We are ecstatic to share the news that Coko is developing a new journal submission and peer review system. We are calling this platform SimpleJ. It is a re-start of a platform we started to build but paused a while ago to pursue increased development velocity with Editoria.

Simple J will be collaboratively designed by any and all community members who wish to participate in this facilitated, good faith community with processes mirroring those successfully employed by Editoria.

“Our PubSweet community has now yielded nearly a dozen different platforms- including the feature rich journal submission and peer review systems built by eLife (Libero) and Hindawi (Phenom),” commented Founder Adam Hyde. “SimpleJ is a simpler Journal system than the other two sophisticated platforms. We thoroughly recommend Libero and Phenom for those looking for open source Journal systems. If neither of those platforms meet your needs then SimpleJ might do the trick. SimpleJ will also follow the community development model Coko has successfully designed and executed for Editoria. We will facilitate community members to design the system themselves and take ownership of the product. ”

The tool itself will leverage bits of existing PubSweet code, and according to Community wishes, will make use of other shared modules created by organizations building their own systems openly and sharing back.

If you are interested in being part of the SimpleJ community please let us know. You don’t need development resources, and you do not need to be technical. You do need the energy to take ownership of your own tools and a positive attitude to collaborate with other publishers. We’ll be organizing early stakeholder calls shortly.