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  • (602) 527-7080

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FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Choose a Hosting Plan

    The first step is to place your order. We offer three hosting packages: The Basic Plan, the Professional Plan, and the Institutional Plan. Our website lists the services and features that are included with each plan. The biggest differences between various OJS hosting plans are the size of disk space, the number of upgrades, the number of journals, and the initial training involved.

  • Help with Migrating Your OJS to OpenJournalSystems.com

    If you are migrating your current OJS to the OpenJournalSystems.com server, we will need a full system backup (OJS system files; MySQL database [SQL dump]; and submission files directory). You can compress (tar gzip) all the files and then upload them to our server using FTP. We will provide the FTP login credentials once the account setup is complete. You can also upload full system backup to Google Drive or Dropbox and share a link with us for download and transfer. If your current host is using a cPanel, you can provide us with login access to your cPanel and we’ll take care of the backup and transfer. There are no costs involving migration and it takes about 24 hours to migrate and set up your account. 

  • Upgrading from OJS 2.x to 3.x

    There will be an initial cost for upgrading your OJS from 2.x to 3.x upon following migrating to our server. All the future upgrades following that will be free. 

  • Changing Your Current Domain DNS Records or Register for a New Domain

    The last step following the migration is to change your current domain DNS records or to register for a new domain. During your account registration process at our Client Portal, you will have an option to register for a new domain name, use an existing domain name, or transfer an existing domain name to OpenJournalSystems.com.

  • Phone/Skype Support: Monday – Friday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (MST | GMT+7 time zone);
  • Email or Ticket Support: 24/7. We normally reply to any queries within 8 hours.
  1. Proven Track Record: OpenJournalSystems.com currently hosts more than 200 open access journals using Open Journal Systems, and have served over 1000 OJS clients worldwide. We have the proven track record of providing comprehensive solutions for Open Journal Systems and helping scholarly publishers make the most of their online publishing projects. We invite you to visit our Testimonials Page to find out what our current clients have to say about us and our Projects Page to find out more about our portfolio and clients.
  2. Awesome Customer Service: What sets our product, service and company apart from our competitor is the quality of our service. We take great pride in offering the best customer service available. Whether it’s walking you through the account setup, or troubleshooting your OJS, we’ll do what it takes to keep you happy. We invite you to visit our Testimonials Page to find out what our current clients have to say about us and our Projects Page to find out more about our portfolio and clients.
  3. The Best Value: We provide our journal-hosting support at the lowest cost possible to help academic professionals, research institutions, and universities around the world to create and share global knowledge.
  4. Professional Support: We provide professional OJS support and maintenance services, including regular OJS upgrades, backups, security monitoring, and a dedicated OJS support desk to ensure that OJS run smoothly, effectively, and securely.
  5. Best OJS Security Practices: OpenJournalSystems.com place the utmost emphasis on security and we’re always looking for ways to improve. We use many different layers of security to help protect your OJS site from being hacked. Each layer by itself is capable of stopping an attack. When all of the layers are combined, the overall security level goes up geometrically, creating a stronger OJS security system. We have implemented cutting-edge security policies and protocols that includes OJS as well as server security hardening.
  6. Regular Upgrades: We deliver what we advertise – We provide regular OJS software upgrades to keep Open Journal Systems secure, functioning, and up-to-date with the latest developments and new plug-ins.
  7. Reliability and Uptime: We use cutting-edge servers for increased up-time and to promote sustainability. We realize that server up-time is a priority in scholarly publishing and we monitor our servers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
  8. Innovative Solutions: We’re constantly thinking of ways to improve our service in every possible way and work collaboratively with our clients each step of the way to create innovative customization solutions.
  • You will find many advantages to using managed OJS hosting by OpenJournalSystems.com. Managed OJS hosting ensures a high level of customized support and management. This also entitles you to specialized services for OJS such as a designed server setup and support structure around the app. Additionally, you will be given active support for your installed OJS, top of the line security monitoring, automated backups, regular software upgrades, and important server configuration tweaks.

    • Service CriteriaManaged OJS Hosting Regular Hosting Service
    Troubleshoot and fixing OJS bugs or malfunctionsYesNo
    Professionally run dedicated server environment optimized specifically for OJS hostingYesNo
    High level of customized support and managementYesNo
    Active support for your installed OJSYesNo
    Top of the line security monitoringYesNo
    Regular OJS upgradesYesNo
    OJS ThemesYesNo
    OJS TrainingYesNo
  • OpenJournalSystems.com was founded in 2013. Since that time, our company has provided world-class hosting platforms and journal hosting services to academic professionals, research institutions, universities, and independent publishers. We host over 200 high-impact scholarly publications, and assist them in the dissemination of their open access, peer reviewed journals.
  • In order to choose an OJS hosting plan that will best fit your needs, you need to begin by thinking about the goals of your online publishing. The biggest differences between OJS hosting plans are the size of disk space, the monthly data transfer, and the initial training. After you determine how you plan to use your OJS journal publishing site and the amount of traffic you expect to generate, you’ll be able to easily identify which of the following packages is best for your business.
    • Basic Plan: The Basic Plan is our entry-level journal hosting plan and is geared towards providing you with the quickest and most affordable way to help you start online publishing using Open Journal Systems. See Basic Plan Pricing
    • Professional Plan: The Professional Plan includes all of the features in the basic plan, plus more storage capacity and bandwidth. It will give you the technology to host a medium-to-large sized publishing enterprise. See Professional Plan Pricing
    • Institutional Plan: The Institutional Plan is designed to give you an enterprise-class hosting platform to suitable for a university press, a research institution, or a larger publisher using Open Journal Systems. See Institutional Plan Pricing

Have Questions?
Send us an email info@OpenJournalSystems.com
or call us at +1-(602)-527-7080

  • Your account will be setup immediately after sign-up and you will receive an account information email within 24 hours.
  • If you are migrating your current OJS to the OpenJournalSystems.com server, we will need a full system backup (OJS system files; MySQL database [SQL dump]; and submission files directory). You can compress (tar gzip) all the files and then upload them to our server using FTP. We will provide the FTP login credentials once the account setup is complete.
  • You don’t have to. If you don’t already have a domain registered, we can register a new one when we set up your OJS hosting account for additional $15/year. To register for a new domain or transfer an existing domain, go to the domains section of our Client Portal.
  • To enable us to setup your account we need your domain name. During your account registration process at our Client Portal, you will have an option to register for a new domain name, use an existing domain name, or transfer an existing domain name to OpenJournalSystems.com.To use an existing domain name, you will need to update your current domain DNS records to the following:
    • NS1.openjournalsystems.net
    • NS2.openjournalsystems.net

Have Questions?
Send us an email info@OpenJournalSystems.com
or call us at +1-(602)-527-7080

Yes. Backup is a crucial part of any hosting solution. We offer the three backup solutions:

