Performance improvements
Fix infinite loading on item pages and optimize menu resolver usage
Edit Item page would sometimes fail to load or encounter an infinite loop when visiting the version history page: #3252
Reduce browse definition requests on simple item page
Reduced number of requests when loading the simple item page: #3701
Added support for caching embedded objects without a self link & null responses
Reduced the number of requests sent to backend when loading search results (by fixing a few caching bugs): #3415
Removed infinite loops from HTML templates
Several administrative pages could encounter infinite loading errors. These included EPerson and Group pages, Bitstream and Metadata registry, and pagination tools: #3585
Accessibility improvements in User Interface
Restructured the edit item & edit bitstream tabs to be more accessible
Edit Item, Bitstreams tab was refactored to enhance accessibility and keyboard control: #3464
Created live region to announce new messages to screen readers
An invisible ARIA "live region" now exists which can communicate notifications and page changes to screen readers #3337
Added support for disabled buttons for screen readers
All disabled buttons in DSpace are now accessible to users using a screen reader: #3249
Made expandable navbar section more keyboard accessible
"All of DSpace" browse menu has improved keyboard navigation: #3085
Submission / Workflow fixes
Fixed dropdown/lookup & lookup-name fields being reset when hitting enter
Dropdown or lookup fields would sometimes reset when "Enter" key was pressed: #3724
Enforce unique item id in workspace table
Enforce unique Item IDs in the "workspace" database table: #9341
Administrative Fixes
Improve observability of running processes and fail them during startup
If Tomcat shut down when a Process was running, the Process would stay in the "running" state forever: #9727 and #10156
Fixed curation link checker not working for link redirects
"check links" curation task would fail if it encountered a redirect: #9658
Other major fixes
Get rid of failing REST requests when navigating between different browse indexes
Clicking on Browse by Author after Browse by Issue Date would generate a server error: #573
Recognizing Atmire contributors and the DSpace community
We would like to acknowledge our individual Atmire contributors for their substantial contributions to the improvements and fixes in this release, especially as many of them commit also part of their free time to DSpace.
We sincerely appreciate the DSpace community for actively identifying and reporting issues. Your valuable contributions have helped shape these improvements. Thank you for your collaboration, feedback, and ongoing support. We look forward to continuing to enhance DSpace together for a better and more efficient experience for all.