Fact-Checking Policy

Fact-checking is the stage at which claims are verified independently of the writer who made them. This policy describes how we do it and the standard every published fact must meet.

What gets checked

Every non-trivial factual claim is checked, with particular attention to: UNESCO World Heritage status and inscription dates; historical facts, dates and names; geographic facts, locations and distances; transport, access and entry logistics; and any figure, statistic or superlative. Claims about safety and cultural sensitivity receive specific scrutiny because the cost of getting them wrong is high.

The verification standard

A claim may be published only if it can be verified against at least one credible, authoritative source — and important or surprising claims are confirmed against more than one. Reviewers confirm that dates, names and numbers match their sources exactly, not approximately. Where sources conflict, we either resolve the conflict with a more authoritative source or present the uncertainty honestly.

Acceptable sources

Acceptable sources follow the hierarchy in our Research Methodology: primary and official sources first, then authoritative references, with aggregators and user-generated content used only as leads. Marketing copy — including our own — is never accepted as a source of fact.

What happens to unverifiable claims

If a claim cannot be verified to this standard, one of three things happens: it is removed; it is reworded to reflect what can be supported; or it is explicitly labelled as an estimate, a generalisation or an opinion. We would rather a page say less than say something we cannot stand behind.

Superlatives and vague claims

“Best”, “oldest”, “largest” and similar claims are checked like any other fact, and qualified where the evidence requires (“one of the best preserved”, “among the largest”). We avoid unquantified hype that cannot be supported.

Separation of writing and checking

Verification is performed by our editorial review function rather than by the original writer, so that assumptions baked into a draft are caught. The review function holds pre-publication sign-off. See our Content Review Process.

Errors after publication

No process is perfect. When an error reaches publication, our Corrections Policy governs how it is fixed and, where significant, disclosed. Fact-checking does not end at publication: claims are re-verified when pages are updated, because facts that were true can become outdated.