Thesis & Dysmorphia and CSWAP - Concept: Decentralised Academic Journal System on Cardano

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Matea Sedlaček

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Individual

[GENERAL] Co-proposers and additional applicants

Jon Kravetz

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

6

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language

No

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

We will conduct initial research regarding currently proposed models of decentralized science, deliver a working abstract of how it could be done on Cardano and propose solutions for outlined problems

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

No dependencies.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

Our research and methods will be published with deliverables.

[METADATA] Horizons

Education

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

Problem

There are many problems which the world of science and academia is facing these days: 

• Academic journal access can be prohibitively expensive. Some journals can only be afforded by well-funded public or private university libraries. This prevents most people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, from accessing the latest research, resulting in the gatekeeping of science and information. This artificial barrier deprives the world of collaboration, innovation, and potential breakthroughs. Shouldn’t all of science be openly accessible?
• Academic journals can be biased. Depending on financial and political aspects, a journal might be incentivized to censor certain facts or observations. This deprives the academic community of fair, unbiased information. Also, if certain groups provide funding for the journal/an article, then the researchers might be inclined to cherry pick information which is in favor of the funding entities. Vice-versa reviewers may remove/edit information that presents these groups in an unfavorable light.
• There is no consensus on who conducts peer reviews of academic works, and how the peer reviews are conducted. How are these folks incentivized, and how can we ensure that these incentives do not come from biased sources? How can we ensure that peer reviewers are properly incentivised?
• The current submission process can be stressful for scholarly contributions. There is sometimes a relatively high cost, politics to navigate, and "elitism" that may only accept research from certain institutions. How can we ensure that all scientific contributors are fairly incentivised too?
• “Publish or perish” has become an integral part of one’s academic career, in which a number of citations are widely used as a “value mechanism”. It brings down the quality of published work, since quantity has become more important.

Solution

With our research and working abstract, we will propose a solution to above defined problems. We believe the extended UTXO model and Cardano's research backed technology make Cardano a great partner for the Global academic community.

We will deliver:

• Initial research of currently proposed models with their pros/cons
• Working abstract with a theoretical scheme of how the decentralized academic journal system could be solved and applied on Cardano blockchain
• It will serve as a preparation step for creating full MVP solution, which could be funded in next Catalyst rounds or in some other manner

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

Why Cardano?

Cardano seems to be the most logical ground on which to build a decentralized academic journal. It is well known that Cardano is the robustly scientifically validated blockchain, with over 200 peer-reviewed research papers created on it. 

The community would thrive to have the future of science (which we truly believe is decentralized) built out on Cardano. People around here are often proudly stating that exactly the decentralized nature of Cardano is what brought them in and are believing in a better future because of it. 

Impact

We will measure the impact of this current proposal by means of open communication with the public in Cardano and also by communication with scholars outside of Cardano. We believe that finding the perfect solution to all above mentioned problems is not an easy task and must be done in steps. This is the first step towards finding the best solution for decentralized science which could have a major impact on not just Cardano as blockchain but academic world as whole. 

Further steps

The results of this research will be publicly shared with the Cardano community, openly inviting everyone to discussion and further development regarding this topic. 

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

Our team consists of two equally passionate people regarding decentralization of science.

Matea Sedlaček, cofounder of Thesis & Dysmorphia, is a PhD holder in the field of High Altitude Physiology and a business owner. During the course of her education, Matea became aware of the world of academia and parts of it which could use a “reboot”. In this spirit, she has delivered the first ever scientific study about NFTs (on Cardano and on any blockchain in general) in the form of an NFT, including the newly built Fork It platform for showcasing results.

This research was conducted in two separate ways: a formal case-study of the flagship project, and a cross-sectional study of 46 other projects in the ecosystem. The experiment aimed

to facilitate new collaborations, engagements, and possibilities, with the hope of helping “decentralized science” become a reality.

This research sparked interest of Charles Hoskinson, who invited her for an interview on his YT channel, in which they also touched on topics of open and decentralized science. 

