Bridging the Local-Global Scholarly Divide: A Framework for Institutional Open Journal System (OJS) Migration and Indexing Readiness in Higher Education

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FORMOSA NEWS - Philippines - Breaking the Scholarly Invisibility Trap: Gordon College Transforms 15 Print Journals into Global Digital Assets. A new study published in 2026 by researchers Ediric Gadia, John Mark Asio, Johniel Zar Mendoza, and Jan Remiel Menor from Gordon College in Olongapo City, Philippines, reveals a comprehensive institutional digital transformation model that successfully converts traditional print journals into globally visible, index-ready digital assets. Featured in the Formosa Journal of Computer and Information Science (FJCIS), the research addresses a critical structural barrier known as the "Scholarly Invisibility Trap," which frequently confines valuable research from developing regions to physical archives. This breakthrough provides a scalable blueprint for regional higher education institutions seeking to elevate local academic outputs onto the global stage.

Higher education institutions in developing regions consistently produce high-impact research tailored to local socio-economic challenges. However, heavy reliance on print-bound archives, fragmented publishing workflows, and a lack of integration with global scholarly infrastructure prevent these scholarly outputs from gaining international recognition, citation traction, and discoverability. To overcome these systemic obstacles, institutions must move beyond legacy print models toward open-access digital publishing platforms.

To address these challenges, the research team utilized a mixed-methods Design Science Research framework combined with Action Research to overhaul Gordon College's portfolio of 15 legacy print journal titles. The team conducted a baseline digital maturity audit using a 20-item metadata rubric and deployed a multi-tenant Open Journal Systems (PKP-OJS) architecture. Furthermore, the study established a structured operational workflow involving three primary institutional divisions to manage software deployment, metadata remediation, and backfile digitization.

The empirical findings demonstrated that software adoption alone is insufficient without a collaborative organizational framework. Initial diagnostic audits revealed that 100% of the institution's legacy journals required structural overhauls due to missing e-ISSNs, DOIs, and structured metadata. Through targeted technical remediation and cross-unit governance, 80% of the journals successfully achieved Tier 1 Index-Ready status within a six-month operational window.

To sustain this progress, the researchers implemented a Tripartite Governance Model that strategically distributes responsibilities across campus units:

• Research Development and Publications Unit (RDPU): Retains full governance over academic standards, enforces double-anonymous peer-review policies, and ensures compliance with Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines.
  
• Management Information System (MIS) Office: Manages enterprise server infrastructure, database security, SSL encryption, and high system uptime to support automated crawling by global indexing bots.
  
• College of Computer Studies (CCS) Community Extension Unit: Drives operational execution, including labor-intensive backfile digitization, optical character recognition (OCR) processing, manuscript galley formatting, and user training for journal editors.
  

The implications of this study extend far beyond a single institution, offering a viable pathway for regional universities to achieve internationalization and knowledge equity. By transitioning unstructured print archives into machine-readable, index-ready scholarly assets, provincial higher education institutions can successfully overcome geographic biases in academic publishing. The structured four-tier indexing roadmap—progressing from basic digital infrastructure and DOAJ applications to regional citation indexes and global databases like Scopus—transforms indexing preparedness from a vague goal into a measurable, reproducible science.

As noted by the research team from Gordon College, achieving global visibility requires a unified institutional approach: "Digital transformation in academic publishing requires more than simply deploying open-source software; it demands a structural synthesis of enterprise technology, standardized metadata, and inter-unit operational governance".

Author Profile
Ediric Gadia: Researcher at Gordon College, specializing in institutional digital transformation and academic publishing systems.
John Mark Asio: Senior researcher and faculty member at Gordon College, focusing on research management and educational development.
Johniel Zar Mendoza: Researcher at Gordon College with expertise in information technology infrastructure and systems architecture.
Jan Remiel Menor: Researcher and technical specialist at Gordon College, focusing on software deployment and digital repository management.

Source
Ediric Gadia, John Mark Asio, Johniel Zar Mendoza, Jan Remiel Menor. Bridging the Local-Global Scholarly Divide: A Framework for Institutional Open Journal System (OJS) Migration and Indexing Readiness in Higher Education. Formosa Journal of Computer and Information Science (FJCIS). Vol. 5, No. 2, Halaman 429-444
DOI : https://doi.org/10.55927/fjcis.v5i2.17197
URL: https://journal.formosapublisher.org/index.php/fjcis