Migrating a Medical Journal from OJS to ScholarJMS: Workflow, Metadata and DOI Considerations

A migration must therefore protect the continuity of the journal’s published record while creating a more efficient system for future submissions.

For a subject-focused publication such as the International Journal for Clinical Anatomy and Research, the publishing platform must support research in clinical anatomy, anatomical variation, surgical anatomy, radiological anatomy, embryology, cadaveric research, anatomy education and related medical fields. Its technology should serve authors, anatomists, clinicians, surgeons, radiologists, reviewers, medical educators and readers without compromising editorial integrity.

This guide explains the major workflow, metadata, DOI and technical considerations involved in migrating a medical journal from OJS to ScholarJMS.

Why Medical Journals Consider Migrating from OJS

OJS is an important open-source publishing system used by journals worldwide. Many journals continue to operate successfully through OJS, especially when they have suitable technical administration, reliable hosting and trained editorial teams.

Migration should not be undertaken merely because another system appears newer. It should address specific operational or publishing requirements.

A medical journal may consider migrating when:

• Its current OJS installation is outdated or difficult to maintain
• The journal depends heavily on manual email communication
• Editors find the workflow confusing or unnecessarily complex
• Authors experience difficulty during manuscript submission
• The existing website no longer reflects the journal’s academic identity
• Article metadata is inconsistent across issues
• Mobile usability or page performance is inadequate
• Custom development has made future upgrades difficult
• The journal needs closer integration between its public website and workflow
• Technical support is unavailable or unreliable
• The publisher wants a guided, managed journal environment
• New publishing policies cannot be implemented efficiently

A platform migration should produce measurable improvements in usability, workflow management, publishing consistency or technical sustainability. Moving the same disorganised data into a different system without first correcting it will simply transfer the journal’s existing problems.

Understanding the Difference Between an Upgrade and a Migration

An OJS upgrade and an OJS-to-ScholarJMS migration are different projects.

An upgrade keeps the journal within the OJS ecosystem while moving it to a newer supported version. A migration transfers relevant journal content and operations to a different platform.

The Public Knowledge Project recommends creating complete copies of the database and uploaded-files directory when carrying out major OJS upgrade work. The same principle is essential for migration: the original database, files and configuration should be preserved before any transformation begins. See the official PKP OJS upgrade guidance.

An OJS-to-ScholarJMS migration may involve transferring or reconstructing:

• Journal identity and settings
• Static website pages
• Published volumes and issues
• Article landing pages
• Article metadata
• PDFs and supplementary files
• Author, editor and reviewer accounts
• Manuscripts in active editorial stages
• Peer-review records
• Decision histories
• Email templates
• DOI information
• Policies and author guidelines
• Website navigation
• Search-engine URLs

Not every OJS database field will necessarily have a direct equivalent in ScholarJMS. Migration therefore requires data mapping rather than blind copying.

Begin with a Complete Migration Audit

Before moving any data, the migration team should examine the existing OJS installation and document what is present.

Identify the OJS Version

The journal should confirm its exact OJS version, installed plugins, theme customisations, server environment and database format. Older OJS installations may store information differently from recent versions.

Plugin-generated data may require separate attention. A feature visible on the old website might depend on a plugin that has no direct equivalent in the destination platform.

Review the Journal’s Publishing History

The migration team should record:

• The number of volumes and issues
• The number of published articles
• The earliest and latest publication dates
• Special issues or supplements
• Continuous-publication arrangements
• Corrections, retractions and expressions of concern
• Multilingual content
• Supplementary research files
• Articles published ahead of issue assignment

This inventory becomes the basis for validating the migrated archive.

Assess Active Submissions

Published content is comparatively stable, but active submissions may be distributed across different workflow stages. Some may be awaiting editor assignment, under review, returned for revision, accepted, in copyediting or in production.

