# Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

{% hint style="info" %}
**You can now ask questions of this GitBook using a chatbot!** [Click the search bar](#user-content-fn-1)[^1] and choose 'ask gitbook'.
{% endhint %}

## General FAQs

### **What is The Unjournal?**

We organize and fund **public, journal-independent feedback, rating, and evaluation of academic work.** We focus on work that is highly relevant to global priorities, especially in economics, social science, and impact evaluation. We encourage better research by making it easier for researchers to get credible feedback. See [here](https://globalimpact.gitbook.io/the-unjournal-project-and-communication-space/readme-1#in-a-nutshell) for more details.

### **Does The Unjournal charge fees?**

**No**. *The Unjournal* does not charge any fees. In fact, unlike most traditional journals, we compensate evaluators for their time, and award prizes for strong work.

We are a nonprofit organization. We do not charge fees for access to our evaluations, and work to make them as open as possible.\
\
In future, we may consider sliding-scale fees for people submitting their work for Unjournal evaluation. If so, this would simply be to cover our costs and compensate evaluators. We are a nonprofit and will stay that way.

### **Is The Unjournal a journal?**

**No.** We do not [*publish*](#user-content-fn-2)[^2] research. We just commission *public evaluation* and *rating* of relevant research that is already [publicly hosted](#user-content-fn-3)[^3]. Having your work evaluated in *The Unjournal* [should not limit you](#user-content-fn-4)[^4] from submitting it to any publication.

### How is The Unjournal funded? Is it sustainable?

We have [grants](https://globalimpact.gitbook.io/the-unjournal-project-and-communication-space/grants-and-proposals) from philanthropists and organizations who are interested in our priority research areas. We hope that our work will provide enough value to justify further direct funding. We may also seek funding from governments and universities supporting the open-access agenda.

## I have another question.

Sure! Please contact us at <contact@unjournal.org>.

## Specific FAQs

[for-researchers-authors](https://globalimpact.gitbook.io/the-unjournal-project-and-communication-space/faq-interaction/for-researchers-authors "mention")

[global-priorities](https://globalimpact.gitbook.io/the-unjournal-project-and-communication-space/faq-interaction/global-priorities "mention")

[referees-evaluators](https://globalimpact.gitbook.io/the-unjournal-project-and-communication-space/faq-interaction/referees-evaluators "mention")

[^1]: Or push control-k on Windows or Command-K on Mac.

[^2]: I.e., we do not *host* the research on a server, and we don't claim ownership of it. However, we provide evaluations and ratings that achieve the actual *value* that journals currently provide.

[^3]: For example this work may be publicly hosted on a pre-print or working paper archive such as NBER or arXiv, or as a 'project' on OSF.io. If you don't know how to set this up, we can help. We also occasionally do what is sometimes called "post-publication review", e.g., for important work that has already been peer-reviewed and published in a traditional psychology journal.

[^4]: The only exception would be some journals which try to ban research from appearing in any other venue. This doesn't apply to most of our target areas, but if you are worried about it please get in touch.
