Editorial policy

Updated 2 min read

The short version: we grade evidence openly, we do not take payment for a verdict, and we tell you when a link earns us money.

How we grade evidence

Every claim gets an implicit place in a hierarchy. We show it explicitly with a five-point strength indicator.

Evidence strength scale used across this site
RatingWhat it meansTypical source
5 / 5Consistent findings across multiple well-conducted trials, or a current clinical guidelineMeta-analysis, systematic review, guideline
4 / 5At least one large, well-designed randomised trial with a clinically meaningful outcomeRCT
3 / 5Smaller or shorter trials, or consistent observational data with a plausible mechanismSmall RCT, cohort study
2 / 5Mechanistic or animal work, or observational data with serious confoundingPreclinical, cross-sectional
1 / 5Plausible but essentially untested in humansTheory, case report

How we score products

Scores are out of 10 and are composed from published sub-scores so you can disagree with our weighting and still use the data. We do not adjust a score after publication because of commercial pressure; we adjust it when the product changes or when we were wrong, and we say which.

Money

  • Affiliate links. Some outbound links earn a commission. They are marked, and they never determine a verdict or a ranking position.
  • Our own products. The publisher of this site also makes apps and books. Where one is relevant we link it, and we label it as ours rather than pretending it is a neutral recommendation.
  • No paid reviews. We do not accept payment for coverage, for a score, or for removing criticism.
  • Review units. Where hardware is loaned, we say so on the review.

AI and translation

English pages are written and edited by a human. Translations into the other European languages are produced with machine translation and are labelled as such — numbers, drug names and citations are preserved verbatim, but if a translated sentence reads strangely, the English original is authoritative.

Privacy

These are static pages. There is no advertising network, no behavioural tracking, and no third-party analytics that follows you between sites.

This page is not translated into this language yet and is shown in English. Translation is in progress.