Each active manuscript needs an explicit migration plan. The journal must decide whether it will:

1. Complete existing manuscripts in OJS and use ScholarJMS only for new submissions
2. Transfer all active manuscripts into ScholarJMS
3. Transfer only manuscripts at selected workflow stages
4. Temporarily pause submissions during the changeover

Completing existing workflows in OJS while opening ScholarJMS for new submissions can reduce migration complexity. However, it may require the editorial office to operate two systems for a limited period.

Audit Data Quality

Migration is an opportunity to identify:

• Duplicate author accounts
• Incomplete affiliations
• Missing abstracts or keywords
• Incorrect publication dates
• Inconsistent article types
• Broken PDF links
• Missing DOI information
• Duplicate DOI values
• Irregular volume and issue numbering
• Unpublished test submissions
• Outdated editorial-board information
• Unsupported indexing claims
• Inconsistent copyright statements

These issues should be classified before migration as “correct before transfer”, “correct during mapping” or “review after transfer”.

Create Secure Backups Before Migration

A complete, restorable backup is the most important technical safeguard in a migration project.

The backup should normally include:

• The OJS database
• The uploaded-files directory
• Publicly accessible journal files
• The website theme and custom code
• Configuration files
• Plugin information
• Existing XML exports
• DOI and Crossref deposit records
• Server and domain settings where relevant

A backup should be stored separately from the live journal server. The technical team should also verify that it can be restored.

The old journal should remain unchanged during initial testing. Migration work should take place in a secure staging environment until the journal owner approves the result.

Planning an OJS-to-ScholarJMS migration?

We can assist with:

• OJS database and content assessment
• ScholarJMS website and workflow configuration
• Published article and issue migration
• Author, editor and reviewer data mapping
• DOI and article URL planning
• ISSN and publishing-readiness consulting
• Post-migration testing and launch support

WhatsApp: +91 82003 85143
Email: inquiry@ojscloud.com

Planning the ScholarJMS Journal Structure

Migration should not begin until the destination journal has been configured.

ScholarJMS integrates the journal’s public website with manuscript submission, editorial processing, peer review and article publication. The implementation should be adapted to the medical journal’s real policies rather than based on generic defaults.

Important configuration decisions include:

• Journal title and abbreviation
• Publisher information
• ISSN and eISSN
• Aims and scope
• Manuscript categories
• Publication frequency
• Peer-review model
• Editorial roles and permissions
• Submission declarations
• Ethical approval fields
• Conflict-of-interest statements
• Reviewer forms
• Decision templates
• Article-page structure
• Volume and issue format
• DOI conventions
• Copyright and licensing
• Contact and support information

For a clinical anatomy journal, the workflow may need to collect details relating to cadaveric ethics, institutional ethical approval, informed consent, imaging permissions, clinical data, anatomical nomenclature and conflicts of interest.

The configuration should be approved by the editorial leadership before live records are imported.

Migrating the Public Journal Website

A platform change gives the journal an opportunity to improve its presentation, but essential information should remain consistent unless the editorial board formally changes it.

Core Journal Pages

The destination website should include accurate versions of:

• About the Journal
• Aims and Scope
• Editorial Board
• Instructions for Authors
• Peer-Review Policy
• Publication Ethics
• Plagiarism Policy
• Authorship Policy
• Conflicts of Interest
• Corrections and Retractions
• Copyright and Licensing
• Publication Charges
• Privacy Policy
• Archives
• Contact Information
• Manuscript Submission

The COPE transparency principles emphasise clear information about journal ownership, editorial governance, peer review, fees, copyright, licensing and publication ethics. Migration should preserve this transparency.

Journal Branding

The journal name, logo, typography and colour palette should be reproduced consistently. For the International Journal for Clinical Anatomy and Research, the deep maroon, black and white identity can help create visual continuity across the home page, article pages, submission portal and journal communications.

A redesign should improve usability without making the journal appear to be an entirely different publication.

