Editorial Integrity
Every claim published by Impact Lab — on the website, in research reports, in outgoing emails, in product descriptions — must be verified, sourced, or explicitly qualified as an estimate. No exceptions.
Foundations
This protocol rests on three non-negotiable principles. They apply to every publication, every channel, every cycle.
Every factual claim must be traceable to its source.
No figure can be published without an identifiable, accessible, dated source — or an explicit qualification as an estimate.
When in doubt, qualify or do not publish.
If data cannot be verified, it must be removed or presented as "estimate," "approximation," or "order of magnitude." Wording must match actual certainty.
Every publication must be auditable.
The source of every key claim must be documented and accessible. Post-publication corrections must be logged and visible.
Data Tiers
Every piece of data must be classified before publication. The classification determines what can be published and how it must be framed.
Required phrasing
Pre-Publication Gate
Every publication must pass this checklist before release. Every item must be validated — no partial compliance.
Hard Constraints
The following are categorically forbidden in any Impact Lab publication. Each category includes concrete examples to eliminate ambiguity.
Procedures
Each publication type follows its own validation sequence. Steps are mandatory and sequential.
Impact Index, Deep Dive Reports
Outreach, replies, newsletters
Pages, components, displayed metrics
Forum posts, social media
Stripe listings, checkout pages
Required Language
When data is not a verified fact, the following qualifiers are mandatory. Using the wrong certainty level is a protocol violation.
Error Response
If a factual error is identified after publication, the following sequence is mandatory. Speed of correction is a measure of institutional integrity.
The incorrect data is corrected or removed from all channels where it appeared.
A visible notice is added: "Corrected on [date]: [description of change]."
If the error was communicated via email or announcement, a correction is sent to all recipients.
The error and its correction are recorded in the Lab Log with full details.
The cause of the error is identified and the protocol is strengthened to prevent recurrence.
This protocol is embedded in the research pipeline as a guardrail. The Red-Team stage (step 4) includes protocol compliance verification. The Publish stage (step 6) requires full checklist passage before any release. The protocol is revised each research cycle (quarterly).
This protocol is part of Impact Lab's governance architecture. It is public, auditable, and constitutive of our commitment to rigor and transparency.