The quantalk.org project is currently in early beta testing. However, the features described below are already in effect. One exception to the description below is that, during beta, all users automatically have the scholar rank; a second exception is that the peer review system is not yet available. Read more about the beta test here.

General Questions

1. What is quantalk.org? A site for researchers in quantum information to present, discuss and review the latest research. For the full overview, look at this page and its daughter links.

2. Who runs quantalk.org? Who started it?
To a large extent the project is run by the quantalk.org community - through the postings of regular Scholars, and the work of Moderators and Reviewers. The project was started by three researchers at Oxford and Bristol in the UK: Simon Benjamin, John Morton and Matthew Webb.

3. Is it a profit making venture, or a charity, or what?
Currently the project makes a loss. We hope that advertising revenue will cover costs, and might indeed eventually make some profit. We intend to stick with very discrete ads - Google Ads, and Amazon.com links from books etc. Profit is not the goal; the goal is to make a really useful site.

4. How do I know quantalk.org will not just disappear, along with any contributions I make?
All user content posted to quantalk.org is permanent (except deletion of posts deemed abusive, and other 'housekeeping' revisions applied by forum Moderators). Because of this permanence, contributors can feel justified in investing significant time in making posts. It is of course possible that quantalk.org will fail as a project. However, even in this event the quantalk.org website will remain live, with all content openly available, for a minimum of 4 years after the last introduction of new material.

5. Terminology: What is a thread? What is a post?
A 'post' is simply a specific contribution which a user makes to an ongoing discussion. Posts will certainly include some text, but can also include images and equations. Each post is composed, and then submitted, using a simple interface within the quantalk.org web site. A post might be very simple - one line of text answering a question - or it might be very complex, with lots of content to make a sophisticated point. A 'thread' is a series of posts on a given topic - for example, discussing a specific research paper. Frequently, a given user will make several posts in a thread as the discussion progresses. Each post is time stamped, and the thread is presented in chronological order. A fast moving thread might receive several posts an hour, while a slower thread might get a new post only every few days. There are options for users to be automatically notified of new posts to discussion threads which they have previously contributed to, so that they know when to check back.

6. What is all this about ranks?
At quantalk.org we have ranks that are assigned to registered users. These ranks correspond to certain abilities to affect the site. We stress that anyone can see all the content of quantalk.org - we no not require registration to access any part of the site. However, registration is required in order to start making contributions. All users who do register begin with rank Member - any individual can register to attain this rank and start posting on the general forums. Members who are verified as researchers (graduates, or above) in a relevant field at a university or appropriate company are promoted to Scholar. They may contribute to the Articles section, including uploading their own work and participating in open peer review. Ordinary members cannot do these things, although they can always create a thread in the General Forums to ask questions, make points etc.
Above Scholar there is only one rank: site Operator. These are individuals with essentially unlimited access to the site. There are only ever a few Operators, their names are publicly available.
There are also secondary ranks called 'jobs' that operate on a contextual basis. The Moderator job is given to a Member or Scholar who offers to help the quantalk.org project by looking after one or more threads. Moderators are given limited 'house keeping' powers in order to remove abusive posts for example, or more commonly to move a post to a more suitable location. Within the thread where they have this role, the Moderator is flagged as such. In threads where an Open Peer Review process is taking place, a qualified OPR Moderator will be assigned. Similarly the Reviewer job is assigned to two or three individuals in such a thread. The Author job is assigned to the author of any uploaded preprint, and is flagged as an author in the discussion thread attached to that article.

7. How are 'Scholars' veified as such?
We have a help page about this. Basically, they need to register using an email address that is associated with their employer (a unviersity, appropriate company or similar), and submit a request for the Scholar rank - this involves writing a few lines of 'bio' that can be manually verified. If the user is also able to get one other existing Scholar to 'vouch' for them, then the process of attaining Scholar rank is automatic and instant. In the event that there is no suitable existing Scholar to vouch, then the process of promotion will require an Operator to manually upgrade the rank after checking the bio verus email address etc.

8. Can I make posts anonymously? Is my anonymity guaranteed?
All users must register under their real name. Usually, that real name is visible next to any post that the user makes. However, we recognize that sometimes it is impossible to make critical remarks without compromising professional relationships. We value frank, honest views very highly, and indeed sometimes negative evaluations can be more valuable than positive ones. Therefore we have built into quantalk.org a facility for anonymous posting - when a user composes a new post, there is a button to indicate whether the post should appear without attribution.
This option should only be used very occasionally; we encourage users to post under their names whenever possible. There are circumstances where anonymous posting is certainly inappropriate - we have a help page on this topic.
The structure of the site prevents the identity of an anonymous poster from being discovered. However, the site Operators can, if necessary, determine the author's identity by inspecting certain log data. Therefore the anonymity option is not a license to make abusive posts without consequences. However, even in the event of abuse the identity of an anonymous poster would not be publicly revealed by the Operators.

