Scholarpedia:Editor FAQ
From Scholarpedia
Scholarwiki
What is a "category"? What is an "Encyclopedia of.."?
An encyclopedia in Scholarpedia is a portal article (web page) containing lists of articles/authors on a given topic and other useful informations. This page is edited and manually maintained by its editor: nothing there is added automatically.
In Scholarpedia categories are keywords (also) used to label articles related to the same topic.
An article belongs to category C iff its source page contains the token [[Category:C]].
For each category, a category page is automatically created. For a category C the category page is located at http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Category:C The category page automatically shows at its bottom links to all the pages in that category (i.e. having [[Category:C]] in the text). The top of a category page can be edited as usual. In scholarpedia you can link to the page of say category "Physics" by adding to the text the token [[:Category:Physics|text to be displayed]] (note the : )
A category D is a subcategory of a category C iff the category page of D contains the token [[Category:C]] (like articles). Articles belonging to a category D subcategory of C do not automatically belong to category C (if you want that you should add [[Category:C]] to all articles).
How can I delete a page?
You cannot. Just empty all its contents and categories, and add the tag [[Category:Delete this page]]. The editor-in-chief will delete the page for you.
How I create super-categories and sub-categories of my category?
To include your category into a bigger category, just edit your category page and list all the "bigger" categories you would like it to be included,
by writing [[Category:BiggerCategoryName_1]] [[Category:BiggerCategoryName_2]] and so on.
To have subcategories in your category, just go to the subcategory pages and add there a link to your category, i.e. add [[Category:MyCategoryName]].
In this sense, categories are treated as just articles.
Should I add [[Category:Scholarpedia]] to the articles in my category?
NO. This is a temporary category for articles that will have their own categories when an appropriate editor is found and the appropriate encyclopedia is initiated.
How should I proceed to invite two or more co-authors for writing the same article
Just invite each of them for the article and in the invitation letter mention that there will be other co-authors. Make sure you spell the article title the same way all the times, otherwise, Scholarpedia will create multiple articles (for multiple authors).
If one of the authors already agreed to write the article, you can still invite more people (though, see the question below), but it is easier if the author does it himself. For this, he needs to login to Scholarpedia, go to the article, press 'author' button, then 'invite co-author' button, and then provide usernames of all the co-authors. Of course, the co-authors need to register in Scholarpedia before that and give the main author their usernames (should be their last names).
How can I find if a potential author or reviewer already has a username
To check whether a potential author or reviewer already has a username in Scholarpedia, go to user list and find the username of that person. Alternatively, you can find any person by typing his/her last name in the search window and pressing 'Title' button. If the person with such a username exists, you will see the link 'User:<lastname>'. The person may have a different username, so there is a line "See all users with names/affiliations containing ...". Follow this line.
There is a misprint in the username of some user: shall I create another account?
NO: just inform the editor-in-chief and he will rename the username. It is much easier to rename than to merge things.
How can I reserve the article XYZ for my category without inviting the author?
Search for title XYZ . If the article XYZ does not exists you will be asked if you want to create it (red link).
How can I create a new user account without inviting the user for an article?
Just press 'invite (new)' in your editor menu, create an account but click "just create an account" box.
How can I start the election for the author of XYZ?
You should start election of authors for the article XYZ only if there are multiple "best possible authors" for this article. That is, you should have at least 2 authors in mind (to elect from). If there is only one "best" author, just invite that person.
The instructions to initiate election are at Scholarpedia:Election
Editorial activity
Is editorial activity reflected in the Scholar Index of editors?
Generally, NO. The editor's name is acknowledged at the bottom of each article. However, when the article is finished and accepted, the Scholar Index of the editor who made the original invitation or contributed somehow to the article is increased.
The Scholar Index of the copy-editor (an assistant editor - student volunteer - who helped the author with wikitext, conversion of figures, etc.) is increased significantly as the result of his/her involvement with the article.
In my communication with the authors, which email account should I use?
Editors should use their own email accounts for all communications with authors. They do not need to forward their correspondence to the editor-in-chief, unless they think that the editor-in-chief should be aware of it (to avoid potential conflicts with future invitations, etc.).
Can I access the peer-review forum to see other articles?
NO. Editors can only see those articles in the peer-review forum that belong to their category. Editors have access to the names of reviewers (invited or active), etc. If there is an article that belongs to your topic, but you do not see the functionality of the editor, the article is probably missing the [[Category:...]] statement (and hence the server does not know that you are the editor of this article).
Can editors see the suggestions that are sent to suggestions@scholarpedia.org?
All the suggestions by the general public are mailed to the editor-in-chief, who then sends invitations. Since presently, the suggestions are restricted to eponymous articles, the invitation process is quick (no need to do the homework to find "the original inventor"). If a suggested article overlaps with any of the categories for which there is an editor, the editor-in-chief tries to contact the corresponding editor.
