The Editorial Lab (which stands for Editorial laboratory, but we also shortly call it the Lab), is a reserved area of this wiki, in which chapters and other contents are created or edited by a selected group of users.
In this section there are chapters, sub-chapters and articles that must be finalized by the authors with the permission of the' editor' and which can also be implemented by other colleagues, members of Masticationpedia, who require the permission of the publisher. In this way Masticationpedia will become a dynamic Science laboratory in which all the actors participating in the implementation of the chapter will be considered co-authors.
In addition to this function, in Ed.Lab it is possible to propose chapters which, if corresponding to the established editorial strategy, will be included in the section to be implemented.
The implementation steps are as follows:
- Insertion in Ed.Lab of the chapter in the native language of the author
- First implementation by the authors in the native language
- Translation of the chapter in English language
- Second implementation in English language of the chapter for additional authors who request it.
- End of the implementation period and official publication.
All the chapters can be discussed here, as well as related contents.
Who can edit pages in Lab
Actions in the "Lab" namespace are reserved to a special group of users: editors. Only users flagged as editors can write in it and can create new pages and new discussion pages.
Administrators (sysops) and bureaucrats have full access, as well, in this namespace for technical reasons; Masticationpedia could have granted them too the 'editor' rights, in this case they can work in the Lab just like any other editor, otherwise they have to limit their activity to maintenance duties only.
What to do in the Lab
Apart from interacting and exchanging ideas with truly interesting people, in the Lab editors can:
- propose their works for review by a rigidly selected audience
- propose works in their own native language (but an English version is warmly suggested, to allow a wider audience to read and discuss them)
- review other editors' works
- suggest edits
What happens next
Once a proposal is advanced, a new process is started in the Lab.
At the end of any process, our Scientific Director will check which suggestions about content have been received and which requested amendments have been agreed upon and prepared; he will consequently allow the changes to be activated in the official side of the wiki.
When our users (other editors) conclude for publishing the works, the proposed article will be kept on standby for a while, so to allow other users to correct any errors and punctuation in English language (after translating it, if the chapter is written in another language). At the completion of this period, it will be transferred to the multilingual section, where the author/s can translate the content in his/their native language
The article will soon be ready for translation into the various languages and officially published on the platform.
Could articles be rejected?
No. Masticationpedia is coherent with its strategies. One of these is the elimination of the acceptance/reject decision by some referees, for a number of reasons some of which are recalled in our welcome.
Please note that this does not mean that anyone can write and write anything here, whatever his/her fantasy might suggest him/her: on the contrary our philosophy is to give wide, unlimited space, without constraints, to scientists without forcing them to face an interrogation of 'verifiability' by referees. A scientist or a researcher must not submit his/her work to the judgment of a group of 'experts', because otherwise the genius of the scientist would run the risk of remaining hidden in his/her existence, as it has already happened several times, too many times. Rather, we prefer to apply an upstream filter, instead: to let a proponent author enter as an editor, the Scientific Community of Masticationpedia must deepen the analysis of his/her competences and know-how, and when these prove to be suitable for the implementation of the platform, it will flag him/her as an 'Editor'.
From this point forward, the responsibility for what an editor writes, for better or for worse, lies solely with him. Masticationpedia as a whole is basically a scientific laboratory, in which ideas are not contained but appreciated. This model is innovative, as well as democratic and liberal, and it ennobles the Man of Science and it weakens the 'referees commissions'