Qubit Zoo Inclusion & Editorial Policy

This document defines what belongs in the Zoo, what belongs in References only, and the minimum quality bar for public-facing entries.

1) Inclusion criteria (Zoo)

A note belongs in Zoo/ only if it is a hardware modality, architecture primitive, or fault-tolerant logical qubit construct that has enduring value beyond a single paper.

Include if the item is one of:

• Physical qubit modality (e.g., transmon, trapped-ion, spin qubit, neutral-atom, photonic)
• Architecture primitive with stable identity (e.g., tunable coupler, circuit-QED as coupling stack)
• Logical/topological code family used as a qubit abstraction (e.g., surface-code logical qubit)

Exclude from Zoo (References-only):

• Generic algorithm papers
• Software-stack/tooling reviews
• Application-domain surveys (finance, CFD, digital health, etc.)
• Single-paper findings that do not define a durable modality/primitive

2) Reference handling

• Every Zoo entry should link at least one seminal reference.
• New papers about an existing Zoo entry should generally update References/ and cross-links, not overwrite the Zoo page.

3) Minimum quality bar for status: demonstrated

A demonstrated Zoo page must contain:

1. Clear modality-level description (not title/abstract boilerplate)
2. At least one governing Hamiltonian or stabilizer formalism
3. Metrics table including a Fidelity reference column
4. At least one seminal linked paper
5. Related-entry links to neighboring modalities/primitives

Optional but encouraged:

• Figure/schematic
• Explicit scaling bottlenecks
• Typical operating regime values

status: demonstrated is an experimental-maturity claim: the relevant physical object or operation has been realized. It does not imply independent specialist review of the page. The requirements above are publication-quality checks, separate from experimental maturity.

4) Metadata policy

• first_proposed_year = year of first proposal of the modality, not year of latest processed paper.
• technology_family should never be Unknown for stable Zoo entries.
• verified_by records workflow provenance, not independent expert verification.
• Automated model cross-checking, primary-source checking, specialist review, and external review must not be described as equivalent levels of scrutiny.
• generated_by values:
  • scibok-curation for manually curated/public-facing entries
  • seed-ingest-v1 only for legacy seed notes pending promotion

5) Protection policy

Pipeline safety rule:

• Curated/demonstrated Zoo entries are protected from automated overwrite.
• Automated processing may append References and side artifacts, but cannot downgrade entry quality.

6) Publication workflow for demonstrated entries

Before publishing an entry with status: demonstrated:

1. Confirm that primary evidence supports the experimental-maturity claim
2. Check historical metadata (year, seminal references)
3. Add physics section + Hamiltonian or governing formalism
4. Add metrics table with fidelity-source references
5. Validate links and taxonomy conventions
6. Record the actual review provenance without implying specialist review