Scholarpedia

Scholarpedia is a peer-reviewed open-access encyclopedia written by scholars from all around the world.

Scholarpedia feels and looks like Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Indeed, both are powered by the same program — MediaWiki. Both allow visitors to read and modify articles simply by clicking on the edit this article link.

However, Scholarpedia differs from Wikipedia in some very important ways:

  • Each article is authored by the top expert who is sponsored by two existing curators.
  • Each article is peer-reviewed and validated by two independent curators.
  • Upon validation, the author of the article becomes its curator.
  • Any registered user can modify and improve the article. However, the modification needs to be approved by a team of article contributors before it appears in the final approved version. Upon approval, the user joins the team of article contributors.
  • Article Contributors are assigned a Curator Index that reflects their contribution to the article and allows them to evaluate revisions to the article. The sum of Curator Indices across articles forms the Scholarpedia Index and endows users with certain privileges.
  • When an article curator resigns or is no longer available, a team of contributors elects the world’s best expert to become the curator. Their votes are weighted by their Curator Ranks (to be implemented in 2012).

Herein also lies the greatest difference between Scholarpedia and traditional print media: although the initial authorship and review are similar to a print journal so that Scholarpedia articles could be cited, articles are not frozen and outdated, but dynamic, subject to an ongoing process of improvement moderated by their curators. This allows Scholarpedia to be up-to-date, yet maintain the highest quality of content.

(via absurdreasoning)