Real Sciences started in mid-2011 with a small group of Iraqi youth with an interest in science and skepticism along with a passion to debunk pseudoscience and superstition beliefs that are very common in Arabic-speaking countries. We started as a Facebook group and had regular meetings in one of the outdoor cafes in Baghdad. After creating the website to publish our translated and written articles, Real Sciences started to gain more volunteers and followers from all Arab countries. More translators and editors joined RS and by that time it was possible to say that real sciences reached one of its milestones as a successful scientific Arabic website.
Real sciences follow two methods in enlightenment, the first is by the direct refutation of pseudoscience topics, and the second is by writing and translating the correct alternatives – the real science topics.
RS believes that science is the best way to understand and interpret nature, its existence, and its phenomena. And believes that it’s important to clarify the line between real science and pseudoscience, by publishing articles on the website and by supporting Arabic Wikipedia articles with more information. Unlike the other Arabic websites that publish scientific articles, RS has a clear vision to enrich the web with articles that it still not fully covered or explained in the Arabic language, along with a unique interest in skepticism.
On 3rd April 2023, Real Sciences was registered as a charity in England and Wales under the registration number: 1202596. RS objectives stated in the charity governing document are:
The advancement of the education of the Arabic language speakers in the science subject through engaging in refuting non-scientific claims; and in explaining and simplifying scientific topics for the public benefit. The aim to achieve that purpose is via one or more of the following methods: writing articles; translating articles; publishing content on the web; publishing podcasts; designing and publishing multimedia; organizing events; holding workshops and conferences; publishing printed or electronic magazines.
How does the Real Sciences website work?
One of the main fields where RS efforts are focused is translation, the scientific proficiency of some of our editors doesn’t allow them to do more than translate. However, after 2016, more focus started to be on writing articles based on primary resources or other authenticated resources of information.
What defines the facts that are accepted by the scientific community, and that Real Sciences rely on to insure the content’s authenticity and validity:
- Scientific review of the content that is written or translated from non-academic sources, by a reviewer who has a specialty in the field. RS is connected to many academics from different fields who usually validate that.
- The content must not support any pseudoscience, superstition, or metaphysical views unless that was within the framework of the scientific method (such as writing about some experiment where alternative medicine claims get tested).
- Accepted sources to be cited must fall within the following criteria:
- Research papers that are published in journals that have an acceptable impact factor or papers that have a relatively high number of citations. Guidelines about evaluating journals and research papers and recognizing fake or predatory journals are shared in articles in Real Sciences and often clarified to the members and explained to the new members.
- Books or publications from high-ranking universities or research institutions. Guidelines about recognizing research institutions and universities are shared with the members in addition to a list of resources that are shared with members and it includes the copyrights status, the level of authenticity, and a general description about the content. For example, Scientific American, Discovery, and Sciencemag are shared as authentic resources because they include academics in their editorial boards, while HowStuffWorks website isn’t included within that list but only as a scientific journalism resource, also, Nature and Pnas are mentioned in the list as resources of highly acceptable primary sources of information.
- Scientific journalism sources that are directly linked to universities or research institutions are mentioned in (a) and (b).
- Any form of plagiarism, copyright infringement, intellectual theft, usage of machine-translated content, or usage of content generated by machines, isn’t acceptable in the content published in Real Sciences.
