Registering references from OJS 3.3

Content Registration OJS Users
, , ,
1

Several journals on our multi-journal OJS platform (3.3.0-19) register references, and the process works well for most. However, there is one journal that always has trouble with references being properly registered. This journal adds references correctly in the right field in OJS (new line for each reference, no headings, etc), and when I download the XML from the Crossref plugin, it includes <citation_list> and <unstructured_citation>s. But the references never show up in the Crossref metadata after the first (successful) deposit. If I deposit the articles again, then the references will be included, after a couple of hours. Do you have any suggestions of what the problem might be and how to fix it?

2 Likes
2

Hello @RFragola,

Thanks for your question and for the description of the issue.

Iā€™m not aware of this kind of report before, but it seems the issue is a bit difficult to replicate, as it occurs only for one of the journals in the same multi-journal OJS platform.

Could you please let us know which version of the plugin you are using?

Keep in mind also there can be some lag time between a DOI being registered (or updated) and that same item being indexed (or reindexed with updates) in our REST API. The XML API and DOI Handle system are updated immediately, but those same changes can take several hours or sometimes longer to appear in the REST API and other services downstream from there, such as Metadata Search.

If you can provide me with a submission id or copy of the submission log I could take a look at it and see if I find something that could be useful to better understand the problem.

1 Like
3

Hi @arleysoto,

Thanks so much for the quick reply!

We use version 1.0.2.1 of the Crossref reference linking plugin, and version 2.1.0.0 of the Crossref XML export plugin.

I donā€™t think the lag in indexing/reindexing is to blame here, as we came across articles that had been published weeks or months prior, and where the references never got registered.

The submission id for an article where the references are not registered is 40393. And for an article where the references did register properly after redeposit: 40324. (I am assuming you mean the submission id in OJS, but if there is a different id for Crossref, please let me know where I can find it.)

Again, thank you for helping us investigate this issue!

4

Ok, thanks for your message.

Oh yeah, it is the Crossref submission ID not the ones on your OJS. Here are the steps you can follow for getting the submission id on our admin tool:

  1. Log in to the admin tool using your account credentials

  2. Click the Submissions tab, then the Administration sub-tab

  3. Click Search at the bottom of the screen, and youā€™ll see a list of all past deposits for your account, from newest to oldest

You will see a list with several columns. First column (ID) is the list of submission IDs, grab the one you want to investigate further. I have attached a Screenshot

Screenshot 2025-11-04 at 7.48.15 AM
Screenshot 2025-11-04 at 7.48.15 AM2804Ɨ784 294 KB

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Kind regards,

Arley

5

Thanks for clear directions. Here is a submission ID of a problematic deposit: 1718897802

Best,

Ramana
6

Thank you Ramana,

This is what I found:

The original deposit was done by submission 1718712922 in October 30th, then it was updated by submission 1718897802 on October 31st. Both submissions without a references list, which makes me think that probably by that date, the reference list was not filled up for the article in OJS yet.

Then there was another push from OJS to our system on November 3rd, which creates two submissions simultaneously 1719538584 (updating metadata) 1719538585 (registering references). This is how we expect a DOI deposit from OJS, so my only explanation is that by October 31st there was no references on the article yet.

Best,

7

Thanks for the explanation, Arley.

I didnā€™t realize that the same article in OJS gets different submission IDs in Crossref each time it is deposited. So I actually gave you an example of an article I had redeposited when I saw that the references had not been registered.

So can I bother you to look at this submission instead? 1718897485
This is one where the references definitely were in OJS at the time of deposit, they show up in the XML I download from the Crossref plugin, but they do not show up in the Crossref metadata I can get from the api.

8

Sure!

That submission 1718897485 didnā€™t include the reference list; thatā€™s why you donā€™t get that metadata from the API.

I would definitely contact your OJS support and ask them why that OJS instance didnā€™t include the reference list in the XML pushed to our system.

And please post any updates that you consider useful for the community :slight_smile:

Best,

1 Like
9

Thanks for checking!
Just to make sure I understand - is the XML pushed to your system different from the XML that I can export/download from the Crossref XML Export plugin within OJS? Because the XML I download there does include references.

Best,

Ramana

10

It is the same Ramana; there shouldnā€™t be any difference at all.

11

Ok, thatā€™s good to know!

Would it be reasonable to assume then that OJS is including the references correctly, but the problem is happening when Crossref ingests the XML with the references? Iā€™m partly wondering this because redepositing the same article, without making any changes to the metadata, has resulted in the references being registered. I can of course post this question on the PKP Forum, but I want to first make sure (as much as possible) that the issue lies with OJS rather than with Crossref, if you see what I mean.