Product Updates
Stay up to date with the latest features, enhancements, and workflow improvements on Academic Stack.
2026
Enhanced special issue and section publishing with richer public metadata, editor assignments, status controls, and improved manuscript routing. Journals can present special issues and sections more clearly while keeping editorial workflows organized.
Added support for conference-driven journals, including conference series and conference editions. Improved article discovery with DOI search, cited-by information, SEO refinements, canonical links, and cleaner PDF access.
Rebuilt reviewer management with a centralized reviewer DB, richer reviewer profiles, editorial notes, activity history, invitation counters, volunteer reviewer linkage, and a more powerful reviewer picker to help editors find suitable reviewers faster.
Improved the submission experience, invoice search, payment tracking, email templates, and editorial notifications. Authors and editorial teams now get clearer communication and smoother payment-related workflows.
Completed a new round of UI upgrades, refining typography, color systems, and layout consistency. Enhanced the submission and peer review experience while strengthening backend management capabilities. This release removes version upgrade barriers and establishes a unified foundation for future system evolution — without affecting any existing workflows.
Rebuilt the AS Cloud journal creation process. Academic Stack now fully supports online creation of academic journals and academic websites within a unified cloud publishing infrastructure.
2025
Introduced the Academic Stack Site Builder with drag-and-drop website creation. Users can now build academic personal profiles, conference websites, book introduction pages, and other scholarly sites using rich professional templates.
Optimized static asset loading in combination with Cloudflare for faster global access and improved caching efficiency. Enhanced the editorial interface within the submission system, improved PDF loading performance, and strengthened Google Scholar SEO support for PDF indexing. Fixed several known issues and improved overall system stability.
Upgraded the invoice module and integrated Antom online payment. Authors can now complete APC payments securely on the web, making the payment process smoother and simpler.
Integrated Turnitin API and iThenticate v2 (as recommended by Crossref), keeping v1 available at the same time.
Review invitations can now be reopened; reports can be declined or edited by editors with permission. Author replies and report displays have been improved for a smoother peer review workflow.
Optimized workflows for Chinese journals — optional title page uploads, improved AI crawler handling, and new settings for journals without peer review steps.
Editors can review previous reviewer reports before sending new invitations. Reviewer info display improved and several known issues fixed.
Added a file management module to upload templates, flyers, and static resources — one central place for downloads and shared assets.
Enabled ORCID login for verified academic identity and unified account access.
Added cover images, cover stories, and related article sections, giving every issue a more curated and storytelling presentation.
Editorial editors can now set automatic reviewer reminders. The system sends gentle nudges on schedule to keep reviews moving forward.
Launched the redesigned landing page academicstack.com with a modern interface and clearer journal creation flow.
2024
Disabled Google indexing for secondary subdomains (xxx.journal.asx.pub) to avoid duplication and consolidate SEO weight on main domains.
Integrated Cloudflare API for automated DNS and SSL setup, and added cookie consent banners for privacy compliance.
Introduced homepage widgets — add custom sections, announcements, and layouts freely without coding.
Normal users can now apply to be volunteer reviewers, and publishers can approve applications. Opening more doors for participation in peer review.
Editors and reviewers can now view their decision and review history after login, improving transparency and collaboration.
Added configurable submission and review workflows. Editors can now enable or disable certain steps to fit their journal’s needs.
Refined permission settings with role-based shortcuts and adaptive menus, providing more control and clarity.
Integrated MongoDB to log user actions and show recent activities in dashboards and manuscript processing logs.
Rebuilt the user center using Redis caching and Elasticsearch for faster query and search performance.
Editors can create one or multiple invoices per manuscript; publishers can manage and track payments with ease.
Optimized visibility through robots.txt and automated sitemaps. Indexing is now smarter and faster.
Released the Academic Stack Enterprise version supporting independent deployment, databases, and advanced customization.
2023
Integrated Crossref API for one-click DOI registration and iThenticate API for similarity checking with an improved UX.
Rebuilt the core infrastructure — each journal now has independent data and user storage, improving performance and scalability.
Deployed asx.pub, where users can create journals in minutes. Each journal has its own fallback subdomain like https://xxx.journal.asx.pub, and users can bind their own domain like https://www.myjournal.com.
The first integrated version combining homepage, submission, and peer review modules — one system for the entire publishing workflow.
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During this early phase, the core concept and architectural foundation of Academic Stack were conceptualized, prototyped, and actively tested, laying the groundwork for the platform's initial launch.
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2021
The idea exploded into reality — building a SaaS platform for academic journals. Designed the first submission and review modules. Just learning and practicing — with curiosity, coffee, and a bit of chaos.