Custom Pages for Journal Websites

Why does Scholastica care about custom page content?

At Scholastica, we care a lot about not only user experience in the broad sense, but also reader experience in the narrow sense. As a consequence of this, as we work with our journal partners, we encourage them to make decisions with their websites that put "readers first"; often the things that journals think they want to communicate aren't particularly "reader-friendly."

To make sure that readers have the best experience possible, Scholastica requires custom pages to go through an approval process.

We believe that a journal's navigation bar should be considered sacred. It only has a limited amount of space and that space should be utilized as efficiently as possible. When considering requesting a custom page here are the types of pages that Scholastica commonly approves:

  • Reviewer Information
  • Annual Conference/Symposium
  • Open Access Policies

Custom pages Scholastica is less likely to approve:

  • Call for papers (should be a blog post)
  • Fee structure (should be on 'For authors' page)
  • Production process (should be on 'For authors' page)
  • Media mentions (should be on 'About' page)

To make your journal's website as reader-friendly as possible, here are some things we suggest:

News or Call for Papers make great blog posts!

Instead of a News Page write a post with the update instead using your Journal Website's blogging feature. News pages are notorious for not being updated frequently and often end up taking up unnecessary space in a journal's navigation menu. The three most recent blog post updates are in the first section of your journal's front page so readers won't miss them!

Content for authors should be on the page where authors expect it

A common practice among journal websites is to have a page dedicated to things potential authors need to know about: citation styles, copyright information, etc. If your journal has any information that potential authors need to know about, this is the best place for it.

How to request a custom page

Now that you know what information is best included on a custom page, you'll request a custom page by following the steps as follows:

  1. Navigate to My Journals > Publishing > Publishing Settings > then click "edit" on the Customize journal website option
  2. Click “Edit website” to open the editor side panel
  3. Select + New custom page
  4. Fill out the entire "Request a custom page" form
  5. The "Name of Navigation Link" field is the text that will appear in your journal's navigation bar to take visitors to your new custom page. This field cannot exceed 25 characters in length.
  6. The "Page Title" field is the text that will appear in the banner for that page.
  7. The Banner field can be completed either by entering a hexcode for a solid color banner, using our image picker that connects directly to a free-to-use image library (we'll provide all necessary attribution for you), or by uploading your own image.
  8. The Content field will be the body of the page so enter all necessary information you want to share on your custom page there. The Content field supports Markdown and HTML so you can include links, images, and more!
  9. When ready, click Send custom page request. Your request will be sent to us for evaluation — we'll follow up with the requesting editor to let them know if their request has been approved.

Please note: Your journal can only request a single page at a time.