Ubiquity Press needed a scalable platform to host multiple scholarly journals. They chose to modify the open source Open Journal Systems (OJS) software rather than build a new system or use expensive commercial options. Key modifications included improving scalability to support many journals, integrating external services like typesetting and metrics tracking, fixing issues, and adding new features to enhance functionality and customization. This resulted in a flexible system that can efficiently host a large number of journals with individualized needs.

1. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
www.ubiquitypress.com
/
@ubiquitypress
Brian
Hole:
PKP
Scholarly
Publishing
Conference
2013,
Mexico
City,
20
August
2013
Building
a
scalable,
sustainable
service
with
OJS

2. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
www.ubiquitypress.com
/
@ubiquitypress
Overview
 The problem
 The solution
 Aspects of
modification
 The resulting
product

3. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
www.ubiquitypress.com
/
@ubiquitypress
Problem:
needed
a
large,
scalable
journals
pla=orm
 Experience
from
Elsevier,
BioMed
Central,
Dryad.
 Commercial
plaLorms:
 are
expensive
 have
a
limited
feature
set
 are
difficult
to
customize
 Self-­‐built
plaLorms:
 are
expensive
and
Pme-­‐consuming
to
build
 require
constant
maintenance
 sPll
scale
poorly

4. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
www.ubiquitypress.com
/
@ubiquitypress
Solu>on:
invest
in
running
and
modifying
OJS
 Pros:
 OJS
has
80%
of
the
features
of
commercial
plaLorms
 Is
good
for
individual
journals
 Free
and
open
source
 Cons:
 Quickly
becomes
difficult
to
manage
with
mulPple
journals
 Does
not
look
great
out
of
the
box
 Many
features
required
by
professional
publishers
are
absent
or
problemaPc
(though
steadily
improving)
 E.g.
XML
rendering,
DOI
registraPon,
metrics

5. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
www.ubiquitypress.com
/
@ubiquitypress
Aspects
of
modifica>on
1. Improving
scalability
2. IntegraPng
external
services
3. Internal
fixes
4. Adding
features

6. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
www.ubiquitypress.com
/
@ubiquitypress
1.
Improving
scalability
 Need
mulPple
journals
on
one
plaLorm,
with
individual
look
and
feel,
good
performance
 Not
possible
with
vanilla
OJS
–
either
all
same
in
one
install,
or
mulPple
installs
required
 Separated
core
files
from
customized
 ConfiguraPon
loading
rewriben
 Built
separate
back
end
system
to
amalgamate
all
journal
data
for
reporPng,
centralized
display
and
metrics
 Enabled
distribuPon
over
mulPple
web,
DB
and
file
servers
 Results:
 New
journals
can
be
rolled
out
very
quickly
 Individual
journal
customizaPon
is
simple
 Sodware
updates
are
quick
and
painless
 Can
run
a
very
large
number
of
journals
without
performance
loss

7. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
www.ubiquitypress.com
/
@ubiquitypress
2.
Integra>ng
external
services
 XML
typeseeng
done
offshore
 Typesebers
are
automaPcally
noPfied
of
arPcles
ready
for
producPon
 Then
log
in
to
access
files,
liaise
with
authors
re.
correcPons,
upload
final
XML
 APC
billing
 Currently
manual
 IntegraPon
with
the
OAK
system
next
 External
data
repositories
 Currently
working
on
integraPon
with
Dryad,
Dataverse,
Zenodo
 InsPtuPonal
repositories
 Working
on
integraPon
with
SymplecPc,
ePrints

8. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
www.ubiquitypress.com
/
@ubiquitypress
3.
Internal
fixes
 Improved
XML
rendering
 Fixed
DOI
export
to
CrossRef
 Fixed
archiving
code
for
CLOCKSS
 MulPple
issues
with
submission
system

9. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
www.ubiquitypress.com
/
@ubiquitypress
4.
Added
features
 Professional
customisaPon
of
look
and
feel
 ConPnuous
publishing
view
of
arPcles
 Special
collecPons
 Improved
arPcle
informaPon:
how
to
cite,
license,
peer
review
 Centrally-­‐controlled
adverPsing
 ArPcle-­‐level
metrics
 ArPcle
views,
downloads
(GA),
citaPons
(CrossRef)
 Altmetrics
(tweets,
FB
likes,
Zotero
bookmarks,
Wikipedia
citaPons)
 Journal
level:
most
recent,
most
popular
 Twiber
feeds
 Integrated
Disqus
commenPng
 Automated
indexing
for
diverse
services
 Improved
spam
counter
measures

10. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
www.ubiquitypress.com
/
@ubiquitypress

11. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
www.ubiquitypress.com
/
@ubiquitypress

12. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
www.ubiquitypress.com
/
@ubiquitypress

13. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
www.ubiquitypress.com
/
@ubiquitypress

14. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
www.ubiquitypress.com
/
@ubiquitypress

15. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
www.ubiquitypress.com
/
@ubiquitypress

16. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
www.ubiquitypress.com
/
@ubiquitypress

17. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
www.ubiquitypress.com
/
@ubiquitypress

18. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
www.ubiquitypress.com
/
@ubiquitypress
The
resul>ng
product
 Ader
2
developer
years:
 Highly
scalable,
low
cost
plaLorm
 Enables
quick,
efficient
publishing
with
many
automated
aspects
 Full-­‐suite
of
professional
features,
many
more
being
added
 Uses:
 MulPple
individual
journals
for
small
sociePes
 Customised
journal
plaLorms
for
larger
sociePes,
with
income
generaPng
ability
to
enable
transiPon
to
open
access
 University
Press
plaLorms

19. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
www.ubiquitypress.com
/
@ubiquitypress

20. brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
www.ubiquitypress.com
/
@ubiquitypress
For
more
informa>on:
Gracias
Brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com
@ubiquitypress
hbp://www.ubiquitypress.com
Main
plaLorm
modificaPons
to
be
released
under
GPL
in
2013