A Comparative Study on Iranian Journal Management Systems in Universities of Medical Sciences Based on the Usability Components

Due to developments in journal management systems (JMS) and the insufficient relevant studies in the field of information systems usability, the purpose of this paper was to compare the most widely used Iranian JMSs based on the 8 usability criteria.

The population of this survey included the users of the selected 4 systems among 13 Iranian journal management systems at Iranian medical science universities. This study used a multi-stage sampling method, and selected 80 users from these systems. Evaluation of users' interfaces was conducted based on the Purdue Usability Testing Questionnaire (PUTQ) questionnaire in 4 layers including chief editors, referees, authors, and regular users. Data were analyzed using descriptive tests and repeated measures ANOVA.

Overall, in the 8 usability criteria in sequence, Yektaweb (4.84), Neoscribber3 (4.67), and Open Journal Systems (OJS) (4.59) had the highest and Sinaweb had the lowest average. Furthermore, users showed that the compatibility and the consistency criteria had the highest averages while all systems had the lowest mean in flexibility criterion.

It seems that more attention needs to be paid to two criteria of flexibility and user-guide during design of Iranian JMS systems. It is also important to select JMSs, which are user-friendly in order to make processes easier and faster. Researchers and medical librarians also should focus on all usability criteria equally.