Registration Fields Plugin for OJS 3.3

Adds ORCID iD and Phone Number fields to the OJS user registration form. Values entered during registration are saved directly to the user profile — no core file modifications required.

Why This Plugin?

OJS stores ORCID iD and phone number in user profiles, but these fields are only available after registration through the profile editor. This creates an extra step for both users and journal managers. The plugin solves this by bringing those fields into the registration form itself, so the data is captured from the start.

Features

• ORCID iD field on the registration form with format validation

• Phone number field on the registration form with format validation

• Each field can be independently enabled or disabled

• Each field can be set as required or optional

• Server-side validation for both fields

• Accepted ORCID formats: 0000-0000-0000-0000, https://orcid.org/…, http://orcid.org/… — all normalised to HTTPS on save

• Values are written to the existing OJS user profile (Profile > Public > ORCID iD / Profile > Contact > Phone)

• Works across OJS themes (Default, Manuscript, Bootstrap3, Health Sciences)

• Bilingual interface: English and Turkish

• No core file modifications — pure hook-based architecture

  Registration form with ORCID iD and Phone Number fields

Plugin settings panel

Requirements

Requirement	Version
OJS	3.3.0.0 – 3.3.0.22
PHP	7.4 – 8.2

Installation

1. Download the latest .tar.gz from Releases.
2. In OJS, go to Settings → Website → Plugins → Upload a New Plugin.
3. Upload the .tar.gz file.
4. Enable the plugin in the Generic Plugins list.
5. Click Settings next to the plugin name to configure fields.

Manual Installation

1. Extract the archive into plugins/generic/registrationFields/.
2. Clear the template cache: delete all files inside cache/t_compile/.
3. Enable the plugin from the plugin management page.

Configuration

After enabling the plugin, click Settings to access the configuration modal:

Setting	Description
Enable ORCID iD field	Show the ORCID iD field on the registration form
Require ORCID iD	Make ORCID iD mandatory for registration
Enable Phone Number field	Show the phone number field on the registration form
Require Phone Number	Make phone number mandatory for registration
Debug mode	Write injection diagnostics to the PHP error log

The "Require" option is automatically disabled when the corresponding field is not enabled.

Theme Compatibility

The plugin uses flexible regex patterns with word boundaries to locate injection points in the registration form HTML. This ensures compatibility with themes that add inline styles, multiple CSS classes, or extra attributes to form elements.

If the plugin cannot find a known landmark (login fieldset, consent fieldset, or buttons div), it falls back to inserting fields before the closing </form> tag. This guarantees the fields are always visible regardless of the theme in use.

When debug mode is enabled, the plugin writes diagnostic messages to the PHP error log indicating which injection point was used or whether the fallback was triggered. This is useful for troubleshooting theme-specific issues.

How It Works

The plugin uses OJS's hook system to integrate with the registration workflow:

1. Field injection — An output filter inserts HTML fields into the rendered registration form, positioned between the profile and login sections.
2. Data capture — The registrationform::readuserdata hook reads the submitted values.
3. Validation — The registrationform::validate hook performs server-side validation with pattern matching.
4. Persistence — The registrationform::execute hook captures field values and saves them via a deferred callback after the user record is created.

Field Validation

ORCID iD

• Accepts three formats: bare (0000-0000-0000-0000), HTTPS URL, or HTTP URL
• Pattern: XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXY where X is a digit and Y is a digit or X
• Automatically normalised to https://orcid.org/… on save
• Maximum 37 characters

Phone Number

• Allows digits, spaces, +, -, (, ), .
• Length: 5–24 characters
• Maximum 24 characters

Security

• All user input is escaped with htmlspecialchars() before rendering in HTML
• Server-side validation with strict regex patterns for both fields
• CSRF protection via OJS's built-in {csrf} token in the settings form
• Plugin settings are only accessible to users with the Journal Manager role
• No raw SQL queries — all database operations go through OJS's DAO layer
• Input length limits enforced both client-side (maxlength) and server-side

File Structure

registrationFields/
├── RegistrationFieldsPlugin.inc.php   Main plugin class
├── index.php                          Plugin loader
├── version.xml                        Version and compatibility
├── LICENSE                            GPL v3
├── README.md                          English documentation
├── README_TR.md                       Turkish documentation
├── templates/
│   └── settingsForm.tpl               Settings modal template
└── locale/
    ├── en_US/locale.po                English translations
    └── tr_TR/locale.po                Turkish translations

License

This plugin is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.

Author

Developed by OJS Services.