Dear colleagues,
The English edition of Lactation & Breastfeeding will be published online on this new website from 2026 onwards. Logged-in members of the national associations of ELACTA will have access to the full texts of all articles and will be eligible to take the CERPs tests. Membership administration will be handled directly by the national associations themselves. They will receive one “seat” for all of their members for whom they pay fees to ELACTA.
Table of Contents
- How member administration works
- Access to the Dashboard by group admins
- Managing members via the dashboard
- How you should add / invite your members to grant them access
- Do some test runs before you invite real members!
- Any questions?
How member administration works
The national associations are organised as “groups” on this website. Each national association has a group owner – the account of the association. They are added by the website administrator of the L&B editorial team and are assigned their own group. Please note: The username of the group owner can NOT be changed. Therefore it is important that the official association email address and the official name of the President / Secretary is used and not a personal name.
To ensure that the president does not have to do all the work, they can appoint one or more group admins from their board or a secretary.
The group owner and the group admins can invite or add members of their association to their group as group members, or remove them if they leave the association.
Group owners and group admins can manage their groups on the “Dashboard for Group Admins“.
The national associations can grant their members access to the full text of Lactation & Breastfeeding articles by including them into their group and remove them when they leave their association.
Essentially, the national associations have three options for granting their members access:
The three methods are also described in detail in the guide for ELACTA members:
- Access granted by adding the email address(es) of the member(s) for immediate access (individually or in bulk).
- Access granted by invitation mail with activation link (individually or in bulk).
- Access granted by providing a self-registration link with a group code.
Below you will find a description on how you should add / invite your members to grant them access.
Here, we will now explain how to manage members via the dashboard for group admins.
Access to the Dashboard for Group Admins
Please use a PC or laptop to manage your group. The screen of a smartphone may be too small.
You can log in here:
After logging in, move your mouse over the little man icon at the top right. A submenu will then drop down. Click on the last menu item, “Dashboard for Group Admins”.
Managing members via the dashboard
You are now on the “Dashboard for Group Admins“. Feel free to take a look around. Here we explain the structure and function of the dashboard step by step.
The upper part of the dashboard
(1) At the top is the name of your group, which you can customise yourself at the bottom of the dashboard.
(2) Here you can see the number of “seats” you have for your group and how many of them are already occupied. The number of seats is assigned by the editorial team based on your ELACTA membership fee.
(3) Here you can search for “Group Owner”, “Group Admins” and “Group Members”. This is helpful if you want to have an overview of who is the “Owner” and who is an “Admin”.
(4) Here you can search for members via username or email, e.g. if you want to check whether a member is already there, remove them or set them as an admin or remove them as an admin. After searching, click on “Clear” to reset the search.
(5) Here you can remove people from the group, e.g. if someone has left your association or is not paying their membership fees.
(6) Here you can set a member as admin. All new admins can select or remove additional admins.
The middle part of the dashboard
(1) Here you can browse through your member list.
(2) Here you can add or invite a single group member. The prerequisite for this is that your members have given their consent in advance in accordance with the GDPR.
(3) Here you can decide whether to add the new member automatically or send them an invitation email with an activation link.
- If the box is NOT ticked, the recipient will receive an invitation email to your group with an activation link (see the detailed explanation of how to invite single group members below).
- If the box “Disable the group invite email …” is ticked, the member will be added to your group immediately and will have access, when they log in. However, in this case, the member will not receive an email notifying them that they have been granted access, so you will need to inform them in another way.
When you do not disable the group invite email, the invited member will receive an invitation email with activation link that can look like the following figure depending on your invitation text in the ‘Group Description’ and the person who has sent the email:
Please note: The email might land in the junk mail folder!
The invited member has to click the given activation link at the bottom to join your group. Than they will land at the ‘Edit Your Profile’ page and the membership is automatically confirmed.
The new member has to choose a new password to be able to log in. They now have full access to the journal.
Regardless of whether or not an invitation email is sent to the member, new users will receive an automatic ‘new user notification email’ from WordPress for setting their passwort:
From the perspective of Group Owners and Group Admins:
As long as the invited member has not yet accepted the invitation by clicking the activation link, they will be displayed in the “Invited” section. You can remove them, set them as Member even if they have not yet accepted the invitation, or resend the invitation email.
You might wonder how can group owners and group admins tell if an invited person has accepted the invitation. As the system does not send an email notification to group owners and admins, they only can recognise that an invitation has been accepted when the member in question is no longer listed under ‘Invited’ but under ‘Member’.
