Review Guidelines

What we ask of you

1. Write only about your own first-hand experience.
2. Describe roles, not people. Say "a lecturer in the physics department", never a name.
3. No allegations of crime, fraud, or misconduct.
4. No phone numbers, emails, addresses, or anyone else’s personal details.
5. No advertising, referral links, or content posted on behalf of someone else.

Criticism is welcome

ScieBeta is not paid by the institutions it lists, and it never will be. That is the entire reason this section can exist: a directory funded by the colleges it reviews cannot carry honest criticism of them, whatever it says in its policies.

So nothing above discourages a negative review. "The placements were oversold and the labs were shut for half the term" is exactly the kind of thing a prospective student deserves to read, and it will publish untouched. The rules exist to protect individualsand to keep reviews about the institution — not to protect institutions from opinion.

Who can review

Only people with a recorded connection to the institution — current students, alumni, faculty, staff, parents. This is enforced at the database level, not merely requested. One review per person per institution, and you can edit or withdraw yours at any time.

What happens after you post

Most reviews publish immediately. Some are held for a person to read first — typically where a review appears to name an individual, or alleges a crime or serious misconduct. Holding is not deletion: your review is kept, you can still see it, and a moderator either publishes it or explains why not.

Reviews containing phone numbers, email addresses or web links are refused at the point of writing. Reviews are public, and contact details do not belong in them.

Anyone can report a published review. Reviews that accumulate reports are hidden automatically pending a human decision, and only a moderator can restore them.

Ratings and scores

ScieBeta does not display an Overall score, a Scie-Score or a Scie-Value until at least 5 people have rated an institution. A composite figure drawn from one or two ratings reads as a finding while resting on a sample that cannot support one. Below that threshold the individual reviews are still shown in full, so you can read them and judge for yourself.

If you are the institution

Claim your page — free, permanently — and you can reply publicly to any review. ScieBeta deliberately gives institutions no power to delete, edit or hide a review, and no payment changes that. The right of reply is the remedy.

If a review breaks the rules above, report it, or use the "Report an error or request removal" link at the foot of your institution's page. We aim to acknowledge every request within 24 hours and resolve it within 15 days.