Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Which journal publishers is JAMS for?
A: All potential journals must be fully open access (or wishing to transition to open access), have a rigorous editorial board, and abide by COPE practices and policies.
Q: What does a new journal publisher need to do to start using JAMS?
A: A new journal publisher would need to apply for an ISSN at their national ISSN office and register for a Crossref account.
Q: What training resources are available?
A: Customers can book a JAMS user training session for the editorial team led by our Customer Success Team. Each journal will have a dedicated support specialist in order to provide support to the journal team. A Customer Handbook is provided to all clients.
Q: Does the JAMS Customer Success team assist with setting the right APC?
A: All editorial and financial decisions are made by the journal publisher. The JAMS team does not get involved with the setting of the journal’s APC.
Q: What editorial guidance does the JAMS Customer Success team offer?
A: The JAMS team provide assistance on how to use the platform and on publishing-related questions.
Q: What languages can JAMS journals publish in?
A: The JAMS system is currently only set up for English language journals, so we cannot take on journals that publish in other languages.
Q: Where will the journal be hosted?
A: The journal can be hosted on a JAMS out-of-the-box website using the domain format 'journalname.jams.pub', or on an existing third-party journal website. JAMS journals are not published on mdpi.com.
Q: What services does JAMS provide?
A: JAMS is a modular journal article management and submission platform that enables journals to process manuscripts from submission to publication. The services are tailored to the journal publisher’s needs for the platform (view the features here).
Production services—such as layout, LaTeX, and XML conversion—are provided by in-house MDPI production staff.
Q: Does JAMS provide editorial staff to process manuscripts?
A: JAMS does not provide editors for handling manuscripts. All editorial work is carried out by the journal publisher staff.
Q: Does JAMS offer indexing services?
A: Applications to indexing databases must be carried out by the journal publisher, as well as the management of the eligibility criteria.
Q: How much does JAMS cost?
A: JAMS has two types of subscriptions: the Starter plan, with the essential features for a small journal publisher, and the Plus plan, with advanced support for enterprise-grade publishing. You can check out the details of both plans here.
Q: Who receives the Article Processing Charges (APCs)?
A: The APCs are paid by the authors to the journal. The APC is deposited into the journal’s bank account, and JAMS does not retain any of this payment.
Q: Does the journal publisher retain ownership of the journal?
A: Yes, the journal publisher remains the owner of the journal. JAMS is simply a service provider.
Q: How does DOI registration work?
A: The journal will create its own Crossref account in order to register DOIs. The DOI is handled by the journal’s staff.
Q: What production services does JAMS offer?
A: JAMS incorporates a comprehensive production process, including layout editing, English editing, LaTeX and JATS–XML conversion, and PDF production. These services are provided by in-house MDPI production staff.
Q: What kind of metadata are provided? (for indexing purposes, etc)
A: We generate JATS-XML metadata, the industry standard format for scientific literature. It is PMC compliant.
Q: Does JAMS provide the PubMed XML?
A: We do not currently provide PubMed-compliant XML.