It’s no surprise that staying up to date with the latest technologies and trends can give publishers an upper hand in their academic field. With new trends and publishing practices coming into play, each journal needs to ensure that their readers’ and authors’ needs are met.

Besides the obvious goal of keeping the journal’s scope focused on the latest notable researches and findings, there are more aspects that can impact the success and performance of a journal. One of them is the journal’s design and User Interface.

This article is a brief guide to both beginners in the publishing field and already experienced publishers who are considering upgrading their journals to achieve the maximum results.

Below, we are reviewing some of the journal interface functionalities that are intended to improve the readers’ experience and could help publishers attract new promising authors.

Let’s see how each of the following functionalities can benefit your readership and performance as a publisher.

1. “Most read articles”. The “Most read” section on the journal homepage automatically highlights the most relevant authors and publications that received the most attention. This feature is a great way to attract researchers as they get the opportunity to appear in the visible portion of the homepage.

2. “Featured articles”. Somewhat similar to the previously mentioned “Most read articles” section, the “Featured Articles” section is a place on the journal’s website where the editorial board can pick and highlight the articles of their choice.

3. “Most cited articles”. With Journal Impact Factor being increasingly questioned as a valid metric to evaluate the relevance of academic outlets, journals have been establishing new ways to promote their best-received papers. By having a “Most Cited” section on the website, any journal can show that no matter the Impact Factor, they still feature valuable articles with a certain number of citations. This is a useful website feature both for readers and authors.

4. “Related articles”. To keep the readers engaged in the journal’s content, it’s important to have a “Related Articles” section. This way, the visitors will spend more time on the website which is also important to SEO. The so-called “dwell time” is a metric that positively affects the website’s ranking on Google.

5. “Recently published articles”. If a journal has already built its reader-base, the “Recently published articles” section can be a useful feature informing them about the latest publications on the website.

6. Advanced search. The more filters and search options the journal search has the better as it provides the means for the readers to find exactly what they’re looking for and saves their valuable time. Some readers will use the search by keyword, others discover articles by date of publishing, author, DOI, etc.

7. Journal information section. Last but not least – the journal information section which is extremely important for maintaining the transparency of editorial and ethical policy, peer-review process, the journal’s scope, and other information that should be open to the public.

8. Responsive, mobile-friendly design. Just like the rest of the world, researchers are also browsing and engaging in their field online using different mobile devices. Publishing the articles on a modern website that’s optimized for tablets and mobile phones is a necessity for the readers that are often on the go.

9. Clear website structure. A clean interface with a light, uncluttered design is pleasant to the eye and displays all the relevant website information without any distractions. Apart from the visual aspect, it’s also crucial to have instantly accessible relevant sections. For instance, it’s important that an author has quick access to the article submission page which can be achieved by placing the Submit button in a visible place on a homepage.

10. Added images and other media. There’s always room for making the journal more engaging to the reader and adding illustrations or other media to the homepage is an effective way to do that.

Bearing in mind the diverse publishing needs and the new standards of modern academic journals, PubliMill hosting system was developed by VTeX and is designed to provide publishers with a practical and user-friendly digital environment that includes all of the useful functions and features we’ve listed above.

Reach out to us if you’d like to book a demo of PubliMill hosting system or try its benefits. We are happy to assist you in finding the best journal publishing solution that could help you reach your goals as a publisher.