Please describe your proposed solution
Background:
A Zero-Knowledge (ZK) peer-review protocol primarily addresses the problem of maintaining confidentiality and integrity in the peer-review process:
- Reviewer Anonymity: One of the fundamental aspects of the peer-review process is preserving the anonymity of reviewers to prevent any bias or influence from the authors. However, ensuring true anonymity while confirming the reviewers' credibility and qualifications is challenging. A ZK peer-review protocol can prove that reviewers meet certain criteria without revealing their identities or specific credentials.
- Conflict of Interest: Ensuring that reviewers do not have a conflict of interest with the authors or the content of the manuscript is crucial. A ZK protocol can verify that no conflicts exist without needing to disclose the identities of the reviewers or detailed information about their background.
- Integrity of the Review: Ensuring that the review process is thorough and meets certain standards without revealing the specific details of the review process can be challenging. A ZK protocol can prove that reviewers accessed all necessary sections of a manuscript and performed required evaluations without revealing which parts were scrutinized or the content of the evaluation.
- Fraud Prevention: The peer-review process is susceptible to fraud, where individuals might bypass thorough review due to personal bias or other unethical reasons. A ZK protocol can help ensure that all procedural steps were followed properly without fabricating or omitting crucial steps, all while keeping the process details confidential.
- Trust and Credibility: By transparently proving that reviews are conducted according to high standards while preserving the confidentiality of the process, a ZK peer-review protocol enhances the trust and credibility of the publication process among authors, reviewers, and readers.
Technical Framework:
1. Cryptographic Setup with ZK Proofs
- ZK-SNARK Circuits: We need to develop cryptographic circuits that can generate and verify ZK proofs. These circuits will handle tasks such as confirming reviewer qualifications, ensuring anonymity, checking for conflicts of interest, and validating the thoroughness of the review process without revealing specific details.
- Trusted Setup: We need to conduct a multi-party computation ceremony to generate the common reference string (CRS) needed for the ZK-SNARKs, ensuring that no single party can tamper with the cryptographic proofs.
2. Smart Contracts to manage the peer-review workflow:
- Reviewer Registration: Reviewers need to be verified and registered based on their anonymous credentials and ZK proofs of their qualifications and conflict-free status.
- Manuscript Submission and Assignment: We need to handle the submission of manuscripts and their assignment to appropriate reviewers, ensuring that all actions are logged and transparent without compromising privacy.
- Review Verification: We need to check ZK proofs submitted by reviewers that validate their review activities.
- Decentralized Storage: We need to store non-sensitive metadata, while sensitive data like reviewer identities or detailed review content can be encrypted and stored off-chain if necessary.
3. UI/API to interact with a peer-review system:
- Simple API/UI for manuscript submission, review submissions, and status checks via wallet integrations.
- Privacy-Preserving Access Control: Ensure that only authorized users (e.g., journal editors, reviewers) can access specific functionalities.
POC Objectives and Scope:
- Demonstrate the technical feasibility of using ZK-SNARKs on Cardano for a peer-review protocol.
- Development of cryptographic circuits for ZK proof generation.
- Validate the cryptographic setup, smart contracts, and overall system architecture.
- Assess the user experience and flow of the protocol and the simple UI.