''Scholarpedia'' is an English-language

wiki A wiki ( ) is a form of hypertext publication on the internet which is collaboratively edited and managed by its audience directly through a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages that can either be edited by the public or l ...

-based

online encyclopedia An online encyclopedia, also called an Internet encyclopedia, is a digital encyclopedia accessible through the Internet. Some examples include pre-World Wide Web services that offered the '' Academic American Encyclopedia'' beginning in 1980, Enc ...

with features commonly associated with

open-access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which nominally copyrightable publications are delivered to readers free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 de ...

online

academic journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...

s, which aims to have quality content in science and medicine. ''Scholarpedia'' articles are written by invited or approved expert authors and are subject to

peer review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (:wiktionary:peer#Etymology 2, peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the ...

. ''Scholarpedia'' lists the real names and affiliations of all authors, curators and editors involved in an article: however, the peer review process (which can suggest changes or additions, and has to be satisfied before an article can appear) is anonymous. ''Scholarpedia'' articles are stored in an online repository, and can be cited as conventional journal articles (''Scholarpedia'' has the

ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit to uniquely identify a periodical publication (periodical), such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs a ...

number ). ''Scholarpedia''s citation system includes support for revision numbers. The project was created in February 2006 by Eugene M. Izhikevich, while he was a researcher at the Neurosciences Institute,

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

. Izhikevich also serves as the encyclopedia's editor-in-chief.

Scope

''Scholarpedia'' content is grouped into separate "encyclopedias". , seven of these are described as "focal areas": *

Astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the ...

Celestial mechanics Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the motions of objects in outer space. Historically, celestial mechanics applies principles of physics (classical mechanics) to astronomical objects, such as stars and planets, to ...

Computational neuroscience Computational neuroscience (also known as theoretical neuroscience or mathematical neuroscience) is a branch of neuroscience which employs mathematics, computer science, theoretical analysis and abstractions of the brain to understand th ...

Computational intelligence In computer science, computational intelligence (CI) refers to concepts, paradigms, algorithms and implementations of systems that are designed to show " intelligent" behavior in complex and changing environments. These systems are aimed at m ...

Dynamical systems In mathematics, a dynamical system is a system in which a Function (mathematics), function describes the time dependence of a Point (geometry), point in an ambient space, such as in a parametric curve. Examples include the mathematical models ...

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

Touch The somatosensory system, or somatic sensory system is a subset of the sensory nervous system. The main functions of the somatosensory system are the perception of external stimuli, the perception of internal stimuli, and the regulation of bo ...

Other encyclopedias include diverse areas such as play science and models of brain disorders. , ''Scholarpedia'' had 1,804 content pages and 18,149 registered users, while , it had 1,812 peer-reviewed articles. The article creation count in 2024 was 7

Funding

''Scholarpedia'''s maintenance and server costs is currently funded by Brain Corporation, a

robotics Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Within mechanical engineering, robotics is the design and construction of the physical structures of robots, while in computer s ...

company which Izhikevich is the co-founder and CEO of. As stated on ''Scholarpedia'''s Frequently Asked Questions page, the company is also able to "benefit from ''Scholarpedia'''s extensive coverage of topics in computational neuroscience".

Authorship

To ensure that the articles are written by experts, authors of the various articles in ''Scholarpedia'' are either invited by the editor-in-chief or other curators, or selected by a public election. For example,

Jimmy Wales Jimmy Donal Wales (born August 7, 1966), also known as Jimbo Wales, is an American List of Internet entrepreneurs, Internet entrepreneur and former Trader (finance), financial trader. He is a Founders of Wikipedia, co-founder of the non-profi ...

and

Larry Sanger Lawrence Mark Sanger (; born July 16, 1968) is an American Internet project developer and philosopher who co-founded Wikipedia along with Jimmy Wales. Sanger coined Wikipedia's name, and provided initial drafts for many of its early guidelines, ...

were nominated for the article on Wikipedia. , the list of authors included four

Fields Medalists The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of Mathematicians, International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place e ...

and sixteen

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

winners. Registered users must provide their full real name, and a recognized affiliation to an academic institution. Only registered users can edit an article, and those edits are subject to approval by the ''curator'' of the article, who is typically the author. Curatorship is transferable. Users have a ''curator index'' attribute which is incremented or decremented by various activities and which affects the user's capabilities on the website. After October 20, 2011, anyone can propose an article for ''Scholarpedia'', but articles must be sponsored by Editors or Curators before the article can be published.

Copyright

Articles are available online without charge for non-commercial use, but may not be copied in bulk. Authors are credited on the article page and in the suggested citation formats. In January 2008 ''Scholarpedia'' changed their licensing policy and started accepting articles under the

GNU Free Documentation License The GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL or GFDL) is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) for the GNU Project. It is similar to the GNU General Public License, giving readers the rights ...

and the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license, in addition to the earlier system in which the author gives a non-exclusive license directly to ''Scholarpedia''.

Software

''Scholarpedia'' uses the same wiki engine as

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a free content, free Online content, online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and La ...

MediaWiki MediaWiki is free and open-source wiki software originally developed by Magnus Manske for use on Wikipedia on January 25, 2002, and further improved by Lee Daniel Crocker,mailarchive:wikipedia-l/2001-August/000382.html, Magnus Manske's announc ...

, with modifications to support voting on revisions. The software's development is done privately.

References

External links

*{{Official website, name=Scholarpedia official website Mathematics websites MediaWiki websites Wiki communities Internet properties established in 2006 American online encyclopedias