Methodology

Last reviewed 2026-08-30

From source to published record

  1. Retrieve a permitted public source with a recorded timestamp.
  2. Normalize identifiers, names, dates, and nested source fields without silently filling unknown values.
  3. Compute only documented deterministic fields and label them as publisher-derived.
  4. Publish matching HTML, JSON, and Markdown with the authoritative source URL.
  5. Run contract, schema, regression, and public-readback checks.

Change claims

A recent source date is not automatically a measured change. CiteFacts labels source-date recency separately from an observed difference between retained normalized snapshots. Baselines and unavailable comparisons remain explicit.

Product matching

The recall checker uses exact UPC/model matches and conservative normalized-name overlap. It returns confirmed candidate, possible candidate, no-known-match, and invalid-input states. A no-known-match result is not proof that a product is safe or has never been recalled.