The lower part of the dashboard
(1) Here you can upload an entire list of members of your association. To do this, the member list must be available as a CSV file. The data required for this and their order can be found in the linked template. The prerequisite for uploading member lists is that your members have given their consent in advance in accordance with the GDPR.
(2) Here, too, you can decide whether to simply add the member list to your group and immediately grant all persons in the CSV list access or whether to send all of them an invitation email with an activation link. The entire process works the same as when sending invitation emails to single members, see above. Please do not send out more than 30 email invitations per hour! Firstly, to avoid overloading the server. Secondly, we are only allowed to send a total of 100 emails per hour from this website, across all associations combined. If you click the box “Disable the group invite email …” and simply upload the member list without sending emails, you can upload as many members as you like in a single day; there are no restrictions on this. However, to avoid overloading the server, you should upload your list in batches, no more than 100 members at a time.
(3) Here you will find a link that you can use to invite your association members to self-register in your group. To do this, you will need an own newsletter provider or a postal distribution list of your members. If you have a postal distribution list, you can use this link to generate a QR code that your members can scan to register.
(4) Here you can customise the name of your group. This is the name that persons who receive an invitation email will see. It should not simply be the name of your association, as this could be confusing. The name should make it clear that this is access to the Lactation & Breastfeeding journal for your association members.
(5) Here you can customise the group description. The group description will be displayed in the invitation email for clarification. Explain in your own languages what it is about and what steps members need to take to register and gain access to the journal.
(6) Here you can enter your specific group code for self-registration and change it regularly to prevent misuse.
For data protection reasons, the safest way to invite association members to your group is to send them a link and a group code so that they can self-register. As already described, you will need an email distribution list (e.g. newsletter) or a postal distribution list of your association members. If you have a postal distribution list, you can generate a QR code from this link, which your members can scan to register.
The link consists of:
(a) the URL for self-registration of ELACTA members: https://elacta-journal.eu/elacta-members/
and (b) from the specific group code that you, as the group owner or group admin, set at the bottom of the dashboard and change regularly.
If you send the complete link to your association members (by email or as a QR code by post), they will be taken to the self-registration page at https://elacta-journal.eu/elacta-members/ when they click on the link. The group code is already filled in automatically at the bottom:
The drawback of the self-registration link is the potential misuse since everyone with this link can self-register. You will therefore need to regularly check your membership list for unauthorised members. For safety reasons you can send / provide the link without the code and the code separately. Sending the link and code by post rather than by email can serve as an another security measure. Here you can find a sample letter for the invitation.
Furthermore, the code should be changed regularly, for example on a monthly basis, if you send the link by email, or once a year, if you send letters per post.
Good to know: When self-registering, association members do not receive any emails during the registration process, so they must make a note of the login details they have entered. The group owners and admins also do not receive any email notifications. They can check their dashboard instead.
How you should add / invite your members to grant them access
As you can see, the dashboard offers different options for adding or inviting your association members: authomatic adding with immediate access (method #1; individually or in bulk), email invitation with activation link (method #2; individually or in bulk) and self-registration with the specific group code (method #3). Below is a step-by-step guide on when each method might be used.
- Closest board colleagues: At the beginning you might add single close colleagues in a board meeting individually by simply adding their email addresses (and other details, if desired) for immediate access (method #1). Naturally, you can invite them using the other methods, too.
- Existing members: Please invite all your existing association members via letter (per post) or email newsletter using your own provider to self-register with the link and the specific group code (method #3; registration link and code provided separately, if sent by email newsletter, for safety reasons). Self-registration is the only suitable invitation method for existing members for associations with more then ~ ten members, if you have no GDPR consent. Here you can find a sample letter for the invitation. If your members have given their consent for their details (name, email address) to be passed on to ELACTA, then Method #2 may also be used, i.e. an email list of members can be uploaded, emails with activation link will be then sent out, see sample notification. If required, the editorial team can take care of this.
- New members:
- You might stick to self-registration (method #3) for new members in the long term as the only and single method you use with your association. Please inform your prospective members about access to Lactation & Breastfeeding via self-registration once their registration is complete. With completion of the registration you can send them the link and the group code vial email or letter.
- You also might use method #2, email invitation with activation link. However, you are required to obtain a written consent in advance, according to GDPR. Preferably, the consent form should be included as part of the registration form for new association members. In order for your new members to gain access, they must give their consent for you to add their email address, and if desired, username, first name and surname, to elacta-journal.eu, the website of Lactation & Breastfeeding. Afterwards, these new members can be added or sent email invitation individually or in bulk via CSV lists at specific intervals. Here you can find sample email notifications for new members. Please note if you wish to use the email invitations: A maximum of 100 emails may be sent per hour from the elacta-journal.de website, across all associations combined! Therefore, please do not upload more than 30 emails per hour if you wish to use the email invitations. If you do not send email invitations from the website, but simply add the CSV list (by ticking the box), you can add up to 100 members at once. However, most member associations do not have that many new members anyway.
