EIFL has launched a webinar series focused on best practices for using Open Journal Systems (OJS), the open-source platform developed by the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) for managing and publishing scholarly journals. The sessions provide practical guidance, use cases, and firsthand experiences aimed at improving journal publishing workflows across partner countries.
OJS has become one of the most widely adopted systems for scholarly publishing. Recent technical updates have enhanced its efficiency and responsiveness, prompting increased demand for training and support. In response, the EIFL Open Access Programme designed this webinar series to support journal managers and editors in optimizing their use of OJS.
The series has drawn substantial interest, with hundreds of participants attending each session. Presenters include practitioners who share case studies on journal operations, address common challenges, and provide recommendations for improving quality, visibility, and metadata practices within the OJS framework. Each session includes dedicated time for participant questions.
Four webinars have been completed to date, with the fifth scheduled for May 28. Additional sessions are planned, and updates will be shared via EIFL’s website and social media channels.
Recordings and presentation slides from the first four webinars are available:
• Webinar 1 explored multilingualism in OJS through examples from Norway and Serbia, including the use of OJS for both journal and conference proceedings and enabling the OAI-PMH protocol.
• Webinar 2 presented cases from Zambia on journal management using OJS, alongside a demonstration of a Croatian tool that converts journal content to JATS XML format for scholarly dissemination.
• Webinar 3 focused on the Khulisa Journals platform in South Africa and discussed the transition to professional scholarly publishing tools in Lithuania.
• Webinar 4, held in collaboration with the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and PKP, addressed how clear policies and structured metadata improve eligibility for DOAJ indexing, and how OJS can support metadata delivery to indexing services.
Click here to read the original press release.
