YDJ services for journals¶

This section outlines the division of labour between YDJ and your journal: what you must do, what YDJ must do, what YDJ cannot do for you, and what YDJ does as a complementary, non-core services.

• The journal's role: what the journal must do
• The journals' role: additional responsibilities
• YDJ's role: what YDJ must do for the journal
• YDJ's role: additional services
• Appendix A: Role of sponsoring bodies for student journals

The journal's role: what the journal must do¶

To publish through the YDJ program, journal editors must abide by all these requirements. Failure to meet these obligations may result in the removal of the journal from the YDJ program. If required, YDJ reserves the right to unilaterally remove or remediate material that does not comply with copyright law or accessibility requirements.

Abide by Canadian copyright law¶

All YDJ journals must abide by Canadian copyright law and must not publish material without the appropriate permissions. Journal editors are responsible for ensuring that copyright compliance for published materials.

Where original, unpublished content is submitted by the author, the standard method for the journal to acquire the right to publish the material is an author agreement (whether a separate document or in the OJS submission interface). The author agreement should clearly articulate whether the author retains the copyright, or the journal acquires the copyright upon publication. If the author retains copyright, the agreement should stipulate the license terms under which the work is published (this is often and most conveniently done by means of Creative Commons licensing).

Where the journal wishes to publish previously published work, the editors must obtain explicit consent from the copyright holder and must cite the original publication.

The Digital Publishing Librarian will do their best to support editorial compliance by offering on-demand education/training and consulting on general and specific issues of copyright compliance, with the proviso that professional legal advice is not available.

Journal editors are responsible for responding to any challenges over the copyright of published materials. Nevertheless, YDJ reserves the right to unilaterally remove published materials in the case of disputes over copyright if there are reasonable grounds to believe that copyright has been infringed.

Abide AODA requirements for all newly published content¶

All YDJ journals must endeavour to meet accessibility requirements dictated by the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). The Digital Publishing Librarian may assist the journal with interpreting AODA requirements and with devising AODA-compliant workflows.

Key elements of AODA for journal and website text content include:

• Publishing text as text, not as images of text.
• Using formatted headers in a hierarchical, logical, and consistent way.
• Ensuring that the font size and colour ratios meet WCAG requirements.
• Not using text colour alone to convey meaning.
• Using localization to present multilingual content, not adding multiple languages to the same text field.

Key elements of AODA for journal and website image content include:

• Using of text alternatives for images.
• Ensuring use of high contrast colours to convey information.
• Not using colour alone to convey meaning.

Upon request, journal editors must provide readers with more accessible versions of site or journal content. Where possible, the Digital Publishing Librarian may support the editors in meeting any such requests.

Publish reference lists for new content (journals receiving DOIs only)¶

Where journals receive DOIs through YUL's membership in CrossRef, editors must agree to start publishing article reference lists as part of the metadata. Reference linking is a requirement from CrossRef for providing DOIs. It provides more fulsome citation counts and permits bibliometric analysis.

For active journals, YDJ will inform editors how to produce reference lists for newly published material; for journals with extensive back files, YDJ may leverage YUL staff (as resources permit) to extract and publish reference lists.

Keep YDJ updated with any changes to contact information¶

It is the journal's responsibility to keep YDJ updated with current contact information and the names of lead editors. YDJ must be able to contact the editor(s) of the journal with news about changes to YDJ services, including service disruptions and software upgrades.

Journal editors should contact YDJ to notify us of any changes to contact information and lead editorial responsibilities.

Failure to keep updated contact information on file with YDJ may result in decisions being made around software and service provision without journal consultation and input, which may in turn hinder the journal's production. Failure to respond to direct email queries may result in the journal being declared lapsed and having editorial permissions removed from OJS until contact is re-established with YDJ (see "Provide ongoing stewardship for lapsed and discontinued journals" below).

The journals' role: additional responsibilities¶

The following items are the responsibility of the journal and the editor(s). YDJ may consult in these areas but will not undertake work in them.

Secure financial support¶

The journal is responsible for financing its own production. YUL supports journals with in-kind provision of infrastructure and services, as described in this document.

Upload and publish content¶

Editors are responsible for creating issues and adding all content to OJS, whether by encouraging author submission or using the QuickSubmit plugin. YDJ may be able to assist with upload back files of existing journals migrating to the YDJ program, pending staff availability.

Manage user accounts¶

Editors are responsible for all user account management, except for inaugural editor account setup. YDJ may get involved in account management if required to provide new editors with access or to remove access for inactive journals.

