Plugins and editorial-system support

WordPress mu-plugins

The casrai.org site itself runs on WordPress, and the dictionary, CRediT vocabulary, and research-data management terms are each implemented as a must-use plugin. Splitting the functionality across three mu-plugins keeps the deployment surface narrow and lets the vocabularies version independently of the site theme.

casrai-dictionary

Registers the dictionary custom post types — dictionary_term, object_template, picklist — and the associated taxonomies, ACF field groups, and REST and GraphQL field exposure. This is the plugin that powers the Dictionary, the GraphQL endpoint, and the REST endpoints.

Location on disk

text

wp-content/mu-plugins/casrai-dictionary/
  casrai-dictionary.php
  includes/
    cpt-dictionary-term.php
    cpt-object-template.php
    cpt-picklist.php
    rest-routes.php
    graphql-types.php
    acf-field-groups.php

casrai-credit-taxonomy

Registers the 14 CRediT contributor roles as a fixed, code-defined taxonomy with their canonical NISO URIs, definitions, and degree-of-contribution values. The plugin exposes the role list to both the editor UI and the GraphQL schema so that the CRediT roles index and the per-role pages are read from one source.

casrai-rdm-taxonomy

Registers the research-data management domain terms — the cross-disciplinary vocabularies that connect dictionary records to the broader RDM landscape: data licences, repository types, file-format registries, and standard discipline classifications. Used by research-integrity and adjacent domain pages.

Open Journal Systems — the PKP CRediT plugin

The Public Knowledge Project's CRediT plugin for Open Journal Systems brings CRediT capture to the long tail of OJS-hosted journals. OJS is the dominant open-source journal-management system worldwide, with an estimated 25,000+ active journals; the plugin is the single most important piece of infrastructure for CRediT adoption outside the major commercial publishers.

The plugin adds a CRediT picker to the author submission form, persists the selected roles against each contributor, and emits the roles into JATS XML exports and OJS's Crossref deposit on publication. Authors see a constrained picker rather than a free text field, which keeps the data clean enough for downstream Crossref ingestion.

The canonical plugin documentation and download live in the PKP CRediT plugin repositoryon GitHub. Installation is via the OJS plugin gallery on any 3.3+ installation.

Commercial submission systems

The two largest commercial editorial systems both support CRediT capture natively. Neither is a plugin in the conventional sense — the support is part of the platform — but they are the practical integration surface for the journals that use them.

Editorial Manager (Aries Systems / Elsevier)

Editorial Manager exposes CRediT as an author-side picker on the submission form, with the standard 14 roles and the lead / equal / supporting degree picker. The captured roles travel with the article through peer review and into the production pipeline, and are emitted into the JATS XML and Crossref deposit. Configuration is per-journal; journals new to CRediT should consult their Aries / Elsevier account contact to enable the capture screen.

ScholarOne Manuscripts (Clarivate)

ScholarOne Manuscripts likewise supports CRediT capture as a configurable submission step. The roles are persisted on the contributor record and exported alongside the manuscript metadata to the publisher's downstream systems. As with Editorial Manager, enabling the capture is a per-journal configuration handled by the publisher's Clarivate account team.

What "support" means in practice

All four systems expose the 14 roles as a picker. The variation lies in three places:

Degree capture. Some systems collect lead / equal / supporting; others omit it. CRediT permits omission; downstream propagation degrades gracefully.
JATS emission. All four systems can emit JATS with roleelements; the attribute set sometimes lags the JATS4R recommendation. Publishers should spot-check produced XML.
Crossref deposit. Production pipelines vary in whether they roll up the captured roles into the schema 5.5 deposit. This is the highest-value step for downstream visibility — confirm with the production vendor.