Jon Kravetz, founder of CSWAP, has architected complicated software solutions for companies such as Nike, Rexel, and Astrazeneca as both an employee and outside consultant. Recent work includes 2 years of consulting at MEI Solutions, where Jon helped researchers at Brown University, University of Southern California, and University of Michigan implement health related studies via custom mobile software incorporating IOT health devices and geofencing technology. Jon has also implemented an award-winning pet adoption solution incorporating mobile beacons in a museum-like setting for the Wallis Annenberg Foundation that was showcased on NBC National News.

Jon is passionate about decentralized science topics and has also talked about the thing with Charles Hoskinson and IOHK, which brought to his awareness that something like that is really needed.

Both are business owners and capable of handling funds responsibly.

[PROJECT MILESTONES] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Milestone outputs 1 - Initial research and planning phase (1 month): 

• Brainstorming sessions
• Planning the whole 6 month work process
• Initial research planned out and started

Acceptance criteria:

• Agreed on work plan for the following months
• Scientific research plan laid out and set in motion

Evidence of milestone completion:

• Delivery of brainstorm sessions content
• Delivery of 6 month work plan
• Delivery of scientific research plan

Milestone outputs 2 - Discovery phase (3 months): 

• Team meeting sessions held according to plan
• Discovery process - scientific research merges with software solution finding
• Team workshops held as planned - Matea delivering the results of research which will help understanding the problem, solution requirements and feature prioritization
• Software solution finding process starting with a laid out plan

Acceptance criteria:

• Working abstract is in its mid-final stage
• Successful team meetings and workshops
• Software solution finding set in motion

Evidence of milestone completion:

• Delivery of working abstract in the state in which it is currently
• Delivery of meetings and workshops contents
• Delivery of software solution finding process plan

Final milestone outputs - Deliverables (2 months)

• Working abstract finished
• Proposed software solution finished
• Final team meetings/workshops

Acceptance criteria

• Successful finalization of research and discovery process
• Working abstract and software solution finalized

Evidence of milestone completion:

• Delivery of finalized working abstract which includes software proposed solution
• Delivery of meetings and workshops contents
• Delivery of Project Close-Out Report and video

Total project length: 

• 6 months

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

The team is comprised of:

• Matea Sedlaček, PhD, Thesis & Dysmorphia co-founder, the scientific research lead for the project
• Linkedin
• Entrepreneur, successful business owner, researcher, PhD in the field of physiology, with great interest in blockchain, crypto and decentralized science
• Jon Kravetz, full stack software developer, founder of CSWAP, software solution architecture for the project
• Linkedin
• Experienced in developing complex software solutions for companies such as Nike, Rexel and Astrazeneca

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

The price of ADA is calculated as $0.5

Initial research and working abstract - $16,000 = 32,000 ADA

• in depth research of the current state of scientific thought, open science vs gate kept science, publishing modalities and novel publishing solutions proposed till now (Matea) - approx. 2 months - $8,000
• deliver the results of the research in a form of an article, introducing background and reasoning to build a decentralized academic journal on Cardano (Matea) - approx. 4 months - $8,000

Provide high-level overview of next steps for implementation of such solution - $20,000 = 40,000 ADA

• Gather requirements by interviewing Subject Matter Experts including Matea and others (Jon)
• Create functionality prioritization matrix based on ease of implementation, value to user, and value to project (Jon)
• Create a high level solution architecture including work estimates for each phase of the development lifecycle (Jon)

TOTAL FUNDS REQUESTED: $36,000 = 72,000 ADA

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

It makes sense for scientific world to come to Cardano!

The prices outlined in the proposal are at the lower-mid end of monthly wages for such jobs/occupations and it represents exceptional value for money. 

Our proposal for a Decentralized Academic Journal research will allow our multidisciplinary project team to design a solution and case study for the first ever decentralized academic journal on Cardano. Subsequent plans would be to showcase IOHK research in a formal case study and fully functional MVP implementation.

Successful funding and implementation of Decentralised Academic Journal would bring the scientific world closer to Cardano and help in solving so many ongoing problems in the world of academia.