How long should I write a non-answering author before canceling his invitation? Will he be notified of the cancellation?
Invitations are followed-up by the server automatically twice per month for 3 months. After that period, all editor of all categories to which the article belongs and the editor-in-chief receive an automatic notification from the server that the article is not responding. If the author did not find 30 seconds to read the invitation and to press 'agree' or 'decline' button, he/she is likely to ignore all subsequent emails from Scholarpedia. It is good to contact this person by phone. If the person is not available, then there is no other way but to cancel the invitation.
How should I proceed if an author does not answer and I'd like to invite a co-author?
If the author agreed to write an article, you cannot invite a co-author without the author's approval. What if he/she does not want a co-author or does not want this particular person? Thus, if the author does not answer your emails, there is nothing you can do. If the author ignores your requests at all, then you should cancel the original invitation and invite another person - apparently the author is not serious to work with you on this article.
An author requests more time to finish the article: should I change his deadline? How?
Each author can easily change the deadline just by going to the article, pressing 'author' button and then selecting a new deadline. This deadline will be stored in the database (on the server) and used in all communications.
Selecting the new deadline will not affect the text on the page, e.g., "Dr. XXX agreed to write the article on .... Self imposed deadline ...." because the server does not know whether there is any other important information on the page. However, anybody (the author or the editor) can change the page text and remove any deadline information or just put new date (this, though will not affect the deadline stored on the server).
May I invite referees for an article that is not yet submitted for refereeing?
NO. (You can ask possible reviewers to take a look at the article informally).
A submitted article needs to be prettified (references, titles, equations), shall I do it myself?
Only if modifications are minor. It is better to send an email to the support@scholarpedia.org and request assistant editor help.
Do we have some reviewer instructions?
Yes, they are available at http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Scholarpedia:Instructions_for_reviewers and a link to this page is sent to each reviewer when he/she agrees to review an article. Reviewers do not read instructions, as a rule, and then pose a lot of questions "how do I do this? or that?...". It is advisable to have 2 paragraphs of instructions to be included into an email than to have a link and ask them to read the material.
May I invite more than 2 referees?
YES. Any number of reviewers could be invited.
The article has an empty See also/Further reading section: shall I delete it?
No. Keep the empty sections. They are needed to comply with the Scholarpedia standard. Instead of deleting, it is better to provide links there for other relevant articles (in "See also" section) or contact the author and ask to provide further reading material.
How do I know which type of refereeing process (standard or wiki) has chosen an author X?
It is stated in the pink box.
I need to create a test page to use in my editorial activity: how/where to create it?
If you are user X, create it as eg: User:X/sandbox.
How long shall I wait for an invited reviewer?
The server sends a few "follow-ups" to the reviewer during a one month period after the invitation. After that, the invitation for review should be canceled and another reviewer should be invited.
A reviewer asks me more time to do his job: what/how to do?
If you need this reviewer opinion, you will need to wait. You do not need to do anything in this case. If the reviewer is unreasonably slow, you might want to consider canceling the invitation and invite another reviewer.
Why canceling an invitation does not delete an author that asked me to resign?
If you cancel the invitation letter, this will have an effect only for those authors who are still not agreed and who need to click the 'agree' link. Once an author agreed to write an article, you can remove the invitation, but this will not affect the fact that the author is assigned to the article. To resign, the author (or you for him) needs to go to the article, click 'author' button and then 'resign' button.
At which frequency reviewers receive follow-ups for agreeing the invitation?
Reviewers receive followups every 5 days (the same frequency the editor receive emails from the server that some reviewers are needed; the followups to the reviewers and to the editor are sent by the same script).
How can I stop automatic reminders and followups?
To stop an automatic follow-up to an author, you can do either of the following:
- cancel the invitation to the author
- place [[Category:Nofollowup]] into the article body.
If the article does not have any pending invitations, and you do want the article anymore, do either one of the following:
- Remove all the text from the article (make it empty); the server ignores empty articles
- place [[Category:Noreminder]] into the article body.
You can ask the editor-in-chief to delete the article completely. However, it is desirable to keep the history of all invitations on the server (if somebody was invited for this article in the pase, but declined the invitation).
What an author should do to approve the final version of an article (after referee approval)?
He just need to go to the article, click the curator' button at the top (above the article's title, where the 'author' button used to be) and then 'approved' button. That is it.
Who is the people acknowledged at the bottom of the article?
There are a few fields at the bottom of the article:
- Invited by: the editor who sent the invitation
- Suggested by: the person who made a suggestion to the editor (may be empty).
- Action editor: the editor who sends emails to reviewers (may be different from the "invited by")
- Assistant editor: the person who converts the text to wikitext and does other low-level copyediting work.
- Reviewer: any reviewer who discloded his identity
