Editorial Policy and Standards
At The Spruce, we take great pride in the quality of our content. Our writers create original, accurate, engaging content that is free of ethical concerns or conflicts. If you ever come across an article that you think needs to be improved, please reach out by emailing contact@thespruce.com.
Our Content Integrity Promise
We are committed to the quality and trustworthiness of our content and editorial processes. Our team of writers, editors, fact checkers, illustrators, photographers, and medical and financial professionals rigorously researches and reviews all content on an ongoing basis to ensure it is up to date, accurate, and puts the needs of our readers first.
At The Spruce, we aspire to provide the highest quality content produced by humans, for humans. Each article features a byline that includes the name, a brief description, and a link to more information for each person who contributed to that piece. The date indicates when the piece was most recently updated with new information. Some articles also have a tagline at the end to provide additional information on research or authorship. It is against our guidelines to publish automatically generated content using AI (artificial intelligence) writing tools such as ChatGPT.
Original illustrations, graphics, images, and videos are created by internal teams, who collaborate with experts in their fields to produce assets that represent diverse voices, perspectives, and context. Periodic review by editors as well as by Medical, Financial, Anti-Bias or other Review Board members as appropriate, ensure the quality, accuracy and integrity of these assets. Photos and videos are not edited in any way that may cause them to be false or misleading.
We correct any factual errors in a transparent manner and strive to make it easy for our readers to bring errors to our attention.
All of our writers, editors, and contributors are responsible for disclosing any potential conflicts of interest.
Our editorial content is not influenced by our advertisers. We maintain a strict separation between advertising and editorial content and clearly differentiate editorial content from advertising content.
Fact Checking
The Spruce's team of experienced fact checkers provides a critical layer of review to ensure content integrity. This group of professionals is selected and vetted for journalistic and subject matter expertise. They are tasked with researching all statements of fact to ensure that news and information presented in our articles is accurate and comprehensive and statistics are properly sourced and up to date. Articles that have been officially fact checked will display a "fact check" badge, as well as the name of the fact checker at the top of the page near the author.
If you have noticed an issue you would like to bring to our attention, please let us know by emailing contact@thespruce.com.
Accuracy and Corrections
Our editorial team is committed to producing high quality, factual content. If there is an error in a story, we will correct the error as quickly as possible. All corrections will be clearly labeled as such, and will include what was changed and when. When an article is factually correct, but the language is not as clear or detailed as necessary, the story may be updated without an editor’s note.
News articles often cover a distinct event in time, so they are not routinely updated. Our rich library of "evergreen" service content is routinely updated, reviewed by our professional review boards, and fact-checked to ensure the information is accurate, complete, relevant, and up-to-date. Each article is date-stamped to reflect when they were last updated.
If you would like to report an error, you can do so by emailing contact@thespruce.com.
Sourcing
Our writers and editors adhere to strict standards for article sourcing. We rely on current and reputable primary sources, such as expert interviews, government organizations, and professional and academic institutions. All data points, facts, and claims are backed up by at least one reputable source.
We strongly discourage use of anonymous or unnamed sourcing, as this can erode transparency and reader trust. In the rare instance where an unnamed source is used, we will disclose to readers the reason behind the anonymity and provide necessary context.
A cornerstone of our reporting and sourcing is to consider often overlooked perspectives from BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and women. Our content strives to serve all communities.
Diversity and Anti Bias
The Spruce believes that every human being deserves respect, representation, and opportunity. In service of The Spruce's mission to represent, serve, and help all people, The Spruce has established an Anti-Bias Review Board made up of educators, advocates, public health specialists, journalists, researchers, financial experts, and other professionals, each with a background in supporting diversity, inclusion, and racial justice initiatives. Additionally, we have articulated an Anti-Racism Pledge.
Anti-Bias Review Board members review content and images across The Spruce, using research and their expertise and judgment to advise The Spruce on language, images, themes, and tone. The Anti-Bias Review Board supports each brand in the creation of inclusive content that supports readers of all races, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, ages, abilities, religions, and socioeconomic circumstances.
The Anti-Bias Review Board is led by Mackenzie Price, PhD.
To learn more, please review our Anti-Racism Pledge. If you have noticed an issue that you would like to bring to the Anti-Bias Review Board’s attention, you may contact us at antibias@dotdash.com.
Independence and Impartiality
The Spruce is committed to independent, impartial, fair journalism. Our editorial content is not influenced by our advertisers. Every staff member and contributor is held accountable to a high standard of honesty and transparency.
We maintain a strict separation between advertising and editorial content. Our "Sponsored Content" is labeled to make clear that such content is provided by or on behalf of an advertiser or sponsor.
In line with our mission to provide useful information that helps people find answers, solve problems, and get inspired, we are dedicated to publishing unbiased, comprehensive reviews of products and services. Our product and service reviews are wholly independent and based on robust research and product testing. When readers visit "affiliate links" within our content, The Spruce may receive commissions from purchases, but we never receive any compensation or consideration for the content of our recommendations.
The Spruce's writers and editors are prohibited from giving preferential treatment to any outside resource (company, publication, video, affiliate, website) based on their relationship with the person or company who authors or owns that resource.
All of our writers and editors are responsible for disclosing any potential conflicts of interest - any relationship, financial, or personal, with any source or resource that may compromise their ability to provide fair and impartial information. As with many publishers, our writers and editors are sometimes provided with complimentary products or services for review purposes. We are transparent and disclose when any valuable products or services are provided to our editorial teams. Our editorial staff and editorial contributors must not solicit gifts or services for personal purposes.
Originality
Our goal at The Spruce is to provide original, useful, and unbiased content. All information must be verified, properly attributed, and may not infringe the copyright or anyone's intellectual property rights. Any suggestion of plagiarism is investigated fully and is grounds for dismissal. We expect all contributors on the network to abide by all applicable laws, standards, and accepted journalistic practices including: