Learn how to plan an OJS migration, move journal content and workflows, avoid common challenges, and transition to a hosted journal management platform.
TL;DR
- OJS migration involves more than moving articles and journal files.
- A successful migration starts with auditing your existing OJS setup.
- Hosted platforms can reduce the technical burden of managing OJS.
- Testing content, users, workflows, and URLs is essential before launch.
- Alkademy Press provides a fully hosted platform for managing modern academic journals.
Open Journal Systems (OJS) is widely used by academic publishers to manage manuscript submissions, peer review, editorial decisions, and online publishing.
Its open-source model makes it attractive to universities, research organisations, and independent publishers, but running an OJS installation can also involve hosting, updates, backups, security, plugins, and technical maintenance.
As these responsibilities grow, some publishers begin exploring OJS migration to a hosted journal management platform. A hosted solution can reduce the technical workload while giving editorial teams a more streamlined publishing environment.
Alkademy Press offers this approach by bringing core journal publishing workflows into a fully hosted platform.
Migration involves more than moving articles and files. Publishers must plan for content, users, active submissions, workflows, websites, and URLs to ensure a smooth transition. This guide covers what to review, how to prepare, and how to successfully approach an OJS migration.
Table of Contents
Why Publishers Are Considering OJS Migration
OJS remains a capable journal management system, but maintaining hosting, updates, security, backups, and plugins can become demanding as a journal grows. Publishers may also rely on separate tools for submissions, payments, communication, and publishing, creating a fragmented workflow.
Common reasons to consider OJS migration include:
- Reducing technical maintenance
- Simplifying editorial workflows
- Consolidating publishing tools
- Supporting multiple journals
- Improving author and reviewer experiences
- Accessing modern editorial and AI-assisted tools
The right decision depends on whether the current OJS setup still meets the publisher’s needs and resources.
How to Migrate From OJS to a Hosted Journal Management Platform
A typical OJS migration follows a structured process:
- Prepare the new platform: Configure your journal, users, publishing settings, and required workflows.
- Back up your OJS installation: Keep a reliable copy of your existing data before making changes.
- Map your data: Match journals, articles, users, files, and other content to their equivalents on the new platform.
- Migrate the required data: Transfer content according to the agreed migration plan.
- Rebuild required workflows: Configure submissions, peer review, revisions, and editorial decisions.
- Configure the journal website: Set up branding, navigation, domains, and key journal pages.
- Test everything: Verify content, users, workflows, URLs, and integrations before launch.
- Launch and monitor: Move the journal live and monitor for issues that need attention.
The exact process will vary depending on the size and complexity of the OJS installation and the capabilities of the destination platform.
Migrating Content and Users
Start with the content identified during your migration audit. This may include published articles, volumes, issues, metadata, manuscript files, supplementary materials, and journal pages.
User migration requires equal attention. Authors, reviewers, editors, and administrators may have different roles and permissions, so verify that each account is assigned the appropriate access on the new platform.
For active submissions, take extra care to document their current status. A manuscript under review should not simply be treated like a published article because it may involve ongoing communication, reviewer assignments, revisions, and editorial decisions.
Recreating Editorial Workflows
Your new platform should support the way your editorial team actually works.
Recreate and test the key stages of your workflow:
Submission → Initial Screening → Reviewer Assignment → Peer Review → Revision → Editorial Decision → Publication
Pay particular attention to:
- Editor assignments
- Reviewer invitations
- Review deadlines
- Revision requests
- Editorial decisions
- Author communication
- Publication processes
The goal is not necessarily to reproduce every OJS setting. Instead, focus on preserving the essential steps your team needs to manage manuscripts effectively.
Configuring Your Journal Website and Domain
Your journal website is an important part of the migration because readers and authors interact with it directly.
Configure key elements such as:
- Journal branding and logo
- Custom domain
- HTTPS
- About and policy pages
- Editorial board
- Author guidelines
- Submission information
- Volumes and issues
- Published article pages
Review existing URLs carefully, particularly article and issue pages. Where URLs change, plan appropriate redirects to help readers and search engines reach the correct content.
Testing Before Launch
Never launch immediately after data migration. Test the new environment from the perspective of everyone who uses it.
