Release notes: Journal platform (2026)
Notes on the live releases to the Ubiquity platform are listed below, including bug fixes, new features, and enhancements to existing functionality. Bug fixes specific to individual installations (e.g. a journal) are not listed. The dates given are for the end of the development sprint cycle, not the exact date that the release was completed.
Release notes for other years can be found on our central Release Notes page.
See our Release notes: Book & Press platform for similar updates on our book and press platform.
02 June 2026
| ID | Bug/ Feature/ Enhancement | Title | Description |
| OJS-2626 | Bug fix | Subject taxonomy displayed in irrelevant fields in submission form | If a subject taxonomy had been selected, it appeared in all available fields during the “Review and Submit” step. It has now been fixed and is displayed properly in the relevant section only. |
| OJS-2629 | Bug fix | "Better password" plugin improvement | The issue was that password rules were not applied consistently, as users created through the backend could use passwords that did not meet all requirements. In addition, users were not shown all password requirements upfront, and validation messages appeared one at a time instead of showing all issues at once. It has been fixed. Plugin contribution https://github.com/ulsdevteam/pkp-betterPassword/pull/72 |
| OJS-2630 | Bug fix | Accepted dates not reaching Central Station | Articles' acceptance dates were not arriving to Central Station which caused additional production work. It has been fixed. |
| OJS-2633 | Bug fix | Incorrect order of authors and First Author attribution | The issue was that changes to the author order made during submission were not always saved correctly if authors used the Continue button without explicitly selecting Save Order. As a result, the submitted article could display authors in the wrong order and incorrectly assign first authorship, causing confusion for authors who had entered the information correctly. |
| OJS-2634 | Enhancement | Adding YouTube thumbnail as social media option | A request was addressed to add YouTube as a social media option, with a dedicated field in the backend and a thumbnail displayed alongside the social media icons beneath the homepage carousel, allowing journals to promote content hosted on their YouTube channels. |
| OJS-2639 | Bug fix | Using filter deanonymizes submissions | A bug was identified where applying filters on the reviewer dashboard could expose author information in submission files, breaking the configured anonymous review process and compromising reviewer anonymity. It has been fixed. |
19th May 2026
| ID | Bug/ Feature/ Enhancement | Title | Description |
| OJS-2505 | Bug fix | Submission URL email variable (core contribution) | A bug was discovered in an email variable that is providing authors with a URL that they cannot access. A pull request has been made to fix this issue in core OJS. |
| OJS-2559 | Bug fix | Review form download shows original file names | If an editor downloads a completed review form, it displays the names of the files that were provided to the reviewer. It was discovered that this was displaying the original file names and not updated titles, if they had been changed. This has been corrected so that the download displays the file name as the reviewer saw it. |
| OJS-2605 | Bug fix | Email signature not appearing in Editorial Activity email | The sign off email variable for the Editorial Activity email, which is sent to editors each month, was not rendering correctly. This has been fixed. |
| OJS-2608 | Bug fix | Article title formatting not saving | Formatting added to article titles was not being saved for new submissions. This has been fixed. |
| OJS-2611 | Bug fix | Search filter error on article list | The website publication list was not always generating article lists when the filter options were being used. This has been fixed so that the filters are now all functional. |
6th May 2026
| ID | Bug/ Feature/ Enhancement | Title | Description |
| OJS-2392 | Enhancement | HTML editor | The Journal Manager will now be able to edit more journal settings using an HTML editor, should they wish. Previously, settings were restricted to only limited editing options. |
| OJS-2471 | Bug fix | Editor assigment email | The weekly email sent to editors, reminding them of their editorial assignments, contained an error that also listed their assignments as authors and/or reviewers. These assignments have now been removed from the email, so the editor can be confident that every listed assignment requires their editorial oversight. |
| OJS-2595 | Bug fix | Error reports within the SWORD plugin | When enabled, the SWORD plugin generated errors that prevented the workflow from functioning correctly. These issues have been fixed, so the plugin is now functional. |
| OJS-2617 | Bug fix | Author last name metadata | The article publication page was providing double-barreled last names incorrectly to browser extensions, which caused some authors to be listed incorrectly. This issue has now been fixed, so that authors with multiple words in their last name are exported correctly into reference managers. |
21st April 2026
| ID | Bug/ Feature/ Enhancement | Title | Description |
