Record Schema, Evidence Tiers, and Verification Levels
Field definitions for source records (
/sources/*.md,/data/studies.json) and metareports (/metareports/*.md).
Source record fields
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
id |
string | Stable slug firstauthor-year-keyword. Never reused. |
title |
string | Exact paper title |
authors |
string[] | Author names in order. et al. marks an incomplete list. |
year |
int | Publication year |
venue |
string | Journal or conference |
volume |
string | null | Volume (issue) |
pages |
string | null | Pages or article number |
doi |
string | null | DOI without the https://doi.org/ prefix. null means unknown or not yet verified. |
url |
string | null | Canonical URL when there is no DOI (for example arXiv) |
pmid |
string | null | PubMed ID, recorded only when shown in the record that was read |
pmcid |
string | null | PubMed Central ID (PMC…), recorded only when seen |
arxiv_id |
string | null | arXiv identifier, recorded only when seen |
openalex_id |
string | null | OpenAlex work ID (W…), recorded only when seen |
oa_url |
string | null | Open-access full-text URL, if one was listed in the record read |
peer_review |
enum | peer-reviewed-journal, peer-reviewed-conference, preprint, industry, essay |
evidence_tier |
enum | A–E; see tiers |
design |
string | Study design summary |
modality |
string[] | image-face, image-general, video, audio, text, audiovisual, robot-face, cg-face, vr-avatar, review, … |
stimuli |
string | What participants saw or heard, including the generator |
n_participants |
int | null | Total participants across experiments |
n_note |
string | Breakdown or caveats for N |
topics |
string[] | Topic tags |
summary |
string | One-sentence bottom line |
results |
object[] | {metric, value, note, source_location}. ≈ marks an approximate value. source_location is where the value was read: abstract, full text, or a section/table such as Results, Table 2; null when not recorded. |
moderators |
string[] | Factors that changed the effect |
limitations |
string[] | Main limitations |
mechanism_supported |
string[] | Uncanny-valley records only: mechanisms the study supports or argues against |
verification |
object | {status, confidence, checked, via}; see verification |
cited_in |
string[] | Metareport IDs that cite this record (generated) |
Metareport fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
id |
MR-NNNN, stable |
slug |
URL slug, stable |
question |
The research question the report answers |
version |
Semantic version. Minor = new findings or sources; patch = corrections or verification upgrades. |
published / updated |
ISO dates |
status |
seed-partially-verified, verified, superseded |
method |
narrative-synthesis or meta-analysis |
sources |
Source IDs used |
related |
Related metareport IDs |
Finding IDs take the form MR-NNNN.Fn. Confidence levels for findings:
- High: consistent across three or more independent peer-reviewed studies.
- Moderate: consistent, but with fewer studies, high heterogeneity, or values pending verification.
- Low: a single study, or unverified details.
Evidence tiers
| Tier | Definition |
|---|---|
| A | Peer-reviewed meta-analysis or systematic review |
| B | Peer-reviewed primary empirical study |
| C | Peer-reviewed narrative review, theory or essay |
| D | Preprint (not peer reviewed) |
| E | Industry or grey literature |
Verification levels
| Status | Definition |
|---|---|
verified-fulltext |
Every recorded value was checked against the full text. via names the copy used. |
verified-abstract |
Values checked against the official abstract (publisher, Semantic Scholar or arXiv). Any value not in the abstract is noted on the record. |
verified-doi |
The DOI was confirmed to resolve to the stated publisher record; values have not been checked. |
unverified |
Values are pending a check against the primary source. confidence gives the compiler's prior. |
Citations file
/data/citations.json is the single file for independent verification. It is generated by the build from data/studies.yaml and the metareports' findings tables, and contains every record, cited or not, whatever its verification status.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
schema_version, generated, site_version, license, count, canonical_url |
File metadata; count equals the number of source records |
how_to_verify |
Plain-text procedure for checking claims against the original papers |
sources[] |
Sorted by id. Each has id, citation (APA-style), title, authors, year, venue, volume, pages, doi, doi_url, url, pmid, pmcid, arxiv_id, openalex_id, oa_url, resolvers (URLs built only from known identifiers), search_query ("<exact title>" <first-author surname> <year>), peer_review, evidence_tier, design, n_participants, claims[] (metric, value, note, source_location), verification (status, checked, via), cited_by[] (metareport_id, metareport_url, finding_ids), record_url |
findings[] |
Every MR-NNNN.Fn: id, metareport_id, text, confidence, source_ids, status (current or revised), revised (dates) |
metareports[] |
id, title, url, version, updated, source_ids |
Links of the form /data/citations.json#<id> name the sources entry whose id is <id>. URLs beginning with / are relative to the site root.