Mapping Volumes, Issues and Published Articles

The published archive is the journal’s permanent scholarly record. It should be migrated with particular care.

Each volume and issue should retain its correct:

• Volume number
• Issue number
• Publication year
• Issue title, if applicable
• Publication date
• Cover image
• Table of contents
• Editorial information
• Page range or article-number structure

Each article record should retain its:

• Title and subtitle
• Author names and order
• Affiliations
• Corresponding-author information
• Abstract
• Keywords
• Article type
• Publication date
• Volume and issue
• Page range or article number
• DOI
• References
• Funding information
• Conflict-of-interest statement
• Copyright and licence
• PDF and supplementary files

The final migrated archive should be compared against the original OJS archive issue by issue. Article counts alone are not sufficient because an article may exist while still having incomplete or incorrect metadata.

Preserving Author Names and Affiliations

Author metadata presents common migration difficulties. The same researcher may appear under different name formats, initials or institutional affiliations across issues.

The migration team should not casually merge author identities. Two people may share similar names, while one author may legitimately have changed their affiliation.

Historical article metadata should generally reflect the information published with the article at that time. Corrections should follow an editorially documented process rather than silent alteration.

Where available, ORCID identifiers should be retained. However, an ORCID should never be guessed or assigned based only on a similar name.

Migrating User Accounts and Protecting Personal Data

OJS may contain accounts for authors, reviewers, editors, readers, journal managers and former staff members.

Before transferring user data, the publisher should determine:

• Which accounts are still required
• Whether duplicate profiles can be consolidated
• Which roles each user should receive
• Whether inactive reviewer accounts should be retained
• How users will be informed about the platform change
• Whether passwords can be securely transferred
• Whether password resets will be required
• Which privacy and data-retention rules apply

Passwords should never be exported or handled as readable plain text. When password formats are incompatible, the safer approach may be to create the account records and require users to set new passwords through a secure reset process.

Role mapping also requires careful review. An OJS user with several historical roles should not automatically receive broad administrative access in the new platform.

Migrating Editorial Workflow Records

The most difficult part of a journal migration is often the unpublished editorial history.

An active manuscript can include:

• Original submission files
• Revised manuscript versions
• Cover letters
• Ethical declarations
• Reviewer invitations
• Reviewer responses
• Reviewer reports
• Confidential editor comments
• Decision letters
• Author response documents
• Copyedited files
• Proofs
• Production correspondence

These records must be mapped according to their function, confidentiality and current status.

Option 1: Complete Active Manuscripts in OJS

This approach reduces data complexity. The old OJS system is placed into a controlled read-only or limited-use condition, while new submissions begin in ScholarJMS.

Once existing manuscripts are completed, accepted articles can be published through the new platform.

Option 2: Transfer Active Manuscripts

This approach provides a faster operational transition but requires detailed workflow mapping. Editors and reviewers must understand where each manuscript now appears and what action remains outstanding.

Every transferred manuscript should be verified by the responsible editor before activity resumes.

Option 3: Hybrid Migration

A journal may transfer manuscripts that have not yet entered peer review while completing more advanced submissions in OJS. This can balance operational continuity with reduced migration risk.

Whichever method is chosen, authors and reviewers should receive clear communication. They should not be asked to resubmit work or repeat reviews unless this is unavoidable and properly explained.

Configuring the New Submission Workflow

Migration offers an opportunity to improve the author experience.

A well-designed medical manuscript submission form should collect structured information, including:

• Manuscript title
• Abstract and keywords
• Article category
• Author names and affiliations
• ORCID identifiers
• Funding disclosures
• Conflicts of interest
• Ethical approval
• Informed consent
• Data-availability statement
• Trial registration where applicable
• Suggested reviewers if permitted
• Main manuscript and supplementary files

The platform should provide a submission confirmation and allow the author to monitor progress without exposing confidential reviewer identities.

Forms should remain detailed enough for medical publishing while avoiding unnecessary fields that create author frustration.

