Where papers are reviewed
Appointed topic reviewers work in the Review work workspace. Administrators appoint reviewers; editors assign papers there. A researcher account alone does not grant review authority. Authors and submitters cannot approve their own work; a separate independent editor decides whether reviewed article changes may be published.
Submitters can follow processing, requested revisions, decisions and publication in My papers. Until an independent reviewer is assigned, the status explicitly says “Awaiting reviewer assignment.”
Moderation
The first three approved discussion posts—not merely submitted posts—are required before a researcher can publish directly. Moderators may premoderate, lock, hide, reject, or restore material; every decision is audited. Patient-specific advice, personal health information, impersonation, promotion, coercive citation behavior, and unsupported treatment claims are prohibited.
Notifications
In-app notifications cover replies, ORCID mentions, decisions, proposal activity, contact requests, and messages. Direct replies and moderation decisions may be emailed only when research-email consent is enabled. Ordinary followed activity is eligible for batching. Suppression always overrides preferences.
Public attribution
Accepted proposals and author context link to authenticated ORCID profiles. Pending, declined, withdrawn, or rejected work is visible only to its author and moderators. Accepted-but-unpublished proposals are labeled clearly until linked to an exact upstream Git revision.
Messaging
Contact is opt-in and mutual. Researchers can disable new requests, decline a request, block another account, or report a message. Participants see their conversation; moderators see reported material only as needed to review safety or conduct. Messaging is not end-to-end encrypted.
Recognition and appeals
Stars are quality milestones with public reasons, not a leaderboard. New awards at levels one through three require qualifying published scientific contributions. A paper counts once regardless of how many pages it improves; historical awards retain their recorded policy. Levels four and five require human review. Supporter status never affects recognition. Appeals go to researchers@wikibiome.com.
Conference and Roundtable selection
The interest registry creates no event entitlement. Researchers with four or five stars, active interest, and separate early-invitation consent may enter a private shortlist for the event types they select. Human organizers assess subject fit, quality, conflicts, conduct, and interdisciplinary representation before any invitation.
Editorial publication
Claims, submissions, proposals, and discussions cannot edit the generated corpus directly. Accepted work becomes a change packet for the upstream repository and passes existing sync, audit, build, review, and publication gates.
Related policies
Privacy · Terms of Use · WikiBiome-Ready Research · Research event interest