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As is known, the creation of academic journals in a digital environment, as well as their transformation from print to online, is constantly growing. This trend is in its maturity thanks to the spread of journal management and publishing softwares. Open Journal System by the Public Knowledge Project is one of the most widespread software for this purpose, with over 7,000 new International journals using it in 2013. The aim of this paper is to analyze OJS functionalities and to verify their application on two Italian academic journals as case-study. These are two publishing projects belonging different disciplines: Annals of Geophysics has a long tradition in the geophysics; Between, started in 2009, collects contributions on theory and history of comparative literature. The research finds its basis in the analysis of applications and online platforms examined, combined with interviews to John Willinsky - PKP Director, and to the journal managers. From this observation point, moreover, the tangible relationship between software architecture and planning and academic publishing projects comes out. In the end, this investigation helps to define OJS cultural and political role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]