This post was originally published by Marion Paulhac on the European Diamond Capacity Hub (EDCH) Community Forum here. Image by Creating a Robust Accessible Federated Technology for Open Access (CRAFT-OA).
The CRAFT-OA project is hosting a new series of online workshops on Open Journal Systems (OJS).
These sessions are designed for OJS platform managers, institutional IT staff, and journal administrators who are looking for practical guidance on installation, upgrades, migration, configuration, and theming. The focus is on real needs that publishing teams encounter in their day-to-day work.
Each workshop in the “Meet the Experts” series includes:
- A clear, step-by-step demonstration by experienced practitioners
- Practical checklists and takeaways
- Time for discussion and questions
The goal is to provide support that helps teams of all sizes set up and maintain a reliable, modern, and user-friendly OJS installation.
Workshops schedule
Workshop #1: OJS Upgrade – August 29, 2025, 2 PM CEST
Presenter: Jonas Raoni Soares da Silva
Step-by-step walkthrough of upgrading from OJS 3.x to 3.5
Keeping your OJS installation up to date is essential for both security and functionality.
This workshop will provide a step-by-step walkthrough of the process to upgrade from OJS 3.x to the latest 3.5 release.
Participants will:
- Learn the technical requirements and preparation steps
- Follow a complete upgrade demonstration
- Receive a practical checklist for a smooth transition
- Have the chance to ask questions and get expert feedback
This session is part of the CRAFT-OA project’s “Meet the Experts” series, supporting community-led, open scholarly publishing.
Workshop #2: Migrating to OJS – September 5, 2025, 10 AM CEST
Presenters: Antti-Jussi Nygård (on the EDCH Forum as @ajnyga) and Ronald Steffen
Best practices and demonstrations for migrating content into OJS
As more journals adopt OJS, migrating existing content into the platform has become a key challenge for many teams.
This session will explore different strategies for migration and provide a live demonstration of data import processes.
Participants will:
- Discover options for moving journals into OJS
- See practical examples of migration workflows
- Learn best practices to avoid common pitfalls
- Discuss their own cases and challenges with the presenters
Organized as part of the CRAFT-OA project’s “Meet the Experts” series, this workshop aims to make migration a more manageable task for publishing teams.
Workshop #3: OJS Containerization (Docker) – September 12, 2025, 9 AM CEST
Presenter: Marc Bria (on the EDCH Forum as @marc)
How to deploy and maintain OJS using Docker and Docker Compose.
Containerization is becoming an increasingly effective way to deploy and manage scholarly publishing services.
This workshop will show how OJS can be installed and maintained with Docker and Docker Compose, making systems more portable, consistent, and scalable.
Participants will:
- Understand the core concepts of containerization
- Learn how to deploy OJS using official Docker images
- Explore strategies for updates, backups, and recovery
- Gain recipes and best practices to maintain services long-term
This event is part of the CRAFT-OA project’s “Meet the Experts” series, designed to provide practical support for OJS managers and administrators.
Workshop #4: Configuration options in OJS – September 26, 2025, 10 AM CEST
Presenter: Radek Gomola
Tips and plugins to customize appearance, workflows, and usability.
Open Journal Systems comes with many built-in configuration options and plugins that allow journals to adapt the platform to their needs.
This workshop will highlight practical tips and tricks to make OJS more usable, visually appealing, and efficient.
Participants will:
- Learn how to customize themes and layouts
- Explore recommended plugins for better workflows
- Understand how to adapt OJS to different publishing contexts
- See examples of “default vs. customized” setups
Organized within the CRAFT-OA project’s “Meet the Experts” series, this session focuses on making OJS both functional and user-friendly.
Workshop #5: Theming in OJS – October 17, 2025, 10 AM CEST
Presenter: Nate Wright
Creating and maintaining efficient, modern themes for OJS.
A well-designed theme makes OJS not only more attractive but also easier to use.
This two-part workshop will walk through the essentials of creating and maintaining OJS themes.
Participants will:
- Learn how to build a child theme and customize HTML/CSS
- Explore best practices for performance and maintainability
- Discover methods for loading custom data and creating new pages
- See how to use modern tools like Vite for development
This session is part of the CRAFT-OA project’s “Meet the Experts” series, supporting the development of flexible, sustainable journal platforms.
These workshops are part of the CRAFT-OA project’s efforts to strengthen community-driven, open scholarly publishing infrastructure across Europe.
Registration is open for all sessions. You can find more details and sign-up links in each dedicated post above (at the original post) 
We look forward to welcoming participants from across the community!
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