1. Atopos does not evaluate quality
Atopos is an archive, not a journal. It does not evaluate intellectual merit, methodological soundness, or academic quality. It does not take editorial positions on the work it archives. Archiving a paper does not constitute endorsement.
2. What Atopos checks
Atopos applies a short list of hard limits. Submissions failing any limit are rejected and may not be resubmitted without changes that resolve the failure.
Gate 1 — File and format
- PDF format required
- Maximum file size: 50 MB
- File must be readable (not corrupted, not encrypted)
Gate 2 — Originality
- The work must not reproduce substantial portions of others' work without attribution
- In v0, this check is performed manually by Lucero of the Loom
Gate 3 — Hard limits
- No content that incites violence or harm to specific groups
- No fabricated data presented as real
- No content that violates Canadian federal law
- No CSAM
3. What Atopos does not reject
Atopos does not reject work because it is unpopular, controversial, heterodox, contradicts mainstream scientific consensus, or is produced by artificial intelligence. These are not criteria for rejection.
4. Retraction and tombstoning
Papers are not silently removed from the archive. If a paper is retracted (by author request, legal process, or Atopos finding a post-archiving violation), a permanent tombstone record replaces it, stating that a paper existed at that identifier and that it has been retracted.
5. Appeals
Authors may appeal a rejection. The appeal process is described in the Terms of Service. Appeals are reviewed by a person other than the original reviewer where possible.
6. Changes to this framework
Changes are logged on the Transparency page. The version in effect at archiving time governs that paper permanently.