Scholarpedia: an Open Access peer reviewed encyclopedia

1. Scholarpedia: an Open Access peer reviewed encyclopedia Bertil F. Dorch, editor The Royal Library / Copenhagen University Library Honorary associate professor The Niels Bohr Institute Copenhagen University Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007

2. Content • Introduction: Wiki culture • Scholarpedia philosophy • A working example of Open AccessThe Encyclopedia of Astrophysics Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007

3. Introduction: Wiki culture We are living in a Web X culture (X ~ 2.something) • Web > 1 technology available to scholars (and nerds) • Success criteria: Easy, democratic, everything is online It’s a wiki world • Wikipedia 2001 (Jimmy Wales & Larry Sanger) • Rival Encyclopedia Britannica (e.g. Nature, 2005) • Wikimedia Foundation 2003 (Florida → CA 2008) • MediaWiki software 2003 • Open Source, easy to use & setup, uses PHP + MySQL • Wikipedia siblings: Controlled wiki encyclopedias • Negative spin on Wikipedia: Abuse, reliability issues • New wiki initiatives: Citizendium, Enzclopedia etc. Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007

4. www.scholarpedia.org Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007

5. Scholarpedia philosophy • Nobel Laureates and Fields Medalists • Leon Coopercontributes BCM Rule • Gerald Edelmancontributes Neural Darwinism • RiccardoGiacconicontributesCosmicX-raySources* • Donald A. GlasercontributesBubbleChamberwhichheinvented • Clive Grangerwrote the history part and reviewedGrangerCausality • Paul C. Lauterburcontributed MRI • John C. MathercontributesCosmicBackground Explorer * • Rita Levi-Montalcinicontributes Nerve Growth Factor • Erwin NehercontributesPatchClamp • Myron S. ScholescontributesBlack-ScholesFormula • Charles TownescontributedLaserwhichheinvented • John Milnor contributed Attractor (Fields Medalist) • Steve Smalecontributed Smale Horseshoe (Fields Medalist) • Terence Tao contributed Szemerédi's Theorem (Fields Medalist) • + and 45 articleswithtitles = the name of theirauthor Scholarpedia idea • Build on successes of Wikipedia and correct problems • Not only controlled content, but high quality content  high profile authors = leading experts or original authors • Implementing academic standards: Traditional & new • Peer review (by actual peers, rather than e.g. editors) • Invitations and elections of authors earning scholar indices • Short review articles (with outbound references) that are curated Wiki environment • Easy for curators, editors, reviewers (referees) • Semi-automatic • Handling of invitations of authors and referees • Handling of the review process (editing, discussing, approving) Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007

6. Scholarpedia numbers Number of registered people: > 3,000 Number of curators: almost 1,000 Number of reserved articles: > 1,000 Number of finished articles: ~ 400 Number of editors: 23 Number of Nobel Laureate authors: 11 Number of Encyclopedias: 4 Number of Editors-in-chief: 1 Number of USD on budget: 0 … but sponsors are wanted Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007

7. Scholarpedia, physically Editor-in-chief and founder: Dr. Eugene M. Izhikevich Curriculum Vitae • 1967 Born in Moscow, Russia • 1992 M.S. in Applied Mathematics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, • 1996 Ph.D. in Mathematics, Michigan State University, Michigan • 1996-2000 postdoc and then visiting professor, Department of Mathematics, Center for Systems Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona • 2000-2005 Associate Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology, The Neurosciences Institute, San Diego, California • 2005-present Senior Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology, The Neurosciences Institute, San Diego, California Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007

8. Encyclopedia_of_Astrophysics Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007

9. The Scholarpedia Encyclopedia of Astrophysics Working example of Open Access ! History • Scholarpedia began in early 2006 (Encyclopedia of Comp. Neurosci.) • Yours truely wrote article for The Encyclopedia of Dynamical Systems → Category on Fluid Dynamics branched into Computational Astrophysics (Category Editor, early 2007) → Encyclopedia of Computational Astrophysics? Na, better go directly to Astrophysics (+ more an more sub-categories and sub editors) • Overlap with Dynamical Systems (sharing articles) Examples of how it works, looks and feels… • Viewing an article (as an unregistered user) • Registrering as a user (to contribute, not to read) • From the author’s point of view • Editor’s point of view Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007

10. Example of a finished articles (short reviews) Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007

11. Example of a finished articles (short reviews) Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007

12. Example: Registering as a user Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007

13. Example of editing an articles Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007

14. Example: Managing referees and inviting authors Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007

15. The End Scholarpedia articles Dorch (2007) Magnetohydrodynamics. Scholarpedia, p.10322 Izhikevich (2006) Main Page. Scholarpedia, p.1286 • OA peer reviewed media is easy to work with • The software is for free and the editorial “staff” is for free → Nothing comes entirely for free, though  Looking for sponsors… For increased computer capacity Copenhagen University Library Seminar on Open Access 2007