# Product Requirements Document (PRD)
## AHABA Journal of Creative Arts (AJCA)

*A Publication of the Department of Creative Arts, Dennis Osadebay University, Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria.*

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## 1. Executive Summary

The AHABA Journal of Creative Arts (AJCA) Management System is a world-class, enterprise-grade, production-ready digital platform for managing the complete lifecycle of academic journal publishing. The system serves as the official digital infrastructure for the Department of Creative Arts, Dennis Osadebay University, facilitating online submission, peer review, editorial workflow, publishing, and archival of scholarly creative arts research.

## 2. Product Vision

To create a premium academic publishing platform comparable to OJS, Elsevier, Springer Nature, and Taylor & Francis — tailored specifically for creative arts scholarship while maintaining international academic publishing standards.

## 3. Stakeholders

| Role | Description |
|------|-------------|
| Super Administrator | System-wide configuration and oversight |
| Journal Administrator | Daily journal operations |
| Editor-in-Chief | Final editorial authority |
| Managing Editor | Workflow coordination |
| Section Editor | Subject-area manuscript handling |
| Editorial Assistant | Administrative support |
| Reviewer | Peer review execution |
| Author | Manuscript submission |
| Copy Editor | Language and style editing |
| Layout Editor | Typesetting and formatting |
| Proofreader | Final quality check |
| Reader | Content consumer |

## 4. Functional Requirements

### 4.1 Public Website
- Journal homepage with latest articles, news, and calls for papers
- About the journal, aims & scope, editorial board pages
- Browse by volume, issue, author, subject, keywords
- Advanced search with full-text indexing
- Article detail pages with PDF viewer and HTML rendering
- News and events sections
- Policy pages (ethics, open access, copyright, plagiarism, privacy)
- Author and reviewer guidelines
- Contact form

### 4.2 Authentication & User Management
- Registration with email verification
- Login with "Remember Me"
- Password recovery and reset
- Profile management with avatar upload
- Role-based access control (RBAC) with granular permissions
- Two-factor authentication (optional)

### 4.3 Submission Workflow
- Step-by-step online submission wizard
- Draft saving capability
- Multi-author metadata collection
- ORCID integration
- Keyword and reference management
- Cover letter and supplementary file upload
- Conflict of interest and copyright agreement
- Submission checklist validation

### 4.4 Editorial Workflow
- Initial screening and plagiarism check
- Desk reject or forward to review
- Editor assignment and reviewer matching
- Double-blind peer review
- Automated review reminders
- Editorial decision (accept, minor revision, major revision, reject)
- Copyediting, layout, and proofreading stages

### 4.5 Peer Review System
- Reviewer dashboard with assignments
- Anonymous review forms with structured recommendations
- Review history and performance metrics
- Deadline management with automatic reminders

### 4.6 Publishing Workflow
- Volume and issue management
- Special issue creation
- DOI assignment and management
- Article scheduling and online publication
- PDF and HTML article rendering
- XML export for indexing services

### 4.7 Journal Management
- Journal settings and metadata
- ISSN/eISSN management
- DOI prefix configuration
- Crossref metadata integration
- Publisher information
- Editorial board management
- Indexing service registration
- Journal policies management

### 4.8 Analytics & Reporting
- Article statistics (views, downloads, citations)
- Acceptance and rejection rates
- Author and reviewer activity metrics
- Journal performance dashboards
- Chart.js visualization
- Exportable reports

### 4.9 Search & Indexing
- Global full-text search
- Advanced search with multiple filters
- Search suggestions and auto-complete
- Browse by various dimensions

### 4.10 Notifications
- Email notifications for workflow events
- In-system toast notifications
- Automated reminders
- Configurable notification preferences

## 5. Non-Functional Requirements

| Requirement | Specification |
|-------------|---------------|
| Performance | Page load < 3 seconds, database queries optimized with indexes |
| Security | OWASP Top 10 compliance, CSRF, XSS, SQL injection prevention |
| Scalability | Modular architecture supporting horizontal scaling |
| Availability | 99.9% uptime target |
| Maintainability | PSR-12 coding standards, SOLID principles, documented code |
| Accessibility | WCAG 2.1 AA compliance |
| Browser Support | Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge (latest 2 versions) |
| Mobile Support | Mobile-first responsive design |
| SEO | Semantic HTML, meta tags, sitemap generation |

## 6. Technology Stack

### Frontend
- HTML5, Tailwind CSS, Vanilla JS (ES6+), Alpine.js
- Chart.js, Quill.js, PDF.js, Heroicons
- Mobile-first responsive design
- Light/Dark mode

### Backend
- Pure PHP 8.2+, OOP, MVC-inspired architecture
- MySQL 8+, PDO prepared statements
- Composer PSR-4 autoloading
- Apache/XAMPP compatible

## 7. Database Requirements

Normalized MySQL database with:
- Foreign keys with referential integrity
- Composite indexes for search performance
- Transaction support for critical operations
- Audit logging for all state changes
- Full-text indexes on article content

## 8. Deliverables

1. PRD (this document)
2. Software Architecture Document
3. Folder Structure
4. Database Schema with SQL
5. Configuration System
6. Core PHP Framework
7. Authentication & RBAC Module
8. Public Website
9. Admin Dashboard
10. Author Portal
11. Reviewer Portal
12. Editor Portal
13. Publishing Module
14. DOI & ISSN Module
15. Search & Indexing Module
16. Notifications Module
17. Analytics Dashboard
18. Security Hardening
19. Deployment Guide

## 9. Success Metrics

- Successful online submission and review of 100+ manuscripts
- Zero critical security vulnerabilities
- Page speed score > 85 on Google PageSpeed Insights
- Accessibility score > 90 on Lighthouse
- 100% of editorial workflow stages functional
- Successful DOI assignment and Crossref integration