June 2022 Announcement

Beginning in mid-June, Texas Digital Library will upgrade its hosted academic journals to Open Journal Systems (OJS) version 3.3. At the same time, TDL will migrate each site into a new hosting environment, with an updated operating system, database software and application server software.

This upgrade will result in a number of user interface and performance improvements, including:

• administrative dashboard enhancements

• web accessibility improvements in the public-facing default theme

• performance improvements (e.g. faster loading time)

What you should know right now:

• TDL will be performing these upgrades over the summer, starting in mid-June. The project to upgrade all sites will take several months.

• We will notify you when it is your journal’s turn to be upgraded, and let you know your “maintenance window” – a period of several hours when your site will not be available.

• We will bring down the journal site during the maintenance window to avoid missing any changes to the site during the migration (for example, we don’t want anyone to make a manuscript submission to the site while the migration is on-going.)

• During the maintenance window, if a user comes to your site, they will see a page that lets them know that the site is down for maintenance. 

If at any time, you have questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact us through our Helpdesk at support@tdl.org.

What you should do before your upgrade:

• Review the changes coming with OJS 3.3. Refer to available documentation and this excellent PKP-produced video providing an overview of changes in the new version.

• Test out the new version in a Demo Journal. Test drive OJS 3.3 in the PKP-hosted Demonstration Journal.

• Subscribe to TDL’s OJS Journal Managers email list to get connected with other journal management and editorial groups using TDL-hosted Open Journal Systems.

• Contact the TDL Helpdesk at support@tdl.org with any questions or concerns.