Provide legal advice¶

Editors are responsible for seeking and retaining their own legal counsel, if required. YDJ does not have legal expertise and cannot interpret contracts or legal documents (e.g., distribution and indexing contracts) and can only comment in a general sense about author rights and technical requirements.

Participate in editorial process¶

Editors are responsible for undertaking all aspects of the editorial workflow, including but not limited to:

• Moving submissions through the editorial, review, or production stages
• Assigning articles to editors
• Performing peer review
• Copyediting
• Layout
• Author communications

YDJ may consult with editors about these workflows and may help troubleshoot difficult situations but will not perform regular editorial duties.

Design and customization of OJS sites¶

Editors are responsible for designing their journal's OJS according to the constraints of a standard installation of OJS. YDJ cannot provide OJS site design services except for activating non-default themes as plugins. For reasons of capacity, sustainability, accessibility, and guaranteed functionality YDJ can only support customizations that can be implemented through the OJS journal manager interface and cannot implement forks to the OJS source code.

Where journals provide subscription to their contents, the editors are responsible for all aspects of subscriber management and for configuring payment systems.

YDJ's role: what YDJ must do for the journal¶

The following tasks are YDJ's core service offerings for journals. Most of these are related to software maintenance or administrative account functions and cannot be undertaken by the editors.

Maintain the OJS platform in secure, working order¶

Maintenance of the OJS platform includes updates to the latest, stable version of OJS and unilaterally changing site settings if they interfere with the security, stability, or functionality of the site.

Maintenance tasks may also include:

• globally implementing minor version changes of OJS as they become available.
• consulting with editors about timing for global implementation of major version changes.
• notifying editors via the YDJ listserv of all version changes.
• monitoring OJS plugins for updates and updating them.
• temporarily removing any site content or design choices that break functionality until able to work with editors for more lasting fix.

YDJ will ensure regular back-ups and integrity checks as part of regular maintenance, along with security updates as necessary.

Install and upgrade any plugins for the editors¶

This can only be done by the Digital Publishing Librarian as OJS admin or by LDSI. Journal editors should contact YDJ with any requests for plugin installation and upgrades.

YDJ endeavours to monitor OJS plugins for updates and to update the plugins proactively.

Configure any external services, such as DOIs/Crossref, ORCID IDs, iThenticate¶

Even if journals procure these services for themselves, YDJ must install the plugins.

If journals use YUL's ORCID ID, DOI, or iThenticate services, the Digital Publishing Librarian must configure the credentials; otherwise, the editors can configure their own valid credentials.

Change localization (language) settings¶

Only YDJ has systems permission to add or change language settings in OJS. Journal editors should contact YDJ with to add another locale to their journal.

YDJ's role: additional services¶

The following are additional services provided by YDJ for the journals on request or as resources permit. Where competing priorities occur, YDJ guarantees 10 hours per year of direct support for each journal.

Provide OJS training¶

The Digital Publishing Librarian may offer personalized, on-demand training for most aspects of OJS usage. The first source for training on OJS for YDJ editors is Getting on board with OJS 3.3: A guide for YDJ editors, which includes referrals to PKP's official editorial training modules.

Personalized training is mostly provided to new journal editors and editorial teams to supplement existing, self-guided training materials on specific topics. It may also be provided for editors who wish to change the journal's workflow in OJS and to take advantage of new modules. YDJ also maintains a public knowledge base called OJS for YDJ to supplement the official OJS documentation and to document local practices.

Provide ad hoc support¶

The Digital Publishing Librarian is most frequently called upon to help editors, authors, and readers with all manner of help requests. These include technical support (i.e., "this doesn't work…") and procedural support (i.e., "how do I do…?").

Consult on editorial policies and practices¶

YDJ may consult on strategic and editorial decisions by editors. Areas frequently consulted include:

• editorial best practices
• OJS workflows
• authors' rights, licensing, and copyright
• applications for scholarly database inclusion and vendor agreements (YDJ empathically does not provide legal advice on contracts)
• publishing content in alternative formats
• indexing practices
• site layout and design.

Provide accessibility support¶

YDJ provides support for Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) compliance since YDJ journals are beholden to AODA. Resources may be provided to help editors understand and meet AODA requirements, and editors are welcome to consult with the Digital Publishing Librarian on specific accessibility-related concerns.

Enable long-term preservation and access¶

YDJ provides ongoing hosting and distribution for ceased journals as well as active journals. Where journals have been discontinued, YDJ ensures that their OJS sites remain updated, secure, and functional alongside the active journals. YDJ also maintains the look and feel of the sites through successive software updates. Ceased journals may also receive DOIs and metadata cleanup.