Peer-Review Workflow Considerations

Reviewer data is particularly sensitive. Review reports may contain confidential academic assessments, personal information and unpublished research details.

Before migration, the journal should define:

• The review model
• Reviewer anonymity rules
• Conflict-of-interest requirements
• Review deadlines
• Reminder schedules
• Reviewer-form questions
• Editor decision permissions
• Whether review histories will be transferred
• Whether transparent review will be offered

Scholar9 can support publishers exploring transparent peer review and research-trust processes. Transparency should be introduced through a defined editorial policy, with appropriate disclosure and consent, rather than activated merely as a technical option.

After migration, the editorial team should test reviewer invitations, manuscript access, report submission and confidential comments using test accounts.

DOI Continuity During Platform Migration

DOIs require special attention because they are designed to remain persistent.

A platform migration does not normally justify assigning a new DOI to an already published article. Crossref states that a registered DOI string cannot be changed or deleted, although its associated metadata and destination URL can be updated. See Crossref’s metadata-update guidance.

The journal should therefore retain existing DOI strings and update their destination URLs where the article pages move.

Preserve Existing DOI Values

If an OJS article has the DOI:

https://doi.org/10.xxxx/example.123

the same DOI should remain associated with that article after migration. A different website platform does not make it a new scholarly work.

Creating replacement DOIs could produce duplicate citation records and confuse authors, readers, indexing services and reference-management systems.

Update DOI Destination URLs

The Crossref record should be updated so that the DOI resolves to the article’s new ScholarJMS landing page.

Every DOI should be tested after updating. The migration team should verify that:

1. The DOI resolves successfully
2. It reaches the correct article
3. The destination page is publicly accessible
4. The title and authors match
5. The DOI appears on the page as a complete link
6. The PDF or full text is accessible from the landing page

Crossref requires each DOI to resolve to a unique landing page for the registered item. The page should include full bibliographic information, display the DOI as a URL and provide a route to the full text. Direct DOI resolution to a downloadable PDF is not considered good practice. See Crossref’s official landing-page guidance.

Review Crossref Metadata

Migration is an appropriate time to verify:

• Journal title
• ISSN
• Article title
• Author names
• Affiliations
• Abstract
• Publication year
• Volume and issue
• Page range or article number
• Licence URL
• References
• Funding information
• Article URL

Crossref recommends accurate article titles, complete contributors, affiliations, abstracts and relevant funding, licence and relationship metadata. See the Crossref guidance for journals and articles.

GetDOI can assist journals with Crossref DOI setup, sponsorship routes, metadata preparation and DOI workflow guidance.

Need support protecting DOI continuity during migration?

Our connected journal publishing services include:

• ScholarJMS platform configuration
• OJS-to-ScholarJMS migration planning
• Article and metadata validation
• Crossref DOI destination updates
• GetDOI workflow and sponsorship guidance
• ISSN consulting through OJSCloud
• Editorial workflow and peer-review setup

WhatsApp: +91 82003 85143
Email: inquiry@ojscloud.com

Managing Article URLs and Search Visibility

Changing article URLs without a redirect strategy can cause broken links, loss of referral traffic and poor reader experience.

The migration team should create a mapping between every important old OJS URL and its corresponding ScholarJMS URL.

Priority URLs include:

• Journal home page
• Current issue
• Archive page
• Volume and issue pages
• Article landing pages
• PDF files
• Author guidelines
• Aims and scope
• Editorial board
• Submission page
• Ethics policies

Where technically possible, permanent redirects should be configured from old URLs to their new destinations.

PDF files may already be linked from library catalogues, academic profiles, repositories or search results. Redirect planning should therefore include both article pages and downloadable files.

The journal should also prepare an updated sitemap and check canonical URLs, page titles, metadata, mobile responsiveness and internal navigation.

Migration may temporarily affect search visibility while search engines process changed URLs. Accurate redirects and stable article metadata help minimise this disruption, but no provider should promise unchanged rankings.

