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{{Infobox website
| name = PhysicsOverflow
| logo = File:PhysicsOverflow Logo.svg
| url = {{Official URL}}
| commercial = No
| registration = Optional
| type = [[Question and answer website|Question and answer]]<br>[[Scholarly peer review#Postpublication|Open peer review]]
| owner = Roger Cattin<ref name="physicsoverflow_legal">{{cite web |title = Legal |url = http://whois.domaintools.com/physicsoverflow.org |publisher = Roger Cattin|date = 2014-01-28 |
| author = Abhimanyu Pallavi Sudhir, Rahel Knoepfel and Roger Cattin
|
| content_license = User contributions under [[Creative Commons license|CC BY-SA]] 3.0<ref name="faq"/> }}
'''PhysicsOverflow''' is a [[physics]] website that serves as a [[Scholarly peer review#Postpublication|post-publication open peer review]]<ref name="faq">{{cite web|url=https://physicsoverflow.org/faq|title=FAQ - PhysicsOverflow|website=physicsoverflow.org|access-date=2017-03-19|archive-date=2017-03-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320054011/https://physicsoverflow.org/faq|url-status=live}}</ref> platform for [[academic paper|research papers]] in physics, as well as a [[collaborative blog]] and [[online community]] of physicists. It allows users to ask, answer and comment on graduate-level physics questions, post and review manuscripts from [[ArXiv]] (which lists PhysicsOverflow discussion pages among its trackbacks<ref>{{cite web|url=https://physicsoverflow.org/30425|title=We have ArXiV trackbacks!
In addition to the two primary forms of content, the PhysicsOverflow community also welcomes discussions on [[List of unsolved problems in physics|unsolved problems]], and hosts a chat section for discussions on topics generally of interest to physicists and students of physics, such as those related to recent events in physics, physics academia, and the publishing process.<ref name="faq"/>
==History==
PhysicsOverflow was started in April 2014 as a physics-equivalent of [[MathOverflow]] by Rahel Knöpfel, a physics PhD at the [[University of Rostock]], high-school student Abhimanyu Pallavi Sudhir, and Roger Cattin, a retired professor of computer science at the [[Fachhochschule|University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland]].<ref name="faq"/> The site was initially a mere question-and-answer forum, as it was started by users dissatisfied by the policies of the [[Stack Exchange|Physics Stack Exchange]], but it was eventually expanded to include a ''Reviews'' section in October 2014.
==Moderation practices==
PhysicsOverflow is well-known for its liberal moderation policy and hesitation to block contributors except for spam, as reflected in the website's bill of "user rights".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://physics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/6196/what-is-physics-overflow-and-how-is-it-linked-to-physics-se|title=What is Physics Overflow and how is it linked to Physics.SE?|website=Physics Meta Stack Exchange|access-date=2017-03-19|archive-date=2017-03-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320053801/https://physics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/6196/what-is-physics-overflow-and-how-is-it-linked-to-physics-se|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="physicsoverflow.org">{{cite web|url=https://physicsoverflow.org/user-rights|title=User Rights - PhysicsOverflow|website=physicsoverflow.org|access-date=2017-03-19|archive-date=2017-03-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320053816/https://physicsoverflow.org/user-rights|url-status=live}}</ref> The content is largely community-moderated, much like MathOverflow, although exceptions have been recorded.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://physicsoverflow.org/31863|title=Violation of policy to close questions?
Although the site's moderation policy is publicly available as part of the moderator manual, the site has been criticised for the excessive dispersion of policy-related material, such as the FAQ, the Bill of Rights, the moderator list and the Community Moderation threads, leading to reduced transparency.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://physics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/6196/what-is-physics-overflow-and-how-is-it-linked-to-physics-se|title=What is Physics Overflow and how is it linked to Physics.SE?|website=Physics Meta Stack Exchange|access-date=2017-03-19|archive-date=2017-03-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320053801/https://physics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/6196/what-is-physics-overflow-and-how-is-it-linked-to-physics-se|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://physicsoverflow.org/22268|title=Who are the Physics Overflow moderators, and what is their exact role and powers?
==Technical details==
[[File:PhysicsOverflow Discus.svg|thumb|right|The PhysicsOverflow [[discus]] as it appears in the PhysicsOverflow logo.]]
PhysicsOverflow runs [[Q&A software#Comparison of Q&A software|Question2Answer]], an open-source Q&A software, with a custom theme and several plugins and patches.<ref name="faq"/> Some of its plugins have been used by other Question2Answer websites, such as the Open Science Q&A and the Physics Problems Q&A.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://openscience.uni-bielefeld.de/768/how-do-i-regain-access-to-my-imported-account|title=How do I regain access to my imported account? - Ask Open Science|website=openscience.uni-bielefeld.de|access-date=2017-03-19|archive-date=2017-03-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320052546/https://openscience.uni-bielefeld.de/768/how-do-i-regain-access-to-my-imported-account|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://blog.wikimedia.de/author/christopher_schwarzkopf/|title=Christopher Schwarzkopf – Wikimedia Deutschland Blog|
==Usage==
[[Quantcast]] records around 3000 monthly visitors and between 20,000 and 50,000 global page views to PhysicsOverflow every month, over half of whom are located in four countries: the United States (26.8%), India (9.2%), the United Kingdom (8.5%), and Germany (6.4%).
==Recognition==
The creation of PhysicsOverflow was well-received by the [[MathOverflow]] community.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://meta.mathoverflow.net/questions/1608/physicsoverflow-just-went-live|title=PhysicsOverflow just went live|website=MathOverflow Meta|access-date=2023-06-10|archive-date=2021-09-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925025455/https://meta.mathoverflow.net/questions/1608/physicsoverflow-just-went-live|url-status=live}}</ref> PhysicsOverflow was also featured at the 5th Offtopicarium<ref>{{cite web|url=https://physicsoverflow.org/22788|title=We have a talk at the Offtopicarium !
* [[John Baez]] suggested the website as a platform for discussing research-level physics questions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/books.html|title=books|website=math.ucr.edu|access-date=2017-03-19|archive-date=2019-07-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726010538/http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/books.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Greg Bernhardt, the founder of
* Arnold Neumaier, a professor at the University of Vienna, employs PhysicsOverflow as the platform for discussion about his Theoretical Physics FAQ.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mat.univie.ac.at/~neum/physfaq/physics-faq.html|title=A theoretical physics FAQ|website=www.mat.univie.ac.at|access-date=2023-06-10|archive-date=2023-05-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230526045935/https://www.mat.univie.ac.at/~neum/physfaq/physics-faq.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
* String theorist [[Lubos Motl]] referred to the website as a "very promising competition [to Physics Stack Exchange]".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://motls.blogspot.com/2014/05/physics-overflow-is-live.html|title=Physics Overflow is live|
* [[Urs Schreiber]] publicised the site, claiming it could act as a catalyst to make physics academia more open like mathematics.<ref>{{cite web|url=
▲* [[Urs Schreiber]] publicised the site, claiming it could act as a catalyst to make physics academia more open like mathematics.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20190202090712/https://plus.google.com/+UrsSchreiber/posts/SoWhSAqmUJ1?loc=us|title=New PhysicsOverflow forum for research-level physics discussion A new site ...|date=2 February 2019|website=web.archive.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.quora.com/Whats-your-impression-of-PhysicsOverflow/answer/Sebastian-Schacher|title=Sebastian Schacher's answer to What's your impression of PhysicsOverflow? - Quora|website=www.quora.com}}</ref>
==See also==
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