Setting up CrossRef DOIs in OJS

When looking at the requirements for implementing CrossRef DOIs (digital object identifiers) in OJS (open journal systems) I was uncertain of the order required to set this up. (It did not help that the terminology used by OJS, CrossRef and other resources varies.)

There are different OJS forum posts that cover this, like Re: STEP BY STEP FOR USING CROSSREF.  These posts did help me figure out most of the steps and code I have used. However, I still needed to figure out the right order for when you display a DOI and then when it should be activated (so it can be used as a link).

The order for setting up DOIs in OJS for a journal are:

1. Apply to CrossRef and receive a DOI prefix
2. Add this DOI prefix to the Journal Setup / Details page
3. Enter/select and save your preferred DOI suffix 
4. Alter the metadata displayed on the Article record page. This should include the DOI you generated. 
5. Once the article is Published/Live/Public submit the metadata and DOI to CrossRef.  Either use the CrossRef XML export plugin or submit to CrossRef manually via the form http://www.crossref.org/webDeposit/ 
6. CrossRef will activate the DOIs, using your submitted metadata/DOI. (There may be a delay in the activation but the DOI can still be cited.)

More details for some of these steps and code

2. Adding and generating your DOI for each article

• Go to - User Home / Journal Manager /  Journal Setup / 1. Details / 1.1 General Information / DOI Prefix.  Enter the prefix here

3. Create the DOI suffix for each journal.

• You can use the template structure with OJS or create a structure.  (The DOI structure I suggested for each journal was concise and human readable.)  CrossRef provides some guidance http://help.crossref.org/#establishing_a_doi_suffix_pattern

4. Alter the metadata displayed on the Article record page (i.e. Journal Initials, Volume, Issue, Year)

• The OJS default does not display metadata that CrossRef requires, so you will need to change what is displayed for each article.
• OJS provides support to help you figure out how to create or change the code: OJS API Reference http://pkp.sfu.ca/ojs/doxygen/current/html/index.html and go to the Class List
• Within the directory (file structure) for your journal go to: Templates / Article and open the article.tpl file (via an XML editor, but I found WordPad is enough to edit the file). I added this code under the Authors and above the Abstract.  Edit or order this based on the needs of each journal.

      <div>  
      <br />  
      <div><h4>{$journal->getLocalizedInitials()|escape}, Vol {$issue->getVolume()|escape}, No {$issue->getNumber()|escape} ({$issue->getYear()|escape}) </h4></div>  
      <div><a href="http://dx.doi.org/{$article->getStoredDOI()|escape}">http://dx.doi.org/{$article->getStoredDOI()|escape}</a></div>  
      <br />  
      </div>   

• If you do not want to display the DOI as a link before it is activated when you first set this up use the code for the DOI without the link

 <div>DOI: {$article->getStoredDOI()|escape}</div>