Upgrade your legacy OJS 2.x, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, or 3.4 journal to the newest OJS 3.5 Long-Term Support (LTS) release without losing articles, DOIs, users, or editorial workflow history.
Enjoy modern editorial tools, enhanced security patches, and PHP 8.3 performance gains.
Powered by PHP 8.2/8.3 optimizations, reducing page load times for reviewers and readers worldwide.
Fixes critical legacy security flaws, SQL injection risks, and spam bot vulnerabilities in older OJS versions.
Redesigned, mobile-friendly editorial workflow making manuscript review easy on tablets & mobile devices.
We copy your existing site to an isolated staging server for zero risk testing.
We execute SQL schema migrations and sanitize legacy user and article tables.
Re-configure Crossref, ORCID, DOAJ, OAI-PMH, and responsive themes.
Seamless switchover during off-peak hours with instant DNS verification.
We support upgrades from all major legacy OJS releases.
| Current Version | Target Release | Data Safety | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| OJS 2.4.x (Legacy) | OJS 3.5 LTS | 100% Safe | |
| OJS 3.0.x - 3.2.x | OJS 3.5 LTS | 100% Safe | |
| OJS 3.3.x / 3.4.x | OJS 3.5 LTS | 100% Safe |
Executive Summary: The 100% Free OJS 3.5 LTS Upgrade Pre-Flight Audit includes comprehensive staging server simulation, database schema sanity checking, and PHP 8.3 compatibility verification for existing OJS 2.4.x, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and 3.4 journals. Upgrades are tested in isolated sandbox environments with zero production downtime and 100% data preservation guarantee.
1. Scope of Complimentary Upgrade Audit & Staging Sandbox: PKPOJS provides a complimentary technical pre-flight audit for academic institutions and scholarly editorial teams seeking to modernize their journal infrastructure to OJS 3.5 Long-Term Support (LTS). The free audit comprises an offsite sandbox replication of your current database and system configuration to evaluate database table integrity, primary key constraints, submission histories, and PHP runtime requirements. The complimentary tier covers assessment reports, automated schema migration readiness analysis, and staging environment verification. Live production execution, DNS redirection, and bespoke template adjustments are reviewed and scheduled following technical consultation.
2. Database Integrity, Zero Data Loss & DOI Preservation: PKPOJS guarantees absolute zero data loss for all verified core OJS entities throughout the migration pipeline. This guarantee covers published volumes, full-text PDF galleys, author submission workflows, peer-review histories, editorial comment logs, user credentials, and Crossref Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs). Internal journal URL redirect maps are configured to preserve legacy article citations and indexing URLs, ensuring that Google Scholar, Scopus, and PubMed indexing links remain fully operational and untruncated after migration.
3. Legacy Plugins, Third-Party Modules & Custom Code: Migrating from legacy OJS versions (especially OJS 2.x and early 3.x) to OJS 3.5 LTS requires strict alignment with modern object-oriented PHP 8.2 and 8.3 standards. Obsolete, deprecated, or abandoned third-party plugins (such as outdated quickSubmit variants, Flash viewers, or defunct custom gateway plugins) may not function natively in OJS 3.5. PKPOJS will identify non-compliant plugins during the staging audit. Where official OJS 3.5 LTS replacements exist, they will be enabled; custom plugins requiring complex architectural rewrites, proprietary API bridges, or bespoke module development will be quoted under specialized engineering packages during direct discussion.
4. Server Environment Requirements & Client Backup Responsibilities: Live deployment of OJS 3.5 LTS requires compatible server hosting infrastructure supporting PHP 8.2 or 8.3, MariaDB 10.5+ or MySQL 8.0+, Apache/Nginx with mod_rewrite, and modern SSL libraries. While PKPOJS creates encrypted forensic staging backups prior to initiating any migration tasks, applicant institutions bear ultimate institutional responsibility for retaining an authoritative, untouched, cold-storage backup of their server files and SQL database dumps prior to providing staging access credentials.
5. Editorial Workflow Training, Independent Vendor Notice & Approvals: Following a successful version migration to OJS 3.5 LTS, PKPOJS technical teams provide basic orientation documentation to editorial staff covering redesigned submission dashboards, reviewer assignment workflows, and notification preferences. PKPOJS Academic Solutions operates as an autonomous open-source systems integrator and technical support provider. PKPOJS is independent of the Public Knowledge Project (PKP). Open Journal Systems (OJS) is a trademark of PKP. PKPOJS reserves the right to decline or defer migration requests for databases with unrepairable third-party SQL corruptions or unlicensed proprietary codebases.