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Rent it, own it, or build–operate–transfer

Managed OJS Hosting from $999 a Year — or Own the Platform Outright

Three ways to run your journal on Open Journal Systems: we host it, we build it on your servers and hand over root, or we run it for one to three years and then transfer it to your team.

$0per submission
Open-sourceOJS, no lock-in
Leave any timewith everything
From $999per journal, per year

Prices in USD. Nothing above $2,000 is sold by self-checkout — it comes back as a written proposal.

Is this you?

The platform problems editors bring us

“Our OJS is two major versions behind and nobody on staff dares touch the upgrade.”

→ start with OJS Upgrade & Security Fix — $899

“We pay a commercial platform per article, and every renewal the price goes up.”

→ start with Managed OJS Hosting — Professional — $1,599 per journal, per year

“IT insists the journal must sit on university servers, but will not maintain OJS.”

→ start with Own Your Platform — from $1,499

“We want to run the platform ourselves eventually. Just not next month.”

→ start with Build–Operate–Transfer — from $12,000 per year
Services & prices

Pick a deployment model. Add only what you need.

Fixed list prices in USD. Basic and Professional hosting are self-checkout; Enterprise and Build–Operate–Transfer come back as a written proposal.

Managed hosting · Rent

Managed OJS Hosting — Basic

Removes: server bills, patching and backup duty for a single journal.

  • OJS on our infrastructure, with SSL and your own domain
  • Security updates, upgrades and backups
  • Email deliverability for editorial notifications
  • Hosted journal website with PDF/HTML viewer
$999per journal, per year
Managed hosting · Rent

Managed OJS Hosting — Enterprise

Removes: the gap between one journal and a small press.

  • Up to 3 journals on one contract
  • Full custom theme, highest storage and traffic tier
  • Same-day support, 99.9% SLA, disaster recovery
$2,899per journal, per year
Client-owned build · Own

Own Your Platform (client-owned OJS build)

Removes: dependence on any hosting vendor — including us.

  • OJS installed and configured on your servers or cloud
  • Hardened and backed up; DOI, ORCID, Similarity Check and preservation plugins connected
  • Theme, domain, documentation and staff training
  • Root credentials handed to your IT
from$1,499one-time
Build–Operate–Transfer

We Run It, Then Hand It Over (Build–Operate–Transfer)

Removes: the risk of taking on a platform before your team is ready.

  • We build and operate the platform for 1–3 years
  • Your staff trained on the live system throughout
  • Documented handover, then transfer to your control
from$12,000per year
Migration

Move Your Journal & Back Issues

Removes: the back-issue migration nobody wants to do by hand.

  • Articles, issues, metadata and files moved into OJS
  • DOIs and URLs checked after the move
  • Free with annual hosting
$1,200project — free with annual hosting
Maintenance

OJS Upgrade & Security Fix

Removes: an outdated, exposed OJS installation.

  • Upgrade to a current, supported OJS release
  • Security patches, PHP and database compatibility
  • Backup before, verification after
$899project
Editorial Office · Included

Online Submission & Peer Review System (OJS)

Removes: a separate submission-system subscription.

  • Submission and peer-review workflow configured
  • Reviewer forms, email templates and roles set up
  • No per-submission or per-article fees
Includedwith hosting

Compare the three managed hosting tiers

FeatureBasicProfessionalEnterprise
Price per journal, per year$999$1,599$2,899
Journals included11Up to 3
Storage & traffic tierStandardHigherHighest
Support responseBusiness daysNext business daySame day
Staging siteNoYesYes
Custom themeNoBasicFull
SLANone99.5%99.9%
How to orderAdd to cartAdd to cartRequest a proposal

Indicative — final scope confirmed at onboarding. All tiers include hosting, security, upgrades, backups, email deliverability, plugin configuration, readership analytics, and archiving, indexing and altmetrics integrations.

Also available

How it works

From order to a running journal

1

Choose the model

Rent, own, or build–operate–transfer. Not sure? The $750 platform assessment ends in a written recommendation.

2

Provision & configure (1–2 weeks)

We install OJS, connect domain and SSL, set up email deliverability, apply the theme for your tier and configure plugins. On an Own build this happens on your servers with your IT on the call.

3

Migrate or launch

Existing journal: we move articles, issues and metadata, then check DOIs and old URLs resolve. New journal: we set roles, review forms and templates, and you open submissions.

4

Operate

Upgrades, backups, monitoring and support at your tier’s response time. Under Build–Operate–Transfer this stage ends with a documented handover to your team.

Who decides what

Your editors decide. We run the process.

Editorial independence

The journal’s own editors keep final authority over reviewer selection, editorial assessment and acceptance. NeucitePress runs the process and the infrastructure — never the decision.

Platform independence

Open-source software (OJS), your own domain, a client-controlled DOI registration arrangement (subject to Crossref membership or sponsorship), and full data export on request. You can leave at any time with everything.

No indexing guarantees

Inclusion in DOAJ, Scopus, Web of Science, MEDLINE or any other database is decided solely by that database. We prepare, document and apply — we do not promise outcomes.

Root access is yours

On an Own Your Platform build, admin and root credentials go to your IT at handover. We keep access only under a Technical Support Plan.

FAQ

Questions editors ask before ordering hosting

The annual fee covers hosting, security updates, OJS upgrades, backups, email deliverability and support at your tier’s response time. It does not cover copyediting, typesetting, the DOI fees you pay Crossref, or custom development beyond your tier’s theme level. Those are priced separately.
Provisioning and configuration takes one to two weeks once we have domain access and your content. Migrating back issues adds time that depends on volume and the state of the source data; we confirm that timeline in the kickoff call, after we have seen the files.
Open Journal Systems is open-source, maintained by the Public Knowledge Project, and works with the standard Crossref, ORCID, Similarity Check and preservation plugins. There is no per-submission or per-article charge. The trade-off: some commercial systems are more polished in places. If your journal needs a feature OJS lacks, the $750 platform assessment says so in writing.
You do. The domain is registered in your name, the DOI prefix sits in your Crossref account, and we export the full OJS database and files on request. Bring Your Hosted Journal In-House ($1,500) packages a later move to your own servers.
It is the availability target for our own infrastructure on the Professional and Enterprise tiers; the SLA document you receive at onboarding sets out what happens if we miss it. Basic has no SLA. No tier covers outages at third parties such as Crossref or your email provider.

Tell us which model fits — or let us tell you

Send the journal URL and the platform it runs on today. Basic and Professional can be ordered right now; everything else comes back in writing.

Nothing above $2,000 is sold by self-checkout — those requests come back as a written proposal within 3 business days.
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