ISSN Considerations During Migration

A platform migration does not ordinarily create a new journal identity. If the journal title, medium and publishing identity remain unchanged, its existing ISSN information should normally continue to be displayed accurately.

However, significant changes involving journal title, medium, ownership or publication structure may require guidance from the appropriate ISSN authority.

The website should not display unverified ISSN information or imply that a consultant issues ISSNs. Only an authorised ISSN centre can assign an ISSN.

OJSCloud can provide ISSN consulting, website-readiness guidance, OJS hosting, OJS support and journal migration planning. Consulting helps publishers prepare and understand requirements, while the final decision remains with the relevant ISSN authority.

Testing the Migrated Journal

A journal should not switch its domain to the new platform immediately after importing data. The staging website requires systematic testing.

Published Content Testing

Check:

• Every volume and issue
• Article counts
• Titles and author order
• Abstracts and keywords
• PDFs and supplementary files
• Publication dates
• Copyright and licence statements
• DOI links
• References
• Corrections and retractions

Workflow Testing

Use separate test accounts to complete:

1. Author registration
2. Manuscript submission
3. Technical screening
4. Editor assignment
5. Reviewer invitation
6. Review submission
7. Editorial decision
8. Author revision
9. Acceptance
10. Production
11. Article publication

Permission Testing

Confirm that:

• Authors cannot view confidential reviews
• Reviewers cannot see unauthorised author information
• Editors access only appropriate journals or sections
• Production staff do not receive unnecessary administrative rights
• Former staff accounts are inactive
• Public users cannot access unpublished files

Technical Testing

Verify:

• Desktop and mobile display
• Website speed
• HTTPS
• Contact forms
• Email delivery
• Password reset
• Search function
• Sitemap
• Redirects
• PDF downloads
• Backup and recovery procedures

Planning the Migration Launch

Once validation is complete, the journal should choose a controlled launch date.

A typical transition may include:

1. Temporarily pausing new submissions
2. Taking a final OJS backup
3. Exporting records changed since the initial migration
4. Importing or reconciling final data
5. Placing the old system into read-only mode
6. Connecting the journal domain to ScholarJMS
7. Activating URL redirects
8. Updating Crossref DOI destinations
9. Testing major public pages
10. Notifying editors, reviewers and authors
11. Monitoring errors after launch

The journal should maintain a migration log recording what was moved, what was excluded, which DOI records were updated and which issues require later correction.

Common OJS Migration Mistakes

Migrating Without a Data Audit

If the journal does not know how many articles, users and active submissions it has, it cannot confirm whether migration is complete.

Importing Every User Without Review

Old OJS systems may contain inactive, duplicate or spam accounts. Transferring everything can create privacy, security and data-quality problems.

Changing Existing DOIs

A platform change is not a reason to replace valid article DOIs. Existing identifiers should be preserved and their URLs updated.

Ignoring Old URLs

Deleting the old website without redirects may break DOI-related navigation, bookmarks, citations, search results and institutional links.

Recreating Only the PDFs

A journal archive is not merely a PDF collection. Complete article pages require metadata, citation details, licences, publication dates and persistent links.

Treating Active Submissions as Published Content

Editorial records contain confidential and version-sensitive information. They require a dedicated workflow-migration plan.

Launching Without User Testing

A successful technical import does not prove that authors can submit manuscripts or reviewers can provide reports. End-to-end testing is essential.

Making Unsupported Indexing Claims

Migration can improve website quality and metadata consistency, but it does not guarantee inclusion in Scopus, Web of Science, DOAJ or any other indexing service.

