PEvO — Publish and Evaluate Onchain

A decentralized platform for open scientific publication and interactive peer evaluation, built on the Hive network. Non-profit, MIT-licensed, forkable.

What is PEvO?

Scientists publish papers and peer reviews directly to Hive. Reputation scores are computed transparently from on-chain activity. Accredited researchers are verified through institutional email or ORCID. Large files are stored on IPFS. No paywalls, no gatekeepers, no publisher fees.

See docs/whitepaper-vision.md for the full vision.

Architecture

Browser (Next.js + Hive Keychain)
    |           |
    | REST API  | Signed Hive transactions
    v           v
PEvO Backend    Hive Network
(Express)       (3s blocks, fee-less)
    |       |
    v       v
HAF SQL   Redis
(indexed  (cache +
chain     rate
data)     limiting)

• Frontend: Next.js 15 + React 19 + TypeScript + Tailwind CSS
• Backend: Node.js + Express + TypeScript
• Network: Hive (reading via HAF SQL, writing via Hive Keychain)
• File storage: IPFS (via Pinata)
• Cache / rate limiting: Redis
• Auth: Hive Keychain (initial sign-in) + JWT session tokens (subsequent requests)
• i18n: 6 languages (English, Spanish, German, French, Chinese, Arabic with RTL)

See ARCHITECTURE.md for full system design.

Prerequisites

• Docker + Docker Compose (recommended), or:
  • Node.js 20+
  • PostgreSQL
  • Redis
• HAF SQL node (for production) or a Hive API node (for development)
• Hive Keychain browser extension
• Hive accounts: pevo.admin (accreditation + bridge posting) and pevo.anon (anonymous reviews)

Quick Start

Option A: Docker Compose (recommended)

git clone <repo-url> pevo && cd pevo
cp .env.example .env   # edit with your credentials
docker compose up --build

Frontend runs at http://localhost:3000, backend at http://localhost:3001.

Option B: Manual

git clone <repo-url> pevo && cd pevo
cp .env.example .env   # edit with your credentials

# Shared types
cd contracts && npm install && npm run build && cd ..

# Backend
cd backend && npm install && cd ..

# Frontend
cd frontend && npm install && cd ..

Configure environment

Edit .env at the project root (single file shared by backend + frontend):

# Required: at least one data source
HAF_DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/haf_db
HIVE_API_NODES=https://api.hive.blog,https://api.deathwing.me,https://anyx.io

# Required: Hive account posting keys
PEVO_ADMIN_POSTING_KEY=5K...
PEVO_ANON_POSTING_KEY=5K...

# Required: encryption key for anonymous review mappings (32-byte hex)
ANON_REVIEW_ENCRYPTION_KEY=<64 hex chars>

# Required in production: random 32+ char string for session JWTs
SESSION_SECRET=<random string>

# Optional: IPFS via Pinata
PINATA_API_KEY=...
PINATA_SECRET_KEY=...

# Optional: SMTP for accreditation emails
SMTP_HOST=smtp.example.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_USER=...
SMTP_PASS=...

See .env.example for the full list of options (Redis, ORCID OAuth, DataCite DOI, bridge account, etc.).

Set up HAF views (if using HAF SQL)

psql -d haf_db -f docs/haf-views.sql

Run

# Terminal 1: Backend
cd backend && npm run dev

# Terminal 2: Frontend
cd frontend && npm run dev

Frontend runs at http://localhost:3000, backend at http://localhost:3001.

Project Structure

pevo/
  .env.example            Environment template (single file for all services)
  docker-compose.yml      Full stack (postgres, redis, backend, frontend)
  ARCHITECTURE.md         System design (single source of truth)
  PROGRESS.md             Milestone log
  contracts/              @pevo/contracts — shared TypeScript types
  backend/                Node.js + Express API (28 endpoints)
  frontend/               Next.js frontend (15 pages, 6 locales)
  docs/
    api-contract.md       REST API specification
    hive-schemas.md       Hive post metadata + custom_json schemas
    reputation-algorithm.md    Reputation scoring (v1)
    reputation-algorithm-v2.md Reputation scoring (v2: decay, self-citation discount)
    haf-views.sql         PostgreSQL views for HAF
    keychain-integration.md    Hive Keychain integration guide
    deployment-guide.md   Production deployment
    whitepaper-vision.md       PEvO vision document
  scripts/                Backup and deployment utilities

Key Design Decisions

• Hive-native: Posts are Hive posts, comments are Hive comments, votes are Hive votes. No custom token.
• Accredited-only data: Only votes, reviews, and citations from accredited researchers count in reputation and rankings. Unaccredited users can read and vote on Hive (affecting rewards) but are filtered from PEvO's scientific discussion view.
• Reputation is computed, not stored: Scores are derived from on-chain data via SQL. Anyone running the same queries gets the same results.
• Privacy for reviewers: Anonymous reviews posted via a proxy account with encrypted mappings and a 6-month TTL.
• Progressive decentralization: Accreditation starts centralized (email verification + ORCID), designed to move to web-of-trust and DAO governance.
• Preprint bridge: Import existing papers from arXiv, PubMed, bioRxiv, medRxiv, Semantic Scholar, or ResearchGate by pasting a URL or identifier. The paper stays on its original platform; PEvO creates a reference for peer review.

API Overview

Endpoint	Description
GET /api/papers	List papers (filterable by discipline, source, sortable)
GET /api/papers/:author/:permlink	Paper detail with reviews and citations
GET /api/profile/:username	Researcher profile + reputation breakdown
GET /api/search?q=...	Full-text search with filters
GET /api/researchers	Researcher directory
GET /api/stats	Platform-wide statistics
GET /api/notifications	User notifications (block-cursor pagination)
POST /api/auth/session	Session login (Keychain sign-in → JWT)
POST /api/accreditation/request	Request accreditation via email
POST /api/accreditation/orcid/start	Accreditation via ORCID OAuth
POST /api/ipfs/upload	Upload PDF to IPFS
POST /api/reviews/anonymous	Submit anonymous review
GET /api/bridge/lookup	Import preprint metadata (arXiv, PubMed, bioRxiv, ResearchGate, Semantic Scholar)
POST /api/bridge/register	Register preprint for peer review on PEvO
GET /api/wot/:username	Web of Trust vouch status

Full spec with all 33 endpoints: docs/api-contract.md

License

MIT