Authors should be able to:
- Create or access an account
- Submit a manuscript
- Upload files
- Track submissions
- Respond to revisions
Reviewers should be able to:
- Access assigned manuscripts
- Accept or decline invitations
- Submit reviews
- Access relevant files
Editors should be able to:
- Manage submissions
- Assign reviewers
- Track reviews
- Request revisions
- Make editorial decisions
- Publish accepted articles
Choosing a Hosted Journal Management Platform
The destination platform should solve the operational challenges that prompted the migration in the first place. Look beyond individual features and consider how well the platform supports your complete publishing workflow.
Key capabilities to evaluate include:
- Manuscript submission
- Peer review
- Editorial management
- Journal publishing
- Journal websites
- APC management
- Reporting and analytics
- Multi-journal management
- Security and backups
- Automatic updates
- Scalability
- AI-assisted editorial tools
A hosted platform can also reduce the technical responsibilities handled by your publishing team. The pillar article notes that hosted platforms can shift infrastructure, updates, backups, and security away from publishers, allowing editorial teams to focus more on publishing.
Creating a Migration Map
Before transferring anything, create a simple map showing how your existing OJS data will correspond to the new platform.
| OJS Data | New Platform |
| Journals | Journal profiles |
| Volumes and issues | Volumes and issues |
| Published articles | Published articles |
| Article metadata | Article metadata |
| Authors | Author accounts |
| Reviewers | Reviewer accounts |
| Editors | Editorial accounts |
| Manuscript files | Submission files |
| Supplementary files | Supplementary materials |
| Journal pages | Journal website pages |
This mapping exercise helps identify gaps before migration begins. It also gives your team a clear reference for checking that important content, users, and publishing information have been accounted for before the new journal goes live.
What Data Needs to Be Migrated From OJS?
The exact migration scope depends on your OJS setup and the capabilities of the new platform. Start by identifying the content and data your journal relies on, including:
- Journal information and settings
- Articles and publication archives
- Volumes and issues
- Article metadata
- Manuscript and supplementary files
- Author, reviewer, and editor information
- Active submissions
- Editorial workflow data
- Journal website content
Published content and active submissions should be reviewed separately. Historical articles may be relatively straightforward to organise, while manuscripts currently undergoing review may require additional planning to avoid interrupting the editorial process.
What to Review Before Migration
Before migrating, audit your OJS setup to identify what needs to be moved, rebuilt, or replaced.
Review Journals and Archives
Document:
- Journal titles and ISSNs
- Volumes and issues
- Published articles and metadata
- Supplementary files
- Policies and author guidelines
- Editorial information
Review Users and Roles
List your authors, reviewers, editors, journal managers, and administrators, including their roles and permissions.
Review Active Submissions
Identify manuscripts currently in review, revision, or awaiting editorial decisions. These require careful handling to avoid disrupting ongoing workflows.
Review Plugins and Customisations
Document your plugins, themes, integrations, and custom features. Determine which need to be recreated and which can be replaced or removed.
Review URLs and Integrations
Record important article, issue, journal, and submission URLs, along with key integrations such as:
- Analytics
- DOI services
- Payments
- Indexing services
This audit gives you a clear migration scope and helps prevent important content or functionality from being overlooked.
Is OJS Migration Right for Your Journal?
Migration is not automatically an improvement.
Staying with OJS may make sense when:
- your current workflows work well
- your organisation has dependable technical support
- your team requires substantial customisation
- you need direct control over the underlying environment
- your current operating costs are acceptable
- your integrations depend heavily on OJS-specific functionality
A hosted alternative may be worth evaluating when:
- routine technical maintenance consumes significant staff time
- your organisation has limited infrastructure expertise
- plugin compatibility complicates updates
- several disconnected systems support the same workflow
- you manage multiple journals
- you want the infrastructure layer managed by a provider
- your current system no longer meets important workflow requirements
The correct decision should come from an operational assessment rather than a feature comparison alone.
Hosted vs Self-Hosted Journal Management
| Factor | Hosted Platform | Self-Hosted OJS |
| Infrastructure | Provider-managed, depending on contract | Publisher-managed |
| Updates | Provider-managed, depending on service | Publisher-managed |
| Security maintenance | Shared/provider responsibility, depending on contract | Publisher responsibility |
| Backups | Provider-managed if included in service | Publisher-managed |
| Plugins | Limited to supported capabilities | Greater flexibility |
| Customisation | Depends on the platform | Generally greater control |
| Technical workload | Typically lower | Typically higher |
| Infrastructure scaling | Provider-managed, depending on service | Publisher-managed |
| Operational control | Depends on the provider contract | Greater direct control |
| Best fit | Teams seeking lower infrastructure overhead | Teams with technical resources and customisation needs |
OJS Migration Checklist
Use this checklist to prepare before moving your journal:
- Audit your current OJS installation
- List all journals, articles, issues, and files
- Review users and their roles
- Identify active submissions
- Document plugins, themes, and customisations
- Record important URLs and integrations
- Back up your existing OJS data
- Define what needs to be migrated or rebuilt
- Select and evaluate the new platform
- Create a testing and launch plan
A detailed inventory gives your team a practical reference throughout the migration and makes it easier to identify anything that may have been overlooked.