OJS-to-ScholarJMS Migration Checklist

Before beginning:

• Confirm the OJS version and server environment
• Inventory issues, articles, users and active submissions
• Identify plugins and custom features
• Create and test full backups
• Define the migration scope
• Configure the ScholarJMS journal
• Approve metadata and workflow mapping

Before launch:

• Validate every issue and article
• Verify DOI strings and destination URLs
• Test author, reviewer and editor workflows
• Review user roles and privacy
• Prepare permanent URL redirects
• Test email notifications
• Review policies and contact information
• Confirm ISSN display
• Take a final backup
• Prepare user communication

After launch:

• Monitor DOI resolution
• Check broken links
• Review Crossref metadata
• Monitor submission notifications
• Support authors and reviewers
• Preserve the old system securely
• Correct documented migration exceptions
• Maintain regular backups

Frequently Asked Questions

Can an OJS medical journal be migrated to ScholarJMS?

Yes, subject to assessment of the OJS version, database, uploaded files, journal structure, active submissions and metadata. The migration method should be designed around the journal’s actual records.

Will published articles remain available after migration?

They should remain available if their files, metadata and article pages are migrated and validated correctly. Old URLs should also be redirected where possible.

Should existing articles receive new DOIs after migration?

No. A change of publishing platform does not normally make an article a new work. Existing DOI strings should remain unchanged, while their destination URLs and metadata can be updated.

Can Crossref DOI links be redirected to ScholarJMS?

Yes. The resource URL registered for the DOI can be updated so that it resolves to the corresponding ScholarJMS article landing page.

Can active peer-review manuscripts be migrated?

They can be transferred if workflow records, files and permissions are mapped carefully. Some journals instead complete active submissions in OJS and accept only new manuscripts through ScholarJMS.

What happens to reviewer reports during migration?

Reviewer reports should be treated as confidential editorial records. The journal must decide whether they will be migrated, archived securely or retained in a restricted old system.

Can OJS user passwords be transferred?

This depends on technical compatibility and security considerations. If secure transfer is not appropriate, migrated users should be asked to create new passwords through a verified reset process.

How can OJSCloud support migration?

OJSCloud can assist with OJS hosting, technical support, platform assessment, migration planning, publishing consulting and ISSN-related website readiness.

What is GetDOI’s role in a journal migration?

GetDOI can provide guidance relating to Crossref DOI setup, sponsorship routes, metadata preparation and DOI workflows, including planning for updated article destinations.

Can Scholar9 be integrated into the peer-review strategy?

Scholar9 may support journals interested in transparent peer review and research-trust mechanisms. The journal must first define its transparency policy and obtain appropriate participant consent.

Will migration improve journal indexing?

Migration may improve website usability, metadata quality, policy presentation and workflow consistency. However, indexing services independently evaluate journals, and migration cannot guarantee acceptance.

How long does an OJS-to-ScholarJMS migration take?

The timeline depends on the number of articles, OJS version, data quality, active submissions, custom features, DOI records and required redesign. A detailed audit is necessary before giving a reliable schedule.

Conclusion

Migrating a medical journal from OJS to ScholarJMS is a scholarly publishing project, not simply a software installation. The process must protect the journal’s published archive, confidential editorial records, author and reviewer information, article URLs, Crossref DOI connections and institutional identity.

A successful migration begins with an audit and complete backup. It then requires structured data mapping, destination-platform configuration, article-level validation, DOI updates, redirect planning, workflow testing and clear communication with journal users.

For the International Journal for Clinical Anatomy and Research and similar specialist medical publications, the platform should also accommodate the ethical and methodological requirements of clinical anatomy, surgical research, medical imaging, cadaveric studies and anatomy education.

ScholarJMS can provide the integrated journal website, submission and editorial-workflow environment. OJSCloud can support OJS assessment, hosting, migration planning and ISSN consulting. GetDOI can assist with Crossref DOI workflows, while Scholar9 can support transparent peer-review and research-trust initiatives.

For assistance with an OJS-to-ScholarJMS migration, medical journal website development, DOI continuity, ISSN consulting or editorial-workflow setup:

WhatsApp: +91 82003 85143
Email: inquiry@ojscloud.com