Editorial Standards

Contributors are asked to confirm the factual claims in their work before publication, including dates, figures, titles and the names of organisations. Where a claim cannot be substantiated it is removed rather than qualified.

Where a piece relies on data, the source is stated in the text or in a note. We do not publish figures whose origin the author is unable to identify.

This publication carries commentary. The distinction between a contributor's opinion and a matter of established fact is one we ask authors to make explicit in their writing, and one editing is intended to preserve rather than smooth away.

A perspective is an argument. Readers should treat the judgements in it as the author's, and the factual claims supporting them as checkable.

Every article states its authorship in one of two forms. Where a contributor wrote the piece, it carries their byline alone. Where editorial staff wrote it drawing on an interview with a contributor or on material the contributor supplied, it carries a staff byline and names the contributor whose expertise informed it.

These two cases are never merged. A piece written with a contributor is not presented as a piece written by them.

Quotations attributed to a contributor are drawn from material they provided or from a recorded conversation. We do not compose quotations on a contributor's behalf.

Contributors write from their own experience. Where a piece refers to a specific engagement, employer or client, it does so only with the contributor's agreement and within the limits of any confidentiality they are bound by.

Links to external material are provided where a reader would benefit from the underlying source. A link is not an endorsement of the linked organisation.

Contributors are asked to disclose any interest a reader would reasonably want to know about when weighing their argument: employment or engagements where they have them, board positions, financial interests and advisory relationships relevant to the subject.

Disclosures appear on the article itself rather than in a separate register.

Pieces are edited for clarity, length and structure. Editing does not extend to altering a contributor's argument or strengthening a claim beyond what the contributor has stated.

Where editing raises a question about a factual claim, the question is returned to the contributor rather than resolved editorially.

Contributors see their piece in its edited form before it is published.

Errors of fact are corrected on the article. A correction records what was changed and the date on which the change was made; the original error is described rather than silently removed.

Corrections may be requested by writing to the address on the contact page. Requests to remove or alter a contributor's opinion, as distinct from a factual error, are not treated as corrections.

The publication does not currently carry advertising or sponsored content. Should that change, sponsored material will be labelled as such and will not appear in the editorial sequence without that label.