The ARK Directory Protocol.

"A deterministic index of non-fungible scientific records, structurally bound to the Sovereign Ledger via Archival Resource Keys."

I. Nomenclature and Structural Integrity

Unlike traditional Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) which rely entirely on centralized DNS resolution and registry authorities, Neural Review implements the Archival Resource Key (ARK) protocol augmented with cryptographic hashing.

An ARK within the Neural Registry (e.g., ark:/5281/nr.2026.0143) acts as an actionable, immutable pointer. The structural integrity of each ARK is verified via a Merkle proof that binds the semantic manuscript content to the specific temporal block of peer-review consensus.

II. Resolution Mechanics

The ARK Directory is composed of a Distributed Hash Table (DHT) propagated across our 14 global mirrors. When an external agent or academic entity queries the Neural Review ARK directory, the resolution sequence initiates:

  1. Syntax Validation: The Name Assigning Authority Number (NAAN) is validated to ensure origin-compliance.
  2. Hash Equivalence: The requested ARK is queried against the ledger. The returned string is hashed locally by the client and compared against the immutable ledger record to prevent man-in-the-middle content substitution.
  3. Data Lake Hydration: If the hashes match, the associated raw statistical datasets and computational supplementary materials are hydrated from our IPFS cluster.

III. The Tombstone Protocol

Knowledge cannot be "deleted"; it can only be superseded or retracted. In the event that a manuscript is found to violate the Ethics Accord (e.g., algorithmic metric fabrication), the ARK is not destroyed. Instead, the Tombstone Protocol is invoked.

A Tombstone ARK retains the original cryptographic hash but updates the resolution state to "Retracted." The metadata is perpetually visible, serving as a permanent academic forensic record of the malpractice. This prevents bad actors from scrubbing their history from the sovereign index.