Public record
How this site checks a fact
This page explains the checks that sit between a statement and this website. They are real files and tests in the website’s project. They are about the website’s own wording. They are not a research method.
INSTAR Lab does not claim any certification, peer review or audit for this process. Where a check is limited, each step says so. See also the Record’s source register.
Explainer
From a statement to the live site, in 8 steps
Each step says what the check does, what it cannot show, and where you can look at it yourself. Every number is counted from the project’s files when the site is built.
Step 1 of 8
A claim has to name its sources
Research briefs, program pages and lab pages list the sources behind what they say. Program and lab pages number them, and each number in square brackets in the text has to match a listed source. Today that is 10 research briefs, 29 program pages and 3 lab pages.
What it cannot show. Listing a source is only a promise. The next steps are what test it.
- Research briefs
- 10
- Program pages
- 29
- Lab pages
- 3
- Sources listed on them
- 351
- Different web addresses among those
- 309
Look at it yourself
Each source is looked up and written in a ledger
A source address that contains a DOI is checked at Crossref, which gives back the title, first author and year. Any other address is fetched, and it has to answer successfully and give a page title. What came back is written into a ledger file. It holds 309 entries: 257 checked at Crossref and 52 by fetching the page. The latest check is dated 26 October 2026.
What it cannot show. These checks show a source exists and has the title we recorded. They are not peer review, and they do not prove that a page supports a sentence. Someone refreshes the ledger by hand with a command that needs the internet; it does not run on every build.
- Ledger entries
- 309
- Checked at Crossref (DOI)
- 257
- Checked by fetching the page
- 52
- Latest check date in the ledger
- 26 October 2026
Look at it yourself
A page with an unchecked source fails its tests
Two unit tests, article-sources.test.mjs and program-sources.test.mjs, read every brief, program page and lab page. They fail when a source is missing from the ledger, is not an https address, is repeated, or has an incomplete ledger entry. A brief needs at least three sources and a program or lab page at least six. On those pages, a bracketed number with no source, or a source that is never cited, also fails. Right now all 309 different addresses cited are in the ledger.
What it cannot show. The tests check that the paperwork is complete. They cannot judge whether a source is a good one.
- Different addresses cited
- 309
- Of those, missing from the ledger
- 0
- Unit test files in all
- 72
Look at it yourself
Facts about the organisation live in one file
The name, email, phone number, tax identifier and tax status are kept in a single file, and the site reads them from there. Each one is format-checked, and the build stops if one is malformed. A fact stays out of that list until it is confirmed. Today 6 are marked verified and 2 are marked unconfirmed (the street address and financial figures). An unconfirmed fact has an empty value, and a test fails if anyone fills it in. The phone number is marked verified on the chief executive’s instruction, but the Ohio charity register lists a different number, so the FAQ says so and the question is with the owners.
What it cannot show. The file says what was confirmed and where from. It is not an audit, and a verified fact can still go out of date.
- Facts marked verified
- 6
- Facts marked unconfirmed
- 2
Look at it yourself
Unconfirmed facts go to the owners, not onto the site
When a fact cannot be confirmed from a record we can open, it is not guessed. It goes onto a decision list that is kept with the organisation’s leadership, so the owners can confirm it or say it should stay off. That list is a private working document and is not linked here.
What it cannot show. The list itself is not public, so you cannot inspect it. What you can inspect is the result: an empty value in the facts file, and a Record page that says “not reported”.
- Facts waiting for an owner’s answer
- 2
Look at it yourself
The Record shows the evidence and its limits
The Record lists the sources behind the site and what each one can and cannot show. One example is source SRC-007: the chief executive officer attested on 13 September 2026 that no grant has been awarded and no peer-reviewed publication names an INSTAR Lab author. Before a release, a check confirms that every page has a current browser capture in the Record’s visual archive.
What it cannot show. A management attestation is not a board resolution, an audit or an outside filing. The Record says so next to the figure.
- Attestation date
- 13 September 2026
- Measured zeros in that attestation
- grants, publications
Look at it yourself
Automatic checks run on every change
Every change goes through a strict type check, the unit tests, and a browser test suite that includes accessibility checks against WCAG 2.1 AA. One test, build-clock.test.mjs, fails if a page is built using the day’s date, so a page cannot go stale on its own. There are 81 unit and record test files and 43 browser test files.
What it cannot show. Passing tests shows the rules we wrote were followed. It does not show that the rules are complete.
- Unit test files
- 72
- Record test files
- 9
- Browser test files
- 43
Look at it yourself
Going live takes two steps, and a Maintainer makes the second
A change is first proposed as a merge request into a staging branch called demo, where the checks above run, and it is merged there once they pass. A second merge request then moves demo to the live branch, and only a project Maintainer can make that merge. The live branch is copied to a public GitHub repository, and the release job runs its own artifact checks, including the capture check, before it publishes.
What it cannot show. The first merge can be made by the person who wrote the change, so it is a check by the tests, not an independent review. The GitHub copy holds the published site files. It is not a full copy of the tests or the ledger, so the pages above are the place to inspect those.
- Merges before a page is live
- 2
Look at it yourself
These checks show a source exists and carries the title we cite. They are not peer review, and nothing on this page is a certification or an audit.