Editorial standards

Editorial purpose

Clinical Forage explains the logistics, protections, and decision points involved in clinical research participation. Each guide must answer one distinct reader need and end with a concrete action.

Source hierarchy

1. Federal regulations and guidance issued by the responsible agency.
2. Official study registries, agency education, and institutional public documents.
3. Protocol-specific consent, schedule, and site materials when permission and context allow publication.
4. Peer-reviewed research when public guidance does not answer an evidence question.
5. Expert interviews with named qualifications, consent, and conflict disclosure.

Recruitment advertisements, third-party directories, search snippets, and social posts may identify a lead. They do not control a factual claim.

Claim standard

Provide a primary-source list on every substantive guide. Place links beside claims where a reader needs the controlling definition, rule, or limit. State the jurisdiction and scope. Mark uncertainty. Replace broad words such as “always,” “most,” “safe,” and “proven” with a source or a narrower statement.

Most regulatory sources describe U.S. federal requirements. International readers should confirm the ethics committee, privacy law, payment rules, and participant protections that govern the study. Do not diagnose, interpret personal laboratory results, recommend treatment, calculate medication washouts, or tell a reader whether a study is medically appropriate.

Source checks and dates

Record the source-check date beside each reference. Change it when that source and the relevant claim are checked again. Use a separate article update date for changes to wording, organization, examples, or tools. Check external links and time-sensitive claims during a source review. Clinical Forage does not publish live recruitment availability; confirm it with the study site.

Authorship and clinical review

Identify the author or publisher responsible for the content and link to an accurate profile. Name a clinical or legal reviewer only when that person reviewed the published page and agreed to the listed role. The current guides are attributed to Kerr Media LLC and have not received independent review by a licensed medical professional.

Examples, interviews, and experience

Label constructed examples “Hypothetical example” and state their assumptions. Do not write composites in first person or present them as participant testimony. Publish firsthand experience only with a named author or verified interview method, appropriate consent, and privacy protection.

Assisted production

AI tools assisted with drafting and revising the current guides, comparing claims with linked references, and developing the website. Kerr Media LLC is responsible for the published result. Source comparisons and automated checks can miss errors and do not constitute medical review. Constructed examples are labeled; they are not presented as interviews or personal experience. Report a questionable claim through the correction process.

Advertising firewall

Advertising, sponsorship, and affiliate relationships do not control topics, conclusions, safety guidance, source selection, or corrections. Ads must remain visually distinct from navigation, study-search links, checklists, and tools. Read the advertising disclosure.

Corrections

Correct factual errors in place, preserve a dated material-correction note, and update affected internal links or tools. Do not erase a material correction solely to protect appearance. See the correction process.