  • Onsite Backup: Our onsite full server backups provide disaster recovery options to help protect against data loss or corruption. Onsite backups are run weekly and retained for 7 days by default.
  • Remote Backup: We also store daily backup of your OJS database, and weekly backup of your cPanel at Amazon S3 for disaster recovery. All backups are retained for 7 days by default.
  • Optional Backup: Optional backup is available using JetBackup, with multiple restore points and quick restore helps you to recover large file systems or entire servers very fast.
  • Main Server #1:Houston, Texas, USA
  • Main Server #2: Dallas, Texas, USA
  • Offsite Backup Server #1: Montreal, Canada
  • Offsite Backup Server #2: Amazon S3
  • OpenJournalSystems.com place the utmost emphasis on security and we’re always looking for ways to improve. We use many different layers of security to help protect your OJS site from being hacked. Each layer by itself is capable of stopping an attack. When all of the layers are combined, the overall security level goes up geometrically, creating a stronger OJS security system. We have implemented cutting-edge security policies and protocols that includes OJS as well as server security hardening.
  • We accept Credit Card, PayPal, and Bank Transfer.
  • OpenJournalSystems.com guarantees that your website and the services that directly affect its display to the Internet (such as HTTP or MySQL) will be accessible 99.9% of the time in any given calendar month. If OpenJournalSystems.com fails to meet its uptime guarantee, you will be issued a credit equivalent to 1 day of service per forty five 45 minutes downtime. The first 45 minutes (or 0.1%) of downtime per month are not counted towards any credit and the maximum credit available is one 1 month of service.
  • You are allowed an unrestricted number of email accounts, limited only by the amount of space you have purchased on the server.
  • You can access your e-mail accounts either via the POP3 or IMAP protocol. Typically, most people either use an email client on their computer like Outlook or Mail to access their emails via POP, or they check their email using Webmail.
  • Yes, you will be able to access your email from the web from any remote location that has a connection to the Internet. We offer a pre-installed webmail facility, which can be accessed at https:// yourdomain.com/webmail. Alternatively, your OJS hosting plan will allow you to install a variety of customizable webmail applications.
  • We do not tolerate the sending of unsolicited commercial emails or “SPAM” at all. We reserve the right to immediately terminate any domain, without warning or, refund, that sends out unsolicited commercial email. NOW… if you wish to send email to people in OPT-IN lists, this is allowed as those individuals “ASK” to receive advertisements, newsletters, or posts to services like Free For All Pages.
  1. You start by visiting our OJS Theme page and making your OJS Theme selection.
  2. Choose the License Type from the drop-down menu. Note that a Regular License allows you to use our OJS theme in one journal only. An Extended License allows you to use our OJS theme in multiple journals, within the same installation, and in one server only.
  3. Then just click on the “Order Now” button and from there you can quickly and easily pay using our secure online system via PayPal or credit card.
  4. Following your purchase, we will contact you within 24 hours to proceed with your chosen theme installation.
  5. If you decided to make the installation yourself, we can quickly provide you with our OJS theme plug-in and the readme.txt file, which contains instructions on theme installation and setup. Please note that as you are purchasing a license, we will need to verify where our theme will be installed before providing you with the plug-in.
  6. Customization Policy: OJS themes purchased from openjournalsystems.com are for your use only. You may customize the theme, but you may not include the original purchased items (or source files) in any distributed end product. This includes any OJS theme that you have customized yourself.
  7. Licensing Policy: when you purchase an OJS theme from us, you’re acquiring a license to use an OpenJournalSystems.com theme. A single purchase of an OpenJournalSystems.com OJS theme allows you to use the theme on one finished site. If you need to use it on a second site, you would be required to purchase a second license. There are two options when licensing a theme from OpenJournalSystems.com: a Regular License and an Extended License. A Regular License allows you to use our OJS theme in one journal only. An Extended License allows you to use our OJS theme in multiple journals, within the same installation, and in one server only.
  8. Upgrade policy: themes have to be upgraded in order to be compatible with each software upgrade. Our theme support only covers 12 months of support. An additional charge will be applicable for any theme support beyond the 12 months.
  9. Refund Policy: because we sell non-tangible digital products which cannot be returned or exchanged, we do not offer refunds. Please take the time to review the theme demos and get in touch with us if you have any questions prior to making your purchase.
  1. No. Themes and plugins sold on OpenJournalSystems.com are sold under a default split license.
  2. This Default Split License ensures we can protect our rights and freedoms to respect (and comply with) the General Public License (GPL) but control the use of our own custom created work at the same time.
  3. There are two elements covered by a Default Split License:
