OJS Journal Hosting - Public Knowledge Project

PKP Publishing Services provides hosting and support for Open Journal Systems (OJS), the most widely used publishing software in the world. By hosting with us, you support the continued development and sustainability of PKP software.

	Self-hosting	PKP Publishing Services – OJS hosting plans
	Self-hosting	Basic	Professional	Enterprise	Institutional	Archived
Service/Price	Free	$925 journal/year	$1,650 journal/year	$3,000 journal/year	Contact us for a quote	$450 journal/year
Open source OJS software
User guides on PKP Docs Hub
PKP Forum tech support
PKP School training videos
Public demo test site
Preservation in PKP PN
Professional installation and hosting on PKP servers, incl. upgrades, backups, security, SSL certificate, unlimited storage, and unlimited publications
Email-based tech support
Private test site by request¹
Standalone vs shared installation		Shared	Standalone	Standalone	Standalone
Personalized online training by PKP PS team			Initial (up to 3hrs)	Initial (up to 4hrs) + ongoing (up to 2hrs/year)	Initial (up to 4hrs) + ongoing (up to 2hrs/year)
Non-default 3rd-party plugins²
SSH & MySQL access
Minor front-end customizations³
Integrations (Subscription SSO, Shibboleth, LDAP, OpenID, Lucene)
Crossref membership⁴
DOAJ application support
Standalone sandbox⁵
Custom feature & theme development
Included Not included Additional fee 1. Private test site can be provided by request on a current supported OJS version, separate from your production installation. 2. Non-default 3rd party plugins are the plugins not included in the OJS Plugin Gallery. Installation is subject to code review by PKP PS team. 3. Minor front-end customizations include up to 2hrs of dev time for tweaks to the front-end, public-facing pages or existing plugins that will not be contributed to the core application. Back-end, editorial interface, and workflow customizations are not included. 4. Crossref membership includes annual Crossref member fees and DOI registration fees. It does not cover iThenticate/Similarity Check service & fees. 5. Standalone sandbox is a fully isolated copy of your journal, kept completely separate from your main OJS site. It provides a safe space where you can test new features, run experiments, or install applications without affecting your live journal.

Basic Hosting plan

Best for: New journals, limited budgets, teams comfortable learning on their own

Journals on a Basic plan are hosted on a shared OJS installation with other journals. Each journal’s site design, users, and configuration are completely independent, but the journals share a fixed set of out of the box plugins and themes. Non-default or custom plugins, a custom theme, or custom server configurations are not supported under this plan.

While the Basic plan does not include one-on-one training, you will have access to PKP’s extensive documentation, training videos, and email-based support. If you are migrating an existing journal, a Professional or Enterprise plan will be needed for a full OJS migration or batch content migration, but Basic plan users can upload past articles manually using the Quick Submit Plugin.

Professional hosting plan

Best for: New and migrating journals, teams looking for flexibility and 1:1 training

The Professional hosting plan includes a standalone OJS installation, which means access to default and non-default plugins, and an ability to upload your own custom theme in addition to the out of the box OJS themes.

Professional plan journals will receive an initial one-on-one training with our experts custom tailored for your editorial team. A full OJS migration or a batch migration of your content from a non-OJS platform can be done under the Professional plan. Discounts for 5+ journals available.

Enterprise hosting plan

Best for: New and migrating journals, teams looking for extra integrations, customizations, training and dev support

The Enterprise hosting plan offers additional services for journals looking to take advantage of front-end customizations or integrations, such as single sign-on (SSO). It comes with a direct server access via SSH and MySQL access giving your technical team the flexibility to work directly with your data.

Personalized training is available both at onboarding and in subsequent years to help bring your team up-to-date in case of an OJS version upgrades or editorial team changes. A full OJS migration or a batch migration of your content from a non-OJS platform can be done under the Enterprise plan.

Enterprise customers benefit from the included Crossref membership and DOAJ application support. Custom feature and theme development are available for an extra fee. Discounts for 5+ journals available.

Institutional hosting plan

Best for: Multi-journal institutional publishing programs

The Institutional plan is tailored towards higher education institutions managing 3 or more journals via a central contact. Unlimited free student journals are included with at least 5 active non-student journals. Discounts for 20+ journals available. Contact us for an estimate.

This plan includes an institutional landing page that automatically showcases your hosted journals and can be styled with your institution’s branding. This plan comes with front-end customizations or integrations, such as single sign-on (SSO) as well as direct server access via SSH and MySQL access giving your technical team the flexibility to work directly with your data.

Personalized training for your institutional support contact/team includes both the initial training and ongoing training in subsequent years. A full OJS migration or a batch migration of your content from a non-OJS platform can be done under the Institutional plan. Custom feature and theme development are available for an extra fee.

Archived hosting plan

Best for: Inactive journals

The Archived plan is meant for journals that no longer publish but wish to retain their back-issue archive in OJS. It includes installation and hosting only and no editorial activity or ongoing support.

Not sure which plan is right for you or have questions? See our FAQ for more information.

Ready to get started with our hosting? Contact us with a description of your requirements and we will provide a free, no-obligation quote.

International Institute of Islamic Thought

“I was always amazed by the response time that the PKP team took to resolve our issues or answer our questions. And when there was something that they needed more time to research or resolve, they always got back to me with updates.”
— Islamiyat al-Ma’rifah, International Institute of Islamic Thought

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