| OJS-2139 | New feature | Auto save on review forms | The review form will now automatically save whilst the reviewer is inputting the details, helping to reduce the chance of lost information. Previously, the reviewer would need to manually save their edits, meaning that data would be lost if the reviewer did not do this, or connection was lost. The auto save function adds a layer of additional protection to help ensure that reviewer time is not wasted. |
| OJS-2591 | Enhancement | Update to article XSL | Updates to the article rendering rules so ensure best practise on alt-text, citations and competing interest statements. |
| OJS-2601 | Enhancement | Recommended decision workflow - new round of review (core contribution) | An updated core contribution pull request has been made to core OJS so that the recommended decision workflow will allow Section Editors permission to start new rounds of review. See https://github.com/pkp/pkp-lib/pull/12037 |
| OJS-2520 | Bug fix | My Queue labels not displaying correctly | The submission labels in My Queue were not displaying correctly for some users. This has been fixed. Editorial action labels should now show as normal. |
| OJS-2542 | Bug fix | Collection ordering error | The order that collections were listed in were changing unintentionally. This has been fixed so that only the 'Order' function will change the order in which the collections are displayed. |
| OJS-2592 | Bug fix | Issue archive page custom text | The custom text that can appear at the top of the issue archive page was not displaying. This has been fixed so that any content added into the OJS setting will be reflected on the website. |
8th April 2026
| ID | Bug/ Feature/ Enhancement | Title | Description |
| OJS-2307 | New feature | Taxonomy submission setting | It is now possible to dictate whether an author is able to assign a submission to a taxonomy during the submission process or not. When enabled, the full list of taxonomy options will be available to the author as part of the submission workflow. When disabled, only editors will be able to assign a taxonomy to the submission. |
| OJS-2479 | Enhancement | All Authors email function (core contribution) | Further code refinement submitted for the core contribution to all an author to email all contributors from an easily accessible button. See https://github.com/pkp/pkp-lib/pull/11687 |
| OJS-2550 | Bug fix | Quick submit error | If an editor started a submission via the quick submit plugin but then cancelled the action, an error would be shown and an incomplete article would remain in the submission list. This has been fixed so that the delete button completely removes the submission. |
| OJS-2569 | Bug fix | Incomplete submissions not being removed | Checks were completed on the scheduled task to remove incomplete submissions once a month, if they are older than a specified age. |
24 March 2026
| ID | Bug/ Feature/ Enhancement | Title | Description |
| OJS-2431 | Enhancement | iThenticate plugin - component selection |
The iThenticate plugin has been upgraded to allow the selection of which article components are sent to iThenticate as part of the automated feed at the point of submission. If automated deposit is enabled, the journal can now specify which components are sent, rather than the plugin sending all files. This selection gives the journal more control over the types of content sent to iThenticate, helping to enhance efficiency in the editorial workflow and reduce costs. When enabled, the component settings can be found in Workflow > Components. An Knowledge Base article is also available: https://journals.support.ubiquity.pub/article/355-how-to-i-setup-ithenticate |
| OJS-2539 | Enhancement | OJS article search | The search function within OJS to find articles within the editorial workflow has been refined to ensure that the most accurate matches appear as the top results. Previously, entering the article title did not always lead to that article being the top result. The new logic ensures that exact matches are now prioritized, with partial matches following. |
| OJS-2541 | Enhancement | Article XSL update | Update the presentation of full-text articles so that hyperlinks display slightly differently across various reference formats. |
10th March 2026
| ID | Bug/ Feature/ Enhancement | Title | Description |
| OJS-2368 | Bug fix | Password reset emails | Some of the details within password reset emails were not being displayed correctly. These have now been corrected so that the site user can easily identify the correct information in the email. |
| OJS-2420 | Bug fix | Issue Archive custom text caching | The Issue Archive page allows custom text to be added to the top of the list of issues, however, due to a caching problem updates to the text were taking a long time to reach the frontend. The cache has been fixed so that updates should now appear very quickly once updated in OJS. |
| OJS-2484 | Bug fix | Access permissions table error | The permission to access each stage of the workflow was not responding correctly in the Roles table, where journals can customise which users have access to each stage of the submission process. This has now been fixed. |
| OJS-2488 | Enhancement | Country list update | The available country list has been updated so that platform users can associate their profile country to the Republic of Kosovo. |
