Editorial conclusions are not sold
Payment, advertising, data submission, event participation or vendor access cannot purchase a ranking, evidence state, inclusion, omission or favorable conclusion. Sponsored material, if introduced, will be labeled at the unit level and will not use the visual language of an independent finding.
Primary evidence is preferred; conflicting evidence is retained
RCI traces claims to manufacturer documents, standards records, certifications, filings, papers, repositories and other first-order evidence. Trade coverage and social posts are useful discovery signals but are not treated as final proof when an upstream record exists.
Vendors may submit evidence, not edit the conclusion
Suppliers may provide documents, correct identity errors and explain test conditions. RCI records the provenance of submitted material and applies the same publication gate used for independently discovered sources. Pre-publication fact checks do not grant approval rights.
AI may assist retrieval and structure, never become the source
Automated systems may help find documents, extract candidate fields, translate, deduplicate or flag changes. A public claim must still point to a reviewable source. AI-generated text is checked against that source, and unverified model output is not published as fact.
RCI links, summarizes and comments within source-specific rights
Facts are recorded with attribution. Protected expression—such as figures, photographs, tables, standard clauses and long text—is not mirrored merely because it is publicly reachable. Item licenses and permissions control reuse.
Conflicts and material support are disclosed
Contributors must disclose financial interests, employment, consulting, free hardware, travel or privileged access relevant to a finding. When a conflict cannot be managed through disclosure and independent review, the contributor does not make the editorial decision.