Table of Contents
Introduction
Some time ago, one of our OJS clients from France, Home Dialysis Bulletin, reached out to us regarding an issue they encountered. Their OJS journal operates in a bilingual (multilingual) format, meaning it can accept and publish articles in both English and French. This setup provides flexibility for authors worldwide to submit their manuscripts in their preferred language.
After several years of using OJS, the journal recently aimed to align their indexed articles in DOAJ and Crossref so that the metadata would appear primarily in English. Based on this goal, they decided to re-export the article XML files for DOAJ and Crossref from the OJS backend under the Tools menu.
They performed this export with the expectation that it would generate XML files containing the metadata in English, as they intended.
The point where the issue began
Was the article successfully exported into XML format? Yes, using OJS’s built-in export tools, specifically the “DOAJ Export Plugin” and the “Crossref XML Export Plugin”, the articles were successfully exported into XML format without any errors.
However, a new issue appeared at this point. The XML files exported using OJS’s built-in “DOAJ Export Plugin” and “Crossref XML Export Plugin” only generated metadata in the Primary Language selected by the author when the article was first submitted. The primary language here refers to the language option chosen by the author during the initial submission process.
For example, if the language option selected during submission is French, the article content will be set with French as its primary language, and so on.
Going back to the main issue, in short, our client wanted to export the XML metadata in English, hoping that the new XML files could be re-imported into DOAJ or Crossref so that the article content would be indexed in English. Unfortunately, the exported XML files still appeared in French, while they wanted the metadata in English.
Why did this happen? This occurred because the author had selected French as the primary language when submitting the article. As a result, when the journal manager attempted to export the XML in English, the output still generated XML metadata in French. Consequently, the journal manager had to manually edit the XML files and translate the metadata into English.
How we resolved the issue
When our client, Home Dialysis Bulletin, reported this to us, we realized that it was very important. We had not even been aware of this unique need before. We are obliged to provide technical support to this client so that they can carry out various processes in OJS seamlessly, because they are also a client who uses our OJS Support Service.
Actually, this solution we provide is only specific to our internal clients. However, as a form of our dedication and commitment to supporting the OJS community globally, we are now providing this solution publicly and free. So, please read this explanation step by step carefully.
Back to the discussion regarding the solution we provide. Based on this report, we and our team of experts, including the developer team, server team, and OJS expert team, conducted various analyses. Finally, we decided on a solution, which was to make further modifications to the plugins related to export in the OJS backend, specifically modifications to the built-in OJS “DOAJ Export Plugin” and “Crossref XML Export Plugin”
The modifications we made were done with the aim that the exported XML files would generate XML metadata according to the language selected by the Admin/Journal Manager on the OJS panel at the top right, as shown below:
For example, in the image above, the Journal Manager clicks “English,” then goes to tools and clicks export on the “DOAJ Export Plugin” or “Crossref XML Export Plugin” plugin, which will generate an XML file with metadata in English format as well. Conversely, if in the image above he selects “France,” then when he exports the XML, it will generate XML in French format as well.
Thus, this method makes the process more seamless, allowing both the Administrator and Journal Manager to easily generate XML files with metadata in their desired language.
Step by Step for Installation and Testing
Before you do this, please read the following disclaimer.
Disclaimer:
1. This method can only be applied for OJS 3.3 (we have not tried it on other versions of OJS).
2. We are not responsible for any errors or mistakes that may occur during implementation, as you are fully responsible for the process. Please proceed with caution.
3. Before doing this, we recommend that you back up the OJS folder and related plugins.
4. The modifications we made to these two plugins, “DOAJ Export Plugin” and “Crossref XML Export Plugin,” are limited to allowing OJS users to export XML metadata according to the selected language. These modifications do not add any functions beyond that and do not affect the functions of other plugins.
5. Make sure your article metadata is complete. For example, if your OJS is multilingual with English and French, you need to complete the article metadata for both languages.
6. The plugins we have modified are free in accordance with it original copyright; we do not have any rights to these plugins. Anyone can use these plugins for free.
Steps for installation
Next, we will go on to the stage of how to install this plugin.
As we mentioned in our client’s case, there are two types of plugins that we improved, namely the “DOAJ Export Plugin” and the “Crossref XML Export Plugin.”
So, the method we are explaining is related to the installation of these two plugins. Here is the explanation:
1. Please go to your OJS server in the directory public_html/plugins/importexport
2. After entering this directory, please back up the old “doaj” and “crossref” folders by converting them to .zip format.
3. After you have finished converting the old “doaj” and “crossref” folders into .zip files, please save these .zip files to your local storage and then delete the old ‘doaj’ and “crossref” folders.
4. The next step is to upload and extract the new modified “doaj” and “crossref” plugins to the public_html/plugins/importexport directory. You can find the download links for these plugins below.
Download Links:
a. DOAJ Export Plugin: https://github.com/openjournalteam/ojs-doaj
b. Crossref XML Export Plugin: https://github.com/openjournalteam/ojs-crossref
Note:
Currently this plugin only compatible with OJS 3.3
5. After you have finished extracting both plugins, make sure you rename the extracted folders as follows:
a. ojs-doaj-main rename to doaj
b. ojs-crossref-main rename to crossref
Before rename:
After rename:
6. Once you’re done, please clear your OJS cache and your browser cache.
7. The installation phase is complete.
Steps to export the XML
After installing the modified plugins, namely the “DOAJ Export Plugin” and “Crossref XML Export Plugin,” we can then try to export the XML file as we intended.
Example case:
For example, I want to export XML files of articles from OJS (Open Journal Systems) to be imported into DOAJ. However, the XML format I need must use XML metadata in French.
Here are the steps you can take to create it.
1. On the OJS dashboard in the right corner, click on the French language.
2. Then click OJS Dashboard > Tools > DOAJ Export
3. Then select the article you want and click “Export.”
4. Wait until the loading process is complete and the article’s XML file will automatically download to your local storage.
5. Here is the XML file that has been exported and generates metadata content in French as I wanted:
6. Next, we can use this XML file to import it into the DOAJ website.
7. Finished
Conclusion
Some OJS users, particularly those with unique needs, have expressed the desire to export XML files according to their preferred metadata language format. Responding to this demand, we have developed an enhancement by modifying the existing DOAJ Export Plugin and the Crossref XML Export Plugin in OJS. This improvement enables users to export XML files that align with the selected metadata language format, providing greater flexibility and convenience in managing multilingual journal data. To apply this feature, please refer to and follow the detailed tutorial provided above.