    The Non-GPL Portion: This includes all Assets – `, Images, and Custom Templates created by OpenJournalSystems.com.
    The GPL Portion: This includes the OJS core files: PHP, HTML, and standard OJS Templates.
  4. This setup is in compliance with Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) ruling. In 2009, The SFLC opinion states that the PHP and any intermingled HTML needs to be released under the GPL but CSS and images, by contrast, can be but do not need to be. Essentially what this means is two different sets of licensing rights apply. The latter components that are not released under the GPL, the custom content created by OpenJournalSystems.com, is covered by a separate license and NOT the GPL Licensing
  5. For more information about Split License, please visit: https://help.market.envato.com/hc/en-us/articles/202501064-What-is-Split-Licensing-and-the-GPL-
  • No. OJS themes purchased from OpenJournalSystems.com.com are for your use only. You may not include the original purchased items (or source files) in any distributed end product. This includes any OJS theme that you have customized yourself.
  • Yes. All our themes are a one-time fee. However themes have to be upgraded in order to be compatible with each software upgrade. Our theme support only covers 12 months of support. An additional charge will be applicable for any theme support beyond the 12 months.
  • Yes. Before making your selection, please visit our OJS theme home page to see a demo of each theme.
  • Within 24 hours of your purchase, we will contact you with details for your chosen theme installation. If you decided to make the installation yourself, we can provide you with the plug-in and the readme.txt file, which contains instructions on theme setup. You can also view these instructions on the theme instructions page.
  • Because we sell non-tangible digital products which cannot be returned or exchanged, we do not offer refunds. Please take the time to review the theme demos and get in touch with us if you have any questions prior to making your purchase.
  • All of our themes have been custom designed to suit any possible requirements you may have for your OJS. Please visit our OJS theme home page to experience our demos and help you select the right OJS theme for you.
  • Yes. We can redesign your OJS site to give it any look or theme you desire. We charge $75/hour for OJS customization services. We would love to hear about your project, just get in touch via our contact page and we can discuss your requirements in more detail.
  • Yes. A color customization option is available in all out OJS 3.x Themes collection and is accessible from OJS 3.x dashboard. Anything beyond color customization would involve changing the corresponding CSS and template files. Please note that all fonts and colors are controlled with CSS. While you don’t need to be a coding expert, you would be required to have some CSS knowledge to customize your theme.
  • Yes. All our OJS 3.x modern themes ( and some OJS 2.x themes) have color modification options that are accessible from the theme settings. For the classic themes, however, you need to know a bit of CSS in order to make the changes to the relevant files.
  • Yes. All fonts are controlled with CSS. While you don’t need to be a coding expert, you would be required to have some CSS knowledge to customize the fonts.
  • OJS plugins are small snippets of code that can help you easily add new features, which will be essential for the success of your OJS publishing website. Our Plugin Customization services helps Open Journal Systems to expand its functionality without altering the OJS core program.We have many years of experience and expertise in creating custom OJS plugins, upgrading existing plugins, and supporting all of the plug-ins that you are using. Our company has designed and developed a variety of custom OJS plugins since 2013. For more information, please visit our New Products page.
  • OJS Workflow Customization is intended to tailor and streamline the Manuscript Tracking System within OJS. It redefines how every manuscript submitted to your journal is handled during the peer-review and editing stages. We specialize in analyzing your OJS workflow requirements and translating those processes directly into your OJS platform. This is vital in reducing training time, increasing familiarity with the system, and creating a cost-effective model for your publishing. Our goal is to provide a custom, intuitive platform that works for you. The goal is to provide a custom, intuitive platform that works for you. Our four-step process is simple yet effective:
  1. STRATEGY: We analyze your current workflow requirements and suggest ways to improve your processes.
  2. PLANNING: We create a visual representation of the new workflow by creating a wireframe.
  3. BUILDING: We start with the development of your project and provide continuous updates to ensure that the project is always moving in the right direction.
  4. SUPPORT: We provide comprehensive post-implementation debugging and support to ensure a successful implementation.
  • We provide a variety of option for support. You can contact us:
    • through email: (info@openjournalsystems.com),
    • through our Client Portal,
    • through Skype (Skype ID: OpenJournalSystems), or
    • by phone: 602-527-7080.
  • We provide support for theme installation and setup. This includes all issues arising from any of the packaged theme features and any theme bug fixes. This will give you everything required to ensure that all theme features are working as advertised and as shown on the demo site.

