How it works
Shared platform, independent institutional encyclopedias
What the initiative does
encyclopediae.org helps participating academic institutions — universities, research institutes, scholarly academies — run their own encyclopedias on common infrastructure. We coordinate onboarding and tooling. We do not write a single merged “neutral” encyclopedia for everyone.
Institutional lead
Each institution names a lead who:
- Owns the local contribution plan for the year
- Works with units on where the institution is actually strong
- Coordinates with leads at peer institutions when useful
- Keeps local quality and editorial process coherent
Fields and units
Department, institute, or program leads own their fields:
- Commission and review entries in the discipline
- Hold a clear standard for evidence and citation
- Loop in scholars who will write or supervise writing
- Prefer depth in real strengths over thin coverage of everything
Teaching and training
Where it fits (courses, seminars, labs), programs can produce entries:
- A group may research, draft, and revise one entry per term
- Participants practice sourcing, structure, and revision under scholarly guidance
- Current research can enter a reference format without waiting for a global merge
- Peer review is treated as normal academic work, not a gimmick
Interface
The shared reader should make comparison easy:
- Show multiple institutional entries on the same topic
- Keep each institution’s branding and voice intact
- Support cross-links and shared identifiers where useful
- Leave editorial standards with the institutions, not a central court of appeal
Contact
If you are at an academic institution and want to explore participation — administration, research staff, library, or faculty — use the contact form. Include role and institution in the message.
Contact