Bug: WoS Reviewer Locator plugin causes frontend page to render inside editorial workflow when Section Editor is limited to “Only allowed to recommend an editorial decision.”
This issue has already been created on the following link WoS Reviewer Locator plugin causes frontend page to render inside editorial workflow when Section Editor is limited to “Only allowed to recommend an editorial decision · Issue #2 · clarivate/wos_reviewer_locator_plugin_ojs · GitHub
But still not confirmed is the behavior from the OJS environment or plugin.
Environment
OJS: 3.5.0-4
Role affected: Section Editor / Guest Editor, other that donot have access to assign the reviwer.
Description: When the WoS Reviewer Locator plugin is enabled, and a Section Editor user is configured with the permission Only allowed to recommend an editorial decision or " allowed to make changes in metadata. The editorial workflow page behaves incorrectly. Instead of showing only the normal backend modal/interface, OJS renders the journal frontend page (header, homepage body, sidebar, footer) within the editorial workflow area. The page also shows:
“The current role does not have access to this operation.”
This creates a broken backend UI and mixes frontend + dashboard content on the same screen. Disabling the WoS Reviewer Locator plugin resolves the issue.
Expected Result
The plugin should respect user permissions. If access is restricted, the plugin should fail gracefully or hide unavailable actions. Backend workflow UI should remain intact. No frontend page should be injected into the dashboard.
The possible cause is that the plugin may call a handler/route/action without first checking restricted editorial-role permissions, causing OJS to return a frontend permission-denied page within the AJAX/modal container.
Suggested Fix
Add permission checks before loading plugin actions.
Prevent plugin initialization for users limited to recommendation-only roles.
Return proper JSON/modal error response instead of a full frontend page.