YDJ works with OCUL's Scholars Portal Journals platform (a Trusted Digital Repository) to provide long-term preservation and access to all journals' contents in the event of YDJ service disruption or the discontinuation of the YDJ program. YDJ encourages all journals to sign the Scholars Portal Journals Local Load Agreement to authorize harvesting and preservation.

Provide ongoing stewardship for lapsed and discontinued journals¶

Where journals have discontinued publication, YDJ will maintain the OJS site indefinitely. YDJ will take responsibility for decisions pertaining to the ongoing stewardship and distribution of journal contents, such as metadata cleanup and augmentation, integration of identifiers (such as DOIs), indexing agreements, file format migration, accessibility remediation, or other projects. YDJ will also remove editorial permissions from user accounts as a security precaution. Where discontinued journals receive DOIs through YUL's membership in CrossRef, YDJ may extract and publish reference lists in the article metadata. Reference linking is a requirement from CrossRef for providing DOIs.

Journals may formally discontinue publication by giving written notice of their cessation to YDJ.

Journals may be deemed to be lapsed if:

• they have not published any content for 5 years, or
• editors do not respond to direct communication asking them to confirm that the journal remains active. It is the journal editors' responsibility to ensure that YDJ has the most recent contact information for the journal on file (see "Keep YDJ updated with any changes to contact information," above).

Lapsed journals will be treated as discontinued unless the editors begin to publish again.

Maintain analytics platforms and extract data¶

YDJ maintains server-side analytics and configures 3^rd-party analytics for journals to provide anonymized web analytics. Web analytics are especially important for journals that apply for SSHRC's triennial Aid to Scholarly Journals (ASJ) competition, as well as for internal evaluation of the YDJ program. The journal agrees to have YDJ install and maintain analytics packages on its instance of OJS. YDJ will inform journal editors about the privacy implications of any analytics used.

York University subscribes to Altmetrics Explorer. Editors who are faculty at YU can access Altmetric Explorer directly. YDJ can configure regular email reports for YU students and non-YU affiliated editors.

YDJ does not currently have the expertise to performed detailed analysis of web analytics or altmetrics.

Provide ORCID ID integration¶

YDJ will configure the ORCID ID plugin for YDJ journals, allowing them to interface with authors' ORCID ID profiles and to push publication records to the authors' profiles.

Host multimedia content¶

Several YDJ journals publish video, audio, or interactive games. YDJ provides a stable, persistent hosting location for these using YUL infrastructure and facilitates the integration of these digital media objects in OJS by assisting in the creation of HTML galleys with embedded media streams.

YDJ can only provide hosting for Open Access media with clearly defined licenses, such as Creative Commons licenses.

Maintain YDJ listserv¶

YDJ maintains a listserv for all YDJ journals. The listserv is used to share important news about our hosting infrastructure, to publicize events, and to provide a forum for discussion among editors.

Provide DOIs¶

YDJ may provide Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) for journals. DOIs are unique identifiers for articles that also serve as persistent, stable links that also facilitate bibliometric analysis. YDJ can provide DOIs to journals thanks to YUL's membership in CrossRef (a DOI registration agency) via the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL). YUL funds DOI registration and provides the service at no cost to the journals.

Provide plagiarism screening¶

YDJ has discounted access to the iThenticate plagiarism screening service via OCUL's CrossRef membership. Interested journal editors should should contact YDJ with . Editors will need to sign a separate MoU specifically for access to iThenticate.

Publish reference lists for back file content (journals receiving DOIs only)¶

For journals receiving DOIs with extensive back files and for inactive journals, YDJ may leverage Library staff as resources permit to extract and publish reference lists.

Digitize and ingest back files¶

YDJ supports journals that began life as print journals or on other electronic platforms. When such journals migrate to YDJ, YDJ may leverage Library staff as resources permit to digitize or upload back files.

Appendix A: Role of sponsoring bodies for student journals¶

Student journals must be sponsored by an academic unit (such as a program, department, faculty, school, or organized research unit/ORU) or student association. If such a sponsor cannot be found, student journal editors should contact the Digital Publishing Librarian to discuss a suitable alternative.

The sponsoring body bears ultimate responsibility for the journal's activities. YDJ will refer to the faculty sponsor to arbitrate in the unlikely event of a dispute over editorship or decisions made by the journal's editors. YDJ may also contact the sponsoring body to make determinations about whether a journal has lapsed or discontinued, or if prospective editors wish to revive a lapsed journal.

The individual who signs the YDJ MoU on behalf of a sponsoring body is considered to have signed ex officio as its representative; if that individual is unavailable for future consultation, YDJ will communicate with other members of the sponsoring body instead.