Need to Go Beyond Publishing Software

While publishing systems are extremely powerful and feature-rich, in many cases they are limited by a lack of flexible access to real-time data, limited personalization of reports, or a lack of advanced visualization tools.

Although systems such as OJS offer basic reporting and statistics functions, in the day-to-day work of editors – and especially when managing a larger number of journals – there is often a need to quickly access data in a more flexible, transparent and interactive form. Also a limitation is, limited personalization of reports, or lack of advanced visualization tools. This is where a dashboard built in Google Sheets (or Excel) comes to the rescue, acting as an external analytical interface.

Major system constraints:

• No interactive management dashboards,

• Reporting limited to rigid templates (or none at all),

• Need to manually export data (e.g., CSV or XML),

• Low level of integration with BI (business intelligence) and cloud tools.

In practice, this means that infrastructure managers must proactively create “technology bridges” – tools that enable:

• Data processing outside the system (ETL – Extract, Transform, Load),

• Integration with institutional reporting systems,

• Clear presentation of operational and statistical data of the editors.

Advantages of using a dashboard

1. Centralization of information

   • You can compile data from multiple journals or multiple sources (e.g. OJS, repository, ORCID) in one place.

   • You easily gain a cross-sectional view (the entire institution) and a detailed view (a single title).

2. Accessibility and sharing

   • The dashboard can be shared with editors, publishing executives, the library or institutional partners.

   • Ability to limit read-only permissions.

3. Automated updates

   • With OJS API integration (or simple CSV exports from the database), data can be automatically refreshed.

   • Update schedules (e.g., every 24 hours) keep reports up to date without manual intervention.

4. Interactivity and visualization

   • The dashboard can include charts, maps, filters, magazine check boxes, date ranges, etc.

   • Ability to build dynamic KPIs (average review time, number of submissions in a given period, percentage of articles without DOI).

Click below and see what a sample simple dashboard looks like in Google Sheets.

USE CASE – Google Sheets dashboard