Grants:IEG/Wikiscience

status: idea

Individual Engagement Grants	review grant submissions	visit IdeaLab submissions
eligibility and selection criteria

project:

Wikiscience

project contact:

will.mcintyregmail.com

participants:

Will McIntyre

summary:

Wikipedia meets peer reviewed scientific papers, freely available to all.

engagement target:

New wiki for scientific papers, not an existing Wikimedia project

strategic priority:

Improving Quality

total amount requested:

30,000 USD

2013 round 1

Project Idea

Wikiscience implements the wiki platform to create a website for publishing and reviewing scientific papers so they can be made freely available to everyone on the Internet.

Wikiscience will leverage the success of the wiki style of content publication to create an efficient and intelligent platform for peer reviewing, publishing and researching scientific articles. Also, Wikipedia's ability to be edited by users means that content published on Wikiscience can be easily reviewed by peers in a transparent manner, ensuring that objectivity is maintained during the peer review process.

Project Goals

To create an open forum for scientists to be able to publish their work for peer review without having to deal with the pressures of getting published in a traditional, commercialized peer reviewed journal. Allowing scientists to publish their works and discuss said works with each other in an open format will help spark discussion and will improve the overall quality of the content that ends up on Wikiscience.

Project Proposal

Project Plan

Scope:

Scope and Activities

Assuming funding is obtained for the Wikiscience project, the majority of time will then be spent on generating content from scientists to be reviewed and published as well as ensuring there is a community large enough to support the peer review process. By the end of the project Wikiscience should be completely operational, meaning that articles can be added, reviewed and published for the public to access.

Tools, Technologies, and Techniques

Public awareness for the Wikiscience project (marketing)
Active user base of both reviewers and contributors

Budget:

Total Amount Requested

$30,000 USD

Budget Breakdown

Non-profit incorporation, legal & accounting fees - $5000
Branding (logo, slogan, website setup, marketing campaign, etc) - $10000 - $15000
Project management & other operating costs - $5000 - $10000

Intended Impact:

Target Audience

Anyone who is conducting scientific research will benefit from Wikiscience, however the greatest impact will be on scientists who are trying to get their work reviewed and published in the scientific community.

Wikiscience gives scientists attempting to get their work published an open source avenue for their work to receive a rigourous scientific review before it is published. Wikiscience also benefits other scientists by allowing free access to the articles that are published on the Wikiscience site.

Fit with Strategy

Primary Wikimedia strategic priority: Improving Quality. Currently in the scientific community, if a person wishes to look at a published article, they generally have to either a) pay for the article/journal subscription themselves, b) be part of an institution with access to the article, or c) only access the free abstract. These access barriers to information can make scientific research a painful and all too often fruitless ordeal.

Wikiscience will help democratize the availability of this scientific knowledge by providing an open forum for scientific knowledge to be both displayed and discussed by the scientific community for the betterment of everyone. By making scientific knowledge freely available to everyone, Wikiscience will help to remove the access barriers that currently exist, opening up the field of science in a way that has never been seen before.

Sustainability

Once the grant is completed, Wikiscience will continue to grow its community of active users (both contributors and reviewers by promoting awareness of Wikiscience and using Wikiscience to stir public interest in the subject of science.

To ensure that there are enough reviewers for the material being reviewed and to maintain fairness, each time a member submits an article to be reviewed, the user must 'return the favour' by reviewing another user's article. This system of reciprocity ensures that all users are treated equally for their time and efforts. IF, for whatever reason a user does not wish to be subjected to this rule of reciprocity, they may 'buy' their way out of the rule, that is they can a pay fee to Wikiscience to have each article reviewed and published (the fee being enough money to cover the costs of having the article properly reviewed).

A possible expansion project for Wikiscience would be to become an access hub for scientists and grant funders to reach each other. Leveraging the idea crowd funding, Wikiscience would enable scientists to fund their work using donations received from the crowd funding campaigns which would then be published on Wikiscience. Using crowd funding as a template, a grant application template could be set up (similar to the application processes on kickstarter.com, indiegogo.com etc) on the Wikiscience website that scientists would use to launch their funding campaigns. Users can then go to the Wikiscience website to view and donate to the campaigns they desire. Campaigns could perhaps even be voted upon by users and the most popular selections would receive (at least partial) funding from the Wikiscience non-profit group itself.

Measures of Success

The Wikiscience project's success will be measured by both the size of its user base (both contributors and reviewers) and the number of articles on the site. Increasing Wikiscience's user base means that there will be more articles to be reviewed/published and more peers to review the articles. Both of these metrics will be key criteria to the development and success of the Wikiscience project.

Participant(s)

Will McIntyre - Creator (Discoverer?) of Wikiscience
I am an undergrad student currently studying Biology and I've always had a passion for science as well as sharing information on the Internet. I have been using the Internet as long as it has been available for public use and I strongly believe that if used properly, the Internet can be an incredibly powerful learning tool. I believe my active background in science as well as my passion for learning and sharing information will allow me to make Wikiscience the success that I know it can be.

Discussion

Community Notification:

Please paste a link to where the relevant communities have been notified of this proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions, here.

https://www.facebook.com/IFeakingLoveScience
https://www.facebook.com/groups/199126636862185/ (Honours Science University of Waterloo Group)
https://www.facebook.com/Wikiscience (Wikiscience Facebook Page)

Endorsements:

Do you think this project should be selected for an Individual Engagement Grant? Please add your name and rationale for endorsing this project in the list below. Other feedback, questions or concerns from community members are also highly valued, but please post them on the talk page of this proposal.

Community member: add your name and rationale here.

Comments

We are working on something similar here [1] Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 08:21, 8 February 2013 (UTC)