Roles and Responsibilities – Journals

Find out what you can expect from the journal hosting service and understand your editorial obligations.

Edinburgh University Library will:

• Provide the service free of charge on the condition that journal requirements can be met without additional cost or time to the Library
• Host the journal on the Library’s Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform, perform updates and daily backups, and ensure long-term preservation
• Provide technical support as needed
• Provide limited customisation of the new journal site
• Assess requests for site features and functionality and investigate whether they can be accommodated using existing OJS capabilities
• Provide advice and support to help editors set up their journal and develop journal policies
• Provide documentation and initial training on using OJS. Additional training can be provided as required for new editors
• Provide advice and best practice guidelines on issues pertaining to academic publishing
• Provide guidance on the publication of full-text HTML, multimedia files and supplementary material
• Consult with experts in the Library to offer copyright advice
• Apply for an ISSN on behalf of the journal
• Manage, and pay for, Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) through the Library’s Crossref member account. DOIs will have the Library’s prefix
• Provide access to usage statistics and set up a Google Analytics account for the journal. Please note, the Library may make appropriate use of the statistical data
• Apply for inclusion in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and help the journal meet the requirements for being awarded the DOAJ Seal of Approval for Open Access Journals
• Work with editors to identify and apply to suitable abstracting and indexing services and bibliographic databases to increase the visibility and discoverability of the journal

Journal Editors will:

• Have complete editorial control over the journal and the content published in it
• Be responsible for updating the journal website and managing the editorial and production workflows, including:
  • submissions
  • peer review
  • copyediting
  • proofreading
  • page layout
  • typesetting
  • handling illustrations and multimedia files
• Publish content online, ensuring bibliographic information is complete and correct
• Manage journal promotion, including any social media accounts

• Confirm they agree to follow policies that the Library requires as standard – guidance will be provided as needed:

  • the hosted journal is fully Open Access
  • the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines are followed
  • the journal site includes a Take Down policy, a statement regarding publication charges and a note on copyright and permissions – see example of a Journal Policies page
  • for journals that use DOIs, the article DOI is included in the full-text PDF and authors are asked to add DOIs to the list of references
• Ensure published content does not infringe third-party copyright and that publishing practices comply with privacy legislation including GDPR – the Library reserves the right to make published items temporarily unavailable while we investigate complaints
• Publish content as per the journal’s publication schedule
• Respond to communications from the Library in a timely fashion
• Inform the Library of any significant changes in the management of the journal
• Provide names and contact details for two individuals who will be the primary contacts – at least one primary contact has to be based at the University of Edinburgh
• Provide the name of the School with which the journal is affiliated – the School will be listed as the publisher of the journal
• Seek the support of their School in publishing the journal – this is mandatory for student-led journals and recommended for academic-led journals
• Have a succession plan in place – this is mandatory for student-led journals and recommended for academic-led journals

Interested in hosting your journal with us?

Submit a Journal Proposal