Common OJS Migration Challenges
OJS migrations can involve several challenges, including:
- Incomplete data mapping
- User accounts or permissions not transferring correctly
- Active submissions requiring special handling
- Plugins without direct equivalents
- Custom workflows that need to be rebuilt
- Missing files or metadata
- Broken or changed URLs
- Differences between the old and new platform
Identifying these issues during testing allows your team to resolve them before they affect authors, reviewers, or readers.
How to Avoid Migration Problems
A few practical steps can make the transition smoother:
- Back up your OJS installation before migration.
- Document existing workflows and configurations.
- Create a complete content and user inventory.
- Plan separately for active submissions and published archives.
- Review plugins and customisations before migration.
- Map important URLs and redirects.
- Test every major workflow before launch.
- Keep the existing OJS environment available until the migration is verified.
The goal is not simply to move your journal quickly. It is to ensure the new platform can support your publishing workflow without losing important content or disrupting the people who use it.
What to Look for in an OJS Alternative
Choosing an OJS alternative should start with your journal’s workflow rather than a list of features. Look for a platform that can support the complete publishing process as your journal grows.
Key capabilities include:
- Manuscript submission
- Peer review
- Editorial management
- Journal websites
- Publishing and archives
- APC management
- Reporting and analytics
- Multi-journal management
- Security and backups
- Automatic updates
- Scalability
- AI-assisted editorial tools
The platform should also provide a straightforward experience for authors, reviewers, editors, and administrators. Bringing these functions together can reduce the need to manage multiple systems for different parts of the publishing process.
How Long Does an OJS Migration Take?
There is no standard timeline for an OJS migration. The duration depends on the complexity of your existing setup and the destination platform.
Factors that can affect the migration include:
- Number of journals
- Number of published articles
- Archive size
- Number of users
- Active submissions
- Custom workflows
- Plugins and integrations
- Amount of website content
- Data migration requirements
- Testing and quality assurance
A smaller journal with limited customisation may require less preparation than a large publishing operation with multiple journals, extensive archives, and complex editorial workflows.
Migrating From OJS to Alkademy Press
For publishers looking for a fully hosted alternative, Alkademy Press brings core journal publishing workflows into one platform. It supports manuscript submission, peer review, journal websites, APC billing, and AI-assisted editorial screening.
The platform is also designed for publishers managing multiple journals, allowing different journal teams, branding, workflows, and reporting to be managed from one dashboard.
For an OJS migration, the first step is to review your existing journal setup and determine what content, users, workflows, and configurations need to be moved or recreated. From there, the migration can be planned around the specific requirements of your publishing operation.
FAQs
OJS migration is the process of moving a journal’s content, users, workflows, and relevant publishing data from an existing Open Journal Systems installation to another journal management platform.
Yes, but the exact migration process depends on your existing OJS configuration, the data you need to preserve, and the capabilities of the destination platform. A thorough audit should be completed before migration begins.
The cost varies depending on the number of journals, amount of content, users, customisations, integrations, and migration work required. Publishers should assess the full scope before estimating the cost.
The timeline depends on the size and complexity of the journal operation. Factors such as archive size, active submissions, custom workflows, integrations, and testing requirements can all affect the duration.
Yes, a platform with multi-journal management can allow publishers to manage multiple journals from a central environment while keeping their individual teams, branding, workflows, and content separate.
Final Thoughts
An OJS migration is more than a technology change. It is an opportunity to simplify how your journal operates, reduce technical maintenance, and create a more efficient publishing workflow.
The right approach starts with a careful audit, a clear migration plan, thorough testing, and a platform that can support your journal beyond the transition.
Ready to move beyond the technical overhead of a self-managed OJS installation? Explore Alkademy Press, a fully hosted platform that brings submissions, peer review, publishing, APC billing, and AI-assisted editorial workflows together in one place. Simplify your journal publishing workflow with a platform built for modern academic publishing.