- When other invitations fail: The email addresses and, if desired, other details of individual members might be added for immediate success (method #1) upon their request when invitation emails fail to get delivered for some technical reasons. The same applies here: a declaration of consent must be provided in advance.
Pro, cons and suitability of the different methods for granting access
After the step-by-step guide on when each method might be used, this section will explain the advantages and disadvantages of the three basic methods and their suitability in more detail.
#1. Adding email address(es) for immediate access
Pro
- The safest, easiest and quickest way to add new members
Cons
- Before you add the email address(es) and, if desired, other details of your members, you must obtain consent in accordance with the GDPR. If consent has not been given, this method cannot be used from a legal perspective.
- As people added do not automatically receive an email notification about their access – except for setting their passwords – additional notifications from the group admins are essential. Ideally, members should receive notifications before and after being added, for example by email, letter or in person depending on the situation. Before adding, members can be informed of what to expect: access to full-text articles in Lactation & Breastfeeding by joining the group. Once they have been added, new members can be informed about their new access and how to log in.
- Admins usually have no information about whether their member have noticed the addition or not.
- In order to invite a large number of members in this way, the admin must have a CSV file containing the members’ details. Such a file is not always available.
Suitable situations
- This method can be used, for example, to add single members or a small group of colleagues such as board members in a meeting. Also, when other methods have failed – for instance, if the invitation emails have ended up in the spam folder and cannot be delivered – administrators can use this method at the request of a member. Naturally, consent must be obtained before.
#2. Sending invitation email with activation link
Pro
- The member receives an invitation mail and, with it, information of what it is all about. Thus, less additional notifications are necessary compaired with simply adding email addresses (#1).
- Once the member has clicked on the activation link and thereby accepted the invitation, the admin can assume that the member has taken note of the invitation and accepted it deliberately.
- In the dashboard, the admin can see who has already accepted the invitation and who has not. The admin can send repeated reminders and messages to those who have not accepted the invitation, or eventually remove them.
- This method is more secure than the self-registration method (#3) in preventing unauthorised access.
Cons
- Before you add the email address(es) and, if desired, other details of your members, you must obtain consent in accordance with the GDPR. If consent has not been given, this method cannot be used from a legal perspective.
- If the invitation email ends up in the spam folder or is overlooked, the member will not be granted access.
- In order to invite a large number of members in this way, the admin must have a CSV file containing the members’ details. Such a file is not always available. Please note: Please do not send out more than 30 email invitations per hour! We can only send a total of 100 emails per hour from this website, across all associations combined.
Suitable situations
- Once consent forms have been obtained, this method can be used to grant new members access (not more than 30 members per hour).
#3. Self-registration with specific group code
Pro
- Invitations can be sent without GDPR consent.
- This method allows you to invite a large number of members, even if you do not have a CSV file containing their details, but only a mailing list.
- Invitations can also be sent by post or, for example, at a conference, by including or projecting the registration link (e.g. as a QR code) and the specific group code onto the wall. Here you can find a sample invitation letter.
Cons
- If you send the link by email, it might end up in the spam folder or be overlooked.
- With this method, there is the greatest risk that unauthorised individuals or bots will self-register if the full registration link leaks.
- To mitigate the risk, additional measures are required (changing the specific group code regularly, sending the specific group code separately from the link, sending the full link only by post and QR code etc.).
- Admins have less control over who has already received the invitation and who still needs to be invited compared to the invitation mails (#2).
Suitable situation
- This method is the only suitable way to invite all existing association members at the initial stage, when no consent forms have yet been obtained and when many members have to be invited. Even in the long term, for new members, this method can remain the standard approach. This method is also suitable if the invitation is to be made by letter or via a QR code at a conference.
Do some test runs before you invite real members!
To better understand how to invite and add members, please first test all the options using different email addresses with colleagues you know well or private email addresses of your own that are not registered on this website. After the test, please delete the private email address from the member list in the dashboard so that it does not reduce the member limit of your association group.
Any questions?
We hope that this guide has provided a clear explanation of how member administration works. AI can also help you answer open questions and make good suggestions. On this website, we use a widely used WordPress plugin called ‘Content Restrict Pro’ with the ‘Group Access’ add-on for user management, which is well known by Google Gemini and ChatGPT.
Finally, you are welcome to contact our editorial team with any questions you may have.