9. Where does the software behind quantalk.org come from?
The quantalk.org site is original from the ground up, using custom code written by Matt Webb for all the various facilities that we offer. This code is constantly under revision. At this time, we are not seeking help from programmers, nor are we making our code available to 3rd parties.

About uploading manuscripts

1. Can I put my papers onto quantalk.org?
Yes. Among other things quantalk.org is a manuscript archive - i.e. you can upload your latest paper, and then anyone else can download it. To do this you need to be an author, and to have permission from the other authors. The primary usage will be for preprints, see arXiv.org for an established example.

2. Will journal X object to me uploading my paper?
The quantalk.org site permits you to freely upload any paper: it might be in-review at some print journal, or already published in such a journal. Some journals have established policies permitting the submission of preprints and/or published papers to online archives. Others have no stated policy, and should be approached to confirm that this is acceptable.

3. What formats does quantalk.org accept?
We only accept PDF format - you need to prepare a single PDF file of your whole paper prior to upload. The maximum size is 8MB (you can contact an Operator if you need to upload a larger file). We have a help page explaining how to save your paper as PDF, written for Word users and LaTeX users.

4. Can I upload my manuscript *without* creating an associated discussion thread?
No, the quantalk.org system automatically creates a discussion thread attached to all uploads. This is part of our philosophy - that it should to possible for Scholars who read your paper to comment on it.

5. Can I upload my manuscript *without* making it subject to Open Peer Review?
Certainly. The quantalk.org open peer review process is purely optional.

About Open Peer Review (OPR)

During the quantalk.org beta test, the peer review system is not available. Read more about the beta test here.

1. What are the essentials of quantalk.org's Open Peer Review?
OPR is an optional process which authors may request when uploading a paper to quantalk.org. An OPR Moderator will be assign to such a paper, then two individuals will be asked to formally review your manuscript, and to post their reviews into the associated discussion thread. All readers can see these reviews, and indeed comment on them if they feel that they are unfair for example. The intention is to elevate the level of the discussion in the thread though the input of the Reviewers, who have taken time to scrutinize the paper. Authors can reply to the Reviewers, make corresponding changes to their paper, etc. Reviewers may revise their opinions and post again, they may ask Authors for clarification prior to making a review, and so forth. So in essence the discussion thread plays host to a dialogue between Authors, Reviewers and other interested Scholars.

2. Is Open Peer Review instead of convention review? Or additional to it?
It is additional: since quantalk.org is not a journal, typically authors will ask a journal to review their manuscript in order that it can be published. Therefore there may be a conventional process of peer review running in parallel to the quantalk.org process. The quantalk.org review mechanism does not result in any form of decision analogous to "publish"/"don't publish" - rather, it exists to stimulate rigourous discussion among Scholars.
If in fact a paper is currently subject to review at a print journal, it is the author's responsibility to ensure that the journal is 'OK' with the process. They may be expected to agree, since the quantalk.org OPR is complementary to traditional closed review, rather than competitive with it.

3. Why would an author opt to submit to ORP? Isn't there risk without reward?
There is the risk that the Reviewers will rate the author's work negatively, while there is no specific 'reward' or goal. For this reason, or for others, many authors may choose not to request OPR of their uploaded manuscripts. However, other authors will value the opportunity to gain feedback on their work, and to recieve the enhanced level exposure that quantalk.org provides to Reviewed articles (by listing them separately). Authors who are confident in the integrity of their work, and who are willing to "stand by" it in a public arena, may judge that the additional exposure and kudos of OPR makes it desirable.

4. For which of my papers could I seek OPR? Are already-published papers eligible?
You may put forward for OPR any paper, including one that is currently in review at a print journal or indeed one that has already appeared in print. We do ask users to refrain from seeking OPR for published papers that are more than 6 months old - the system is intended as a means of assessing new research, rather than a means of 'scoring' the performance of researchers in their past efforts.

5. Is Open Peer Review specifically a quantalk.org innovation?
No. The term has been around for years, and several other projects use an OPR model. Googling "open peer review" will reveal some of these.