| OJS-2530 | Bug fix | Review form XML download | Completed review forms can be downloaded in both PDF and XML format. The XML option had an error introduced, which has now been fixed. |
| OJS-2537 | Bug fix | Article ordering within collection pages |
Collection pages can order the articles in different ways, however, this function was not working for all options. This has now been fixed so that collections can be ordered by:
|
24th February 2026
| ID | Bug/ Feature/ Enhancement | Title | Description |
| OJS-2412 | Enhancement | iThenticate 'error' improvement | The iThenticate plugin has been updated so that files that fail to generate a report due to insufficient text will no longer generate an error message on the main dashboard. |
| OJS-2481 | Bug fix | Reviewer assign error | Additional contribution to the core bug that currently prevents the re-assignment of a reviewer who also has editor/manager permissions. Core pull request available. |
| PLAT-2560 | Enhancement | MHRA reference style | MHRA has been added as a journal reference style to the production management system. |
10th February 2026
| ID | Bug/ Feature/ Enhancement | Title | Description |
| OJS-2430 | Bug fix | Right click menu items | A number of the OJS settings had lost their right click menu when upgrading to 3.4. This has been fixed so that the user can now copy, cut and paste, as expected. A core contribution to OJS has also been made (https://github.com/pkp/pkp-lib/issues/11986). |
| OJS-2496 | Bug fix | Articles missing from search | It was discovered that not all publications were being indexed in the journal search database. This has now been fixed. |
| OJS-2499 | Enhancement | French translations | French translations have been added to all Ubiquity maintained plugins. |
| OJS-2357 | Bug fix | Activity Log error | The activity log for some journals was displaying incomplete information since the 3.4 upgrade process. This has now been fixed so that the activity log records the full detail of the decisions made. |
27th January 2026
| ID | Bug/ Feature/ Enhancement | Title | Description |
| OJS-2236 | New feature | Semantic search |
The journal search function now includes the option to use
Whilst the simple and advanced searches use direct keyword matching, the semantic search uses AI to interpret the meaning and concept behind search queries rather than relying solely on exact text matches. This enables more intelligent and flexible discovery of content across the journal's publications. Key advantages include: -- Improved accuracy: Results are not limited to exact matches with metadata, allowing for more relevant and meaningful outcomes. -- Tolerance for errors: Spelling mistakes or variations in terminology do not prevent relevant results from being surfaced. -- Cross-lingual and variant support: Searches can return results across different spellings, regional variations, and languages. For example, searches for “archaeology” (UK) and “archeology” (US) produce the same results, and queries in other languages can retrieve relevant content even if the article metadata is in English or another language - for example, a search for “Ciencias económicas” will show results for "Economics" in all languages ) . This semantic search functionality enhances discoverability, making it easier for readers, researchers, and students to find relevant content efficiently and accurately, regardless of language, terminology, or minor input errors. |
| OJS-2457 | Enhancement | Recommended decisions function | Additional pull requests to improve the Recommend-only editor permissions, which will allow restricted editors the ability to start new rounds of review. (core contribution) |
| OJS-2472 | Enhancement | Search ordering | The search functionality now offers the capability to sort results by relevance, as well as by the date of publication, whether it's the most recent or the oldest. This enhancement provides users with greater flexibility and control over the way they access and prioritize the information they are seeking. As a result, this update delivers an improved and more tailored user experience, empowering individuals to navigate the journal's content with ease and efficiency. |
| OJS-2473 | Enhancement | Serbian frontend translations | The Serbian language pack has been added to the Ubiquity frontend. Journals are now able to choose Serbian as their primary or additional language for the website. |
13th January 2026
| ID | Bug/ Feature/ Enhancement | Title | Description |
| OJS-1537 | New Feature | Table pop up window | Tables within the HTML/full text display now allow readers to open the table in a larger pop up window. This new functionality is especially useful for reading larger tables. |
| OJS-2417 | Enhancement | Slow loading speeds | After reports of very slow loading speeds the platform has received improvements that should make page loading faster. |
| OJS-2418 | Enhancement | Update to template emails #1 | Some journals were displaying incorrect information within template emails. The incorrect texts have been removed |
| OJS-2427 | Bug fix | Update to email template #2 | The account validation emails for some journals were appearing blank to the user. This bug has been fixed to ensure that new users recieve their validation link correctly. |