A grade is only as good as its sources. This standard sets out what we cite, what we won’t, and how every source appears on the page, so you can follow any claim back to where it came from.
Source hierarchy
We prefer sources in this order:
- Peer-reviewed primary research on human skin, found through PubMed or the journal itself.
- Systematic reviews and meta-analyses, checked against the studies they include.
- Regulators and official bodies: the US FDA, Health Canada, the European Commission (including Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 and the CosIng database) and the EU Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety.
- Independent expert safety assessments, such as Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) reports.
- Brand sources, used only for what the brand claims and what its formula contains. Never as independent evidence that a claim is true.
- Ingredient databases (for example INCIDecoder or EWG Skin Deep), used only as transcriptions of packaging when a brand doesn’t publish its list. We name the database and the date and treat the list as “verify on pack”.
What we don’t cite as evidence
- Influencer content, social posts and videos (we may quote them as the claim being tested).
- Press releases, advertorials and sponsored articles.
- Unsourced blogs, forums and Q&A sites.
- AI-generated text. AI tools may help us find sources; they are never a source.
- Unpublished brand testing, beyond reporting that the brand says it exists. It’s weighted as brand-run evidence under the Scope Grade.
- Non-peer-reviewed work, such as theses and preprints, unless it’s clearly labeled as such and treated as a signal rather than proof.
How every source appears
Each dossier ends with a numbered source list, and in-text references point to it. Studies are written like this:
Example citation
Author A, et al. Title of the study. Journal. Year;Volume(Issue):Pages. [Study type · population and n · duration · funding or affiliation] link
- Study design, size, duration and funding appear next to every study, so you don’t have to open it to see how strong it is.
- Animal, cell-culture and preliminary data are labeled as such.
- Brand pages and labels show the date we captured them. Formulas and claims change, and the date tells you what we saw.
- Links go to the primary source: the PubMed record, the journal, the regulator’s page or the brand’s own page.
Quoting claims
We quote brand claims word for word, in quotation marks, with the source and capture date. When we shorten a quote, we mark the cut with an ellipsis and never change its meaning. We keep a dated copy of each claim and ingredient list in the dossier’s evidence file.
Checking
Before publication, a person opens every source and confirms that it exists, that it says what we report, and that the study details (design, n, duration, funding) are right. When a source moves or disappears, we replace the link or note that it’s no longer available.
Found a source that doesn’t say what we say it does? Tell us at support@formuscope.com and we’ll log the fix in our corrections log.