Research decides what an article says. Verification decides whether it is allowed to be published, and what it is allowed to claim.
Every claim carries its source and its date
Sources are listed on the article, each with the date it was retrieved. A claim without a traceable source does not go in.
The date matters as much as the link. Rules change, products are discontinued and prices move. Knowing that something was true on a stated date is useful. Being told it is true, with no indication of when that was established, is not.
Prices are dated, and they expire
A price on Dovelyne is stored with the date it was observed and the source it came from. It then ages on its own.
Recently checked prices show as an exact figure with the date beside them. Older prices soften to an approximate range. Older still, and the figure is withdrawn entirely and replaced with a prompt to check the current price. No one has to remember to do this and no one can switch it off for a particular article.
Currency and availability differ by country. A price we could only confirm in one market is described as that, not as the price.
Evidence labels cannot be typed by hand
Each article shows an evidence level in the “how we checked this” box. The levels are defined in our editorial policy, and the distinction that matters most is between something we tested ourselves and everything else.
The hands-on label is not a phrase a writer can simply type. It is blocked in our publishing system unless a dated test record exists for that product. If the record is missing, the label is suppressed and the article is held back from publication rather than going out with a softer claim.
Gates that hold content back
Several checks run at the moment an article is published rather than as a reminder in a document, because a guideline that only exists in writing eventually gets skipped late at night.
Content graded as high risk on safety, including anything touching child or animal health, requires human approval before it can go live. Pet health sits at the same gate as child health.
Commercial articles will not publish with a placeholder image. Internal links that point nowhere, missing evidence levels, missing sources and fabricated tracking identifiers all fail the checks before publication, not after.
What verification does not mean
Verifying a specification is not the same as testing a product. Confirming that a regulator published a rule is not legal advice. Establishing that a price was accurate on a date is not a promise that it is accurate now.
Where a check could not be completed, the article says which check and why, in its scope and limitations block.
Related: how we research and corrections policy.