    To find out more about OpenJournalSystems.com Customization Services, have a look at some of our latest OJS Projects. If you have any questions, please contact our team.

  • When you purchase an OJS theme from us, you’re acquiring a license to use an OpenJournalSystems.com theme.
    There are two options when licensing a theme from OpenJournalSystems.com: a Regular License and an Extended License. A Regular License allows you to use our OJS theme in one journal only. An Extended License allows you to use our OJS theme in multiple journals, within the same installation, and in one server only.
  • Yes. A single purchase of an OpenJournalSystems.com OJS theme allows you to use the theme on one finished site. If you need to use it on a second site, you would be required to purchase a second license.
  • Yes. If you have already purchased a Regular License, you can easily upgrade to an Extended License by simply paying the price difference.
  • The Extended License cost depends on each specific theme design. Please see our OJS theme home page for more detailed pricing information.
  • No. In order to receive ongoing updates and support, we require our company credit to remain in the footer.
  • No it doesn’t. Our support does not cover any OJS errors/malfunctions that started before subscribing to our support plan.
  • We aim to solve support tickets or support email requests the same day and in 6 hours or less.
  • Yes we do. You can reach us for OJS support at 602-527-7080.
  • We offer 24/7 email and ticket Support & Office Hours Phone Support. We’re available day and night to assist you.
  • In order of preference:
  1. through our Client Portal ticket-based support.
  2. through our support email at info@openjournalsystems.com
  3. through Skype (our Skype id: OpenJournalSystems)
  4. or by calling us directly at 602-527-7080
  • We know Open Journal Systems! We are the best in the business! Our knowledgeable OJS support team has provided technical solutions to over 1000 publishers using OJS since 2013 and we have developed multiple plugins for OJS. We invite you to visit our Testimonials Page to find out what our current clients have to say about us and our Projects Page to find out more about our portfolio and clients.
  • Company-wide, security concerns are always the highest priority. We continuously monitor your OJS site for malware and any other irregularities. In the unlikely event a security issue does occur, we will respond immediately.
  • Updates are vital for the proper functioning of your OJS site. Every OJS upgrade includes file changes and/or removal to fix vulnerabilities and bugs to help protect your OJS site. An outdated version of OJS leaves your Journal Management System at risk of malicious hacker attacks. Outdated, obsolete, abandoned, and inactive OJS plug-ins can also be a security risk. Additionally, these updates also contain the latest improvements and newest features to ensure you get the most out of your OJS. Furthermore, in order to be able to upgrade your current OJS to OJS 3.x, you will need to upgrade your OJS 2.3.x or older to an intermediate version of OJS 2.4.x. before being able to upgrade to OJS 3.x.
  • Upgrading is easy. All you need to do is visit our OJS Upgrade page and choose the OJS upgrade plan that best fits your needs. The biggest differences between OJS plans are the whether you are upgrading a single journal or looking at a multi-journal installation as well as is the age of your current version. Please see OJS Upgrade page for more details.
  • Upgrading OJS is not an easy task and requires extensive technical expertise in order to make sure it’s done correctly. As well, a botched or incomplete OJS upgrade procedure can result in OJS malfunction and loss of your data.
  • If you are already hosting your OJS with us, or have purchased our OJS service plan, the upgrade is included in your plan and the number of upgrades per year depends on the purchased plan. Before any OJS upgrade, we will take a complete backup of your database and essential files. This ensures that if anything goes wrong during the OJS upgrade process; we can roll back the OJS upgrade to your current installation. We will then proceed with updating your OJS core files and database to the latest stable OJS version. Please see section 5.4 of our Terms of Service for upgrade policy.
  • The time to perform an upgrade can vary depending on post-upgrade troubleshooting and complications.
  • Yes. With over 1000 upgrades under our belt, we have the knowledge, expertise, and experience to upgrade your OJS from any previous version of Open Journal Systems software.
  • In addition to the enhanced user interface, navigation systems, and theme experience, the workflow in OJS 3 is highly dynamic and much more customizable than OJS 2.x. OJS 3 also has much more flexible user roles and task management systems. It also includes an improved feedback system for each editorial stage to help you track the communications that are a critical to any submission’s workflow.
  • OpenJournalSystems.com has the extensive technical expertise you need to make sure your upgrade is done quickly and correctly. Upgrading OJS is not a simple task and a botched or incomplete upgrade procedure can result in a malfunction and the loss of your data. If you are running OJS version 2.3.x or older, you will first need to upgrade to OJS version 2.4 or later. Please see OJS 3.x for more details.
  • Any custom setting which you may have enabled for your journal in OJS 2x will not be ported across to version OJS 3x. Customization made to your OJS 2.x installation will not apply to OJS 3x as many underlying concepts have changed considerably.
  • Yes. All users login credentials, along with site permissions, and existing roles in OJS 2x series are ported to OJS 3.x.
  • All usage statistics in OJS 2x series, including Article-level usage and monthly COUNTER usage reports, are ported to OJS 3.x.
  • OJS is an excellent e-publishing platform, but it has many security loopholes that hackers can exploit to get into your site to either cripple or destroy it. Open Journal Systems security should therefore be one of your primary concerns.
  • The end result of any OJS security breach is significant as publishing sites using OJS have databases containing detailed information about the researchers, which attackers can use for identity theft and fraud. Furthermore, attackers could access and steal unpublished manuscripts or even utilize the OJS to publish bogus research. This is on top of compromising the entire server security and causing a total site malfunction. Open Journal Systems security should therefore be one of your primary concerns.
  • Unfortunately you won’t know you’ve been hacked until it’s too late! Here are some tell-tale signs: you may notice that OJS landing page has been changed, or you may see links or funny characters in your content, blank pages, or PHP errors – chances are your site has been hacked.
  • The majority of all OJS hacking comes from Indonesia (See over 200 OJS Hacking Tutorials by Indonesian Cybercriminals on Google Search).
  • Yes; however, there are many steps to properly secure an OJS site, some of which are very technical. If you aren’t well-versed in the workings of OJS, PHP coding and databases, you’re better off leaving it to a professional. Almost all the hacked sites we’ve fixed had some type of do-it-yourself security.
  • Yes. We will perform a security audit of your site from many different angles and then, present our findings and recommendations to you in a document with a clear road map for taking the next steps.
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