PhysicsOverflow: A postgraduate-level physics Q&A site and open peer review system

Abstract

PhysicsOverflow is a high-level physics site intended to facilitate real-time discussion between academics and professional researchers in physics. It contains a graduate-level Q&A forum and an open peer review system for discussing and reviewing pre-prints. The Q&A forum is a physics counterpart of MathOverflow, accepting graduate-level physics questions, while the Reviews section is an open peer review system that intends to complement peer reviewing in conventional journals. There is also an "Open Problems" section to allow researchers to communicate and collaborate on their research problems, and a "Chat" section for more informal discussions relating to physics. Content may be commented and voted on to discuss the accuracy of posts. Moderation and policy discussions are done by the community, which can, through voting, decide on issues like closing questions and deleting posts. The site generally receives about 50,000 page views a month, and has received the attention of professional physicists, including string theorists, condensed matter theorists, experimentalists and mathematical physicists from around the globe.