previous system (OJS 2.2) managed by our previous team and the locale in the configuration file is en_US. Is there anything else that I need to check? Or even if the previous team did change the language setting by mistake (our journal is based in Thailand), will there still be a way to completely restore the English locale?
Can you check the Journal Manager’s and Site Administrator’s “Languages” forms? Also, did you check the installation for modifications? If you’re familiar with the standard diff, tool, a quick run of your OJS 2.x installation through that to compare it with a stock OJS 2.4.8 package might be useful as a double-check.
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team
I had problems with the upgrade for OJS 2.4.8 to 3.0.2…
The upgrade script failed at one point
Templates crashed
Database errors due to columns missing on the new version… and so on…
I had no option, but to install a fresh version of OJS - 3.0.2
So now, would it be possible for me to export the old OJS data and import to the new version? if so what plugin could help me transfer the users, journal details and pdfs’?
Will this be in conflict with the old OJS pdf folder structure against the new version folder hierarchy?
Will this cause template issues?
How could i fix the database level tables and column issues?
At this moment we are re-entering data to the new system one by one
This is taking ages…
Yes. i have the old DB backup…
I did try to fix the DB table missing columns when i got the error on screen and continued to fix errors for about 5 or 6 times and suddenly the update process crashed…
Anyway i noticed that the upgrade script failed to implement the changes for OJS 3.0.2 from 2.4.8
the upgrade script has all the DB changes and the template changes in XML files right?
Will i be able to run the upgrade script manually/directly?
But the new OJS 3.0.2 is a clean installation, with bootstrap…
So is there a method just to export the DB and the PDF folder in a clean manner from the old version to the new one?
The only good way to preserve your content from OJS 2.x is to run the upgrade process. If you’re able to provide specific error messages you encounter during the upgrade, I may be able to help. (Is there another thread about those issues?)
Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team
