{% extends 'scipost/base.html' %} {% load staticfiles %} {% block pagetitle %}: Frequently asked questions{% endblock pagetitle %} {% block breadcrumb %}
SciPost is a complete online publication portal managed by and for scientists.
Preprint handling and circulation occurs through the well-established arXiv; the rest of the publication process, from peer refereeing through publication all the way to post-publication commenting, is offered by SciPost.
Thus, simply stated: share your preprint on arXiv, publish it in SciPost.
The following Journals are currently being offered:
These Journals cover all domains and subject areas within the field of Physics.
All SciPost Journals are subscription-free, two-way open access (free for readers, free for authors) online journals.
Manuscripts submitted to SciPost undergo the extremely stringent peer-witnessed refereeing process, guaranteeing that papers published in SciPost Journals meet the highest possible academic standards.
Because:
After registering as a Contributor, simply follow the submission procedure.
This is a short summary; for a more detailed description, see our submission and refereeing procedure.
Contributors thus have additional incentives to actively participate and provide not only high-quality Submissions, but also Reports and Comments of the highest achievable professional caliber. Quality is moreover promoted by Editorial vetting of all Reports, Replies and Comments before public posting.
Yes. All SciPost publications will obtain a unique DOI, enabling citations and metrics as per other journals. Membership of Crossref means that SciPost papers directly benefit from a set of citation metrics.
SciPost Physics is listed in ESCI (part of Web of Science's Core Collection), in Google Scholar and in INSPIRE.
SciPost is an active participant in the Initiative for Open Citations (I4OC), aiming to make all citation metadata publicly available, thereby opening up a future in which a much more diverse citation metrics landscape will be accessible.
No. SciPost publications or submissions under consideration for publication in SciPost Journals must not be submitted elsewhere.
All SciPost contents are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License. Under this license, the copyright remains the property of the authors, who then agree to make their articles available for reuse without permission or fees, for virtually any purpose. Anyone may copy, distribute or reuse these articles as long as the author(s) and original source are properly cited. This is the standard license used worldwide in open access journals. You can read more about the details in the SciPost Journals Terms and Conditions.
Yes. SciPost is here to stay, and authors should not worry that their SciPost publications could potentially disappear. In any case, all our publications are preserved in the CLOCKSS, an industry-wide standard professional-level archiving system. As long as the Web exists, our publications will be accessible, even if the Netherlands get flooded.
SciPost Commentaries is a searchable repository of Commentary Pages on scientific publications. Each Commentary Page contains some relevant summary info about the publication (such as Title, Author(s), DOI link to published version, abstract, ...), followed by Comments from Contributors and Author and Contributor Replies.
Any registered Contributor can request the activation of a Commentary Page by filling in the Commentary request page.
SciPost Theses is a searchable repository of external links to Master's, Ph.D. and Habilitation theses. Besides a validated URL pointing to the original document, each Thesis Link page contains some relevant summary info (such as title, author, degree granting institution, abstract, ...), followed by Comments from Contributors and Author and Contributor Replies.
As a registered Contributor, the author of the thesis (or, if unavailable, the supervisor or a colleague) can request the activation of a Thesis Link by filling in the Thesis Link request page.
Because:
The publishing landscape is evolving rapidly, and it is not clear that the best interests of science and scientists are being represented. SciPost offers a grassroots solution to the problem of scientific publishing, designed and implemented by scientists in the best interests of science itself.
The initial rollout of SciPost offers a Physics portal.
Portals in other disciplines will be opened if the SciPost model proves to be successful, and when a sufficient number of sponsors have been signed up.
Yes. All content is vetted by the editorial team before being made public. Only meaningful, professional-level scientific content is accepted. SciPost does not take any responsibility for the actual contents of postings.
SciPost operates non-commercially and purely not-for-profit, incurring minimal costs. Contributors, who are by definition all academically employed, provide all the content and perform all editorial tasks as part of their normal institutional academic duties. Operations are kept running by a team of volunteer officers, themselves academically employed.
The startup phase was supported by a grant from the NWO in the Netherlands. Long-term operations will be financed by donations from national funding agencies, universities, societies, foundations and individuals. More information on our cost-slashing consortial scheme can be found on our sponsors page. You can also take a look at our one-page Prospectus and at our full Sponsorship Agreement template for more information. You might even consider petitioning your local librarian/director/... to consider sponsoring us, which you can easily do using this email template.
What can be commented on?
All categories of contents can be commented on: Publications, Submissions, Commentaries and Thesis Links. In addition, Comments themselves can be replied to.
Who can submit Comments?
Only registered Contributors can submit Comments.
What about privacy?
Comments posted on SciPost carry an identifier including the Contributor's full name.
Reports on Submissions are anonymous by default. If the Contributor providing the Report wishes it, anonymity can be waived. Though we do not force it, we do encourage our Referees to sign their Reports.
More details can be found in our Privacy Policy.