How to create a commenting system on the OJS article page?

Many journal publishers who use the OJS platform as a journal publication platform want a comment system or discussion that is carried out publicly on every published article page.

Specifically, they want direct input by journal site users to directly provide input or reactions to articles, for example discussing research methods, selected samples, conclusions related to hypotheses, and several other issues related to research.

The desire for the availability of this discussion feature in OJS can be understood where publishers want virtual interaction between the research results presented in journal articles without having to act as reviewers and journal editors.

This discussion feature is a free space for visitors without having to be “bureaucratic” and limited to the roles that exist in OJS. Unfortunately, this public discussion feature as of today in OJS version 3.3 is not provided by built-in. So there need to be special settings to be able to apply this feature.

What is commenting feature in OJS? #

Before we are digging more into implementing the commenting feature in OJS, it is better to know about the terminology. The commenting system is a feature that allows users to make any comment on the published article on OJS. It will facilitate evaluation from the public community and create a discourse around published articles.

There are actually many ways to implement internal discussion on the detail article page. There are many alternatives from the paid ones to the ones. For example by using https://talk.hyvor.com/ which is a paid commenting platform from packages of 5 USD to 35 USD. Another platform, Disqus provides packages from 11 USD to 105 USD up to custom business packages. However, the good news is Disqus also provides a free package but with ads displayed by Disqus as compensation.

Advantages and Disadvantages of using the public comment features on a journal #

Before deciding to use the commenting system, it’s good to understand that you will get the advantages and disadvantages of this feature:

The advantages of using the comment system #

Here are some of the advantages that you can potentially get if you use the comment system in the OJS-based journal:

1. Increase interaction with journal articles
2. Provide a space for open discussion on published articles
3. Eliminating the limited discussion space on the OJS platform which previously could only be done by users with the role of reviewer, author, or journal editor.
4. To facilitate an evaluation from another peer

Disadvantages of using the comment system #

Besides the advantages, you need to understand that using the open comment system on the OJS platform in each published article also has several disadvantages, including:

1. This opens the opportunity for comments that do not fit the context of the article including inappropriate comment
2. Comments will provide space for anyone to provide feedback, even for users who do not have expertise on the topics discussed in published articles.
3. Detailed article pages to load in full will run slower, and this will have an impact on the page’s SEO.
4. Basically, user data for discussion participants will be stored by a third party, so if there is a data leak then it can also affect the reputation of the journal you manage.
5. With the basic package provided by online commenting platforms that require ads in return for them, ads will reduce the reputation of your site.

Meet the Disqus Commenting system #

Now you already take attention to some matters that are related to the commenting system, it is time to explain the required step to implement the commenting system on OJS. in this post, we will use Disqus as a commenting platform since we are aware it is the only platform that is provided by OJS plugin. it is good to know about this platform before we begin to implement this platform.

What is Disqus? #

Disqus is a comment platform that specifically handles the integration of the comment system on sites on the platform in a flexible way. Disqus can be installed on any WordPress platform, custom applications even in this context OJS. Currently, Disqus is claimed to have been used by more than 2 billion users from 191 user countries.

This platform is also claimed to have been used by large media to microblog media. This shows that the system’s comment platform is reliable. The commenting system provided by Disqus is ajax-based, so it will load so it doesn’t burden the first loading process of the detail article page.

Demo commenting system using Disqus: https://about.disqus.com/disqus-demo-page

Advantages of using Disqus as a commenting system #

1. The platform provides a free plan (with ads)
2. Very easy to implement with a bunch of features.
3. Provides moderation features
4. Has been widely used
5. OJS plugin for Disqus integration is provided
6. The display supports responsiveness on each device.
7. Spam protection on each comment runs automatically
8. Supports 70 native languages that make it easy for users to use

The disadvantage of using  Disqus as a commenting system #

1. Comments can be posted by anyone even if they are written without proper context (although they can be deleted by moderators)
2. If there are more and more comments, it takes more effort to filter the comments in point 1
3. Privacy issues, user tracking, and user security as reported on the following page.
4. Make the site load slower as reported by this page.

How to implement the Disqus Commenting system on OJS? #

To be able to implement Disqus in OJS the following steps you have to do:

1. Registration and Configuration on Disqus #

1. Sign up to the Disqus site.

2. Create a new site on the Disqus dashboard right after you finished the registration process

After that on the site forum dashboard page, please click settings:

And click the following button on the left menu:

In this section, you will enter the identity of the commenting identity from Disqus that will be used in OJS.

2. Setting up the OJS 3 Disqus plugin #

Please note that this plugin is tested work on OJS 3.1.2-4 and 3.2 as we are writing this article.

1. Download the OJS Disqus plugin here :
https://github.com/ajnyga/disqus/releases

2. Extract the compressed file to the ojsPath/plugins/generic/
Make sure that the zip/tar.gz file earlier will generate a folder with the name Disqus

3. Configure the Disqus plugin

Log in to OJS as administrator/journal manager and you need to go to Website Settings -> Plugins -> Installed Plugins :

And click Save

You will get the Disqus commenting feature when you click the article detail page :

Note : 
If the visitor activates some ads blocker / no tracking feature on the browser, the Disqus commenting will not load to the visitor view.

We have explained some important points from this commenting system in detail on this page. Journals published using the OJS system are basically like scientific journals in general, judged not on the features of the commenting system, but on the impact value of each published article as measured by the number of citations.

A scientific journal is not a blog that presents articles without a rigorous review process from users who have expertise in evaluating scientific discussions submitted by the author.

With these differences in target users and characteristics, it is possible that many scientific journals do not apply this commenting system to the articles they publish. The choice to use this feature remains with you as a journal manager despite the advantages and disadvantages offered by third-party features and platforms.

Muhammad Hendra

Project Manager

Hendra here, I love writing about OJS and share knowledge about OJS. My passion is about OJS, OMP platform and doing some research on creating innovated products for that platform to help publisher to improve their publication.