Upgrade OJS 3.3 to 3.5: What’s New and Why You Should Upgrade

OJS 3.3 has served journals well for years. But OJS 3.5 is now PKP’s long-term support release, and it brings tools your authors, editors and journal managers will use every day.

This guide covers what changes for your journal and why it’s worth upgrading before 2027. When you’re ready, our OJS upgrade service moves you to OJS 3.5, with the price agreed up front.

What your journal gets with OJS 3.5

Journals on OJS 3.3 get everything added in OJS 3.4 and OJS 3.5:

For authors

• A rebuilt submission wizard, made more accessible and easier to use, that shows authors all their details and files for a final check before they submit.
• Authors can save a submission for later and get an email with a link to finish it.
• Titles can carry simple formatting (italics, bold, superscript and subscript), so species names and chemical formulas display properly.
• Authors can suggest reviewers when they submit, if the journal turns this on.

For editors

• Redesigned dashboard and workflow pages, with saved views of the submissions list, a summary panel, and review progress shown for each submission.
• An editorial history for each submission, and each editor’s workload shown when you assign one.
• A minimum number of reviews can be required for a submission.
• Editorial decisions made step by step, with emails you can preview, edit, attach files to and send in the language you choose.
• Several templates for the same email, so editors can load the wording that fits.
• A review round can be cancelled after it’s created, and a submission can be moved back out of review, copyediting or production.
• Reviewers can be notified of the decision on a submission they reviewed.
• A weekly email reminds editors of their pending tasks.

For journal managers

• DOIs built into OJS, with one page to manage them and see the deposit status of each item.
• Usage statistics that support COUNTER Release 5, with institutional and geographic statistics.
• Journal managers can control user enrolment in their own journal.
• An optional data availability statement in the submission metadata.
• Invitations: journal managers invite people to take a role, and they accept by email.
• ORCID integration built into OJS, and several affiliations per author, linked to the ROR registry of research organisations.
• An Editorial Masthead page listing the people in the roles you choose.
• Highlights on the journal homepage, each with an image and a button.
• Basic JATS XML support, and ALTCHA as a spam check for forms.

For the journal’s future

• Long-term support: PKP designated OJS 3.5.0-5 (June 2026) a long-term support release, so OJS 3.5 is the version PKP commits to maintaining for longer.

More detail: new features in OJS 3.4 and 3.5.

Why you should upgrade from OJS 3.3

• Support has an end date. PKP has committed to supporting OJS 3.3 until at least 1 January 2027.
• Its newest PHP runs out at the same time. PKP lists PHP 7.3 to 8.2 for OJS 3.3, and PHP 8.2’s security support ends on 31 December 2026. OJS 3.5 runs on PHP 8.2 and later, so the move keeps your server on supported software.
• Security fixes only protect current builds. PKP has fixed several serious issues in 3.3, some listed below. A journal on an older 3.3 build is still exposed to them.

Issue	What it allowed	Fixed in
CVE-2024-56525	A user with the journal editor role could create a super-admin role and insert a backdoor plugin by uploading a crafted XML file	3.3.0-21
CVE-2023-5626, CVE-2023-5894	Cross-site request forgery and stored cross-site scripting	3.3.0-16
CVE-2025-13469	Cross-site scripting through the manual payment instructions setting	3.3.0-22

The latest 3.3 build is 3.3.0-23 (18 September 2026), and it carries more security fixes of its own, such as turning off external XML entity loading. See PKP’s 3.3 release notes.

Is your journal on a 3.3 build older than 3.3.0-23? It’s missing published security fixes. We can bring it up to date right away, and plan the move to 3.5 with you.

How the upgrade works with us

You and your editors stay focused on the journal; we take care of the upgrade. Your part is just two steps: send us your journal address, and approve the quote. We do the rest:

1. Tell us your journal address. Use the calculator on our upgrade page, the chat or a free call.
2. Free check and a clear quote. We look at your journal and tell you the price and the timeline.
3. Backup and test upgrade. We back everything up and upgrade a private copy, then check it.
4. Live upgrade. At a quiet time agreed with you; the journal is usually offline for under 2 hours.
5. Handover and free fixes. You check the journal; anything we missed is fixed free for 14 days.

Why choose a professional for your OJS upgrade

An OJS upgrade changes the database, the files and the code at the same time. Journals on OJS 3.3 often have years of plugins and theme changes that need checking first. When something goes wrong, it’s usually one of these:

• An upgrade that stops halfway can leave the journal offline, with a database that neither the old nor the new version will open.
• No complete, tested backup means there is no way back. The database, the files folder (where every article PDF lives) and the code all have to be saved.
• Themes and plugins made for older versions can break pages or stop the site from loading.
• The server often needs a newer PHP version first. Changing it on a live server can take the journal down before the upgrade even starts.
• Quiet damage: emails that stop sending, DOI deposits that fail, or indexing settings that change. These can go unnoticed for weeks.

Our OJS upgrade service is built around these risks. Here’s what it includes:

• A free check of your journal before you pay: version, server, theme, plugins and any custom code.
• One clear price for your upgrade, agreed in writing before we start.
• A full backup of the database, the files folder and the code.
• The upgrade done and tested on a private copy first: submissions, review, emails, DOIs and the public pages.
• Your theme and plugins checked, and updated or replaced where they need it.
• The live upgrade at a quiet time, with the journal usually offline for under 2 hours.
• 14 days of free fixes after the upgrade.

Price and time

Our OJS upgrade service takes OJS 3.3 to 3.5 from ₹4,000 + GST in India, or US$105 elsewhere, for one journal. It usually takes 3 to 5 working days. More journals or installations? The calculator on the upgrade page shows your price in under a minute.

These are our prices as of October 2026. Prices can change over time: the calculator on our upgrade page always shows the current price, and the price in your quote is the one you pay.

Feature lists come from PKP’s release notes for OJS 3.4 and 3.5; security details from the public CVE records and PKP’s release notes; PHP dates from the PHP project. Checked in October 2026. New issues are found over time. This guide is independent and not endorsed by PKP.

Questions

Is OJS 3.3 still supported?

Yes, as a long-term support release, committed until at least 1 January 2027. Plan your upgrade to 3.5 before then.

Is OJS 3.3 safe to run today?

Keep it on the latest build, 3.3.0-23 (18 September 2026): older 3.3 builds are missing published security fixes. Then plan the move to 3.5.

What will our editors notice first in OJS 3.5?

The redesigned dashboard and workflow pages, editorial decisions made step by step with better emails, and DOIs managed on one page. A short OJS training session helps the team settle in.

Will our theme and plugins work on OJS 3.5?

Plugins and themes need versions made for OJS 3.5. Many have them; older or custom ones may need updating or replacing. We check each one in the free check and tell you before you pay.

Will our articles, users and DOIs be kept?

Yes. Articles, issues, files, users and DOIs move across. We check them on the test copy before the live upgrade, and again afterwards.

How long is the journal offline?

Usually under 2 hours, at a quiet time agreed with you. The rest of the work happens on a private copy while your journal stays online.

Can we upgrade OJS ourselves?

You can, if someone in your team knows OJS, PHP and databases well. The risk is real, though: an upgrade that fails halfway can take the journal offline, and without a full, tested backup there is no way back. Our upgrade service includes the backup, a test run on a private copy and 14 days of free fixes.