EDITORIAL STANDARDS

Primary sources, official documents, institutional publications and serious academic or policy research are prioritised whenever possible.

Sources should be relevant, identifiable and appropriate to the claims being made.

Where information is uncertain, incomplete or contested, this should be made clear.

VARDT distinguishes documented facts from interpretation.

Analysis may include judgement, context and argument, but these should not be presented as established fact.

Where competing interpretations exist, relevant perspectives should be represented fairly when they are material to the subject.

Ideas, quotations, data and reporting originating from external sources should be attributed appropriately.

VARDT does not present the work of others as original research.

Accuracy is prioritised over preserving an earlier version of an article.

Material factual errors should be corrected when identified.

Where a correction significantly changes the meaning or substance of an article, the change should be made transparent to readers.

Authors and contributors should disclose affiliations, professional relationships or other interests that could materially affect the interpretation of their work.

Relevant disclosures may be included with the publication when appropriate.

VARDT is an independent editorial project.

Content is not produced on behalf of governments, political parties, institutions, companies or interest groups unless clearly stated as commissioned or contributed material.

Editorial judgement remains separate from external interests.

Contributions may come from students, researchers, practitioners and professionals with relevant knowledge or experience.

Submission does not guarantee publication.

Contributions may be edited for clarity, structure, sourcing and consistency with VARDT's editorial standards.

AI tools may be used to support limited editorial tasks such as research organisation, transcription, language assistance or structural review.

They should not replace the author's responsibility for analysis, factual verification, sourcing or final editorial judgement.

VARDT does not treat AI-generated output as an authoritative source.

Articles may be updated when new information materially improves their accuracy or context.

Where appropriate, publication and update dates should remain visible to readers.

The named author remains responsible for the arguments and analysis presented in an article.

Final publication decisions are made through the VARDT editorial process.