Publication standards
Editorial policy
Every article receives human editorial review before publication. These standards guide our sourcing, explanations and corrections.
Updated · Mortgage Rate Outlook
Human editorial review
Every article is reviewed by a person before publication. Human editorial review is a required step for each article published by Mortgage Rate Outlook.
Our editorial standards call for traceable sources, clear comparisons, supported calculations and visible limitations. Review does not guarantee that an article is free of errors. Readers can report a possible mistake, and material corrections receive a dated explanation.
Our purpose
An article should help a reader understand a financial question or economic number. We prioritize explanations that make a useful distinction, compare clearly defined alternatives or show how a calculation works. Search questions can inform topic selection; popularity alone is not sufficient reason to publish.
Authorship and responsibility
The Mortgage Rate Outlook Research Desk is our publication byline. Our editorial profiles use pen names for different subject areas and writing approaches. The publication is responsible for the articles presented under its name.
How articles are produced
AI and automated tools may assist substantially with research organization, drafting, editing, source comparisons and calculation checks. They do not approve or publish articles on their own. A person reviews every article before publication, and Mortgage Rate Outlook is responsible for the final work, corrections and the decision to publish.
Sources and research method
- Define the question. Identify what the reader needs to understand, the relevant country or market, and what the article can reasonably establish.
- Find the underlying evidence. Prefer original releases, technical documentation and official explanations for data and product mechanics. A primary source can still have limitations; it is evidence, not an endorsement of our interpretation.
- Keep the evidence traceable. Preserve retrieved source material in the working records. Link claims to the source used and distinguish a source’s publication date from the date it was retrieved.
- Check comparisons and calculations. Match units, observation periods and definitions. Record the inputs, formula, rounding and assumptions behind a calculated result.
- Complete editorial review. Every article receives human editorial review before publication. The editorial standard is an explanation that is supported by its sources, presents numbers consistently and answers its intended reader question.
Sources can be incomplete, revised or interpreted incorrectly. We make the evidence available so readers can inspect the basis for an explanation and raise questions.
A practical example
In our Treasury bill explanation, the comparison identifies which amount each rate uses as its base and how the time convention differs. A yield label alone is not enough to make two rates comparable. The article links the supporting Treasury material beside its explanation.
Dates, revisions and uncertainty
A data-release date tells you when the source published a release. A reference-check date tells you when reference material was checked. An evidence cutoff tells you what information was available to the article. None is automatically the date our article was published.
Public articles show their publication date and, when substantively revised, their update date. We do not change dates merely to make an unchanged article look recent. Official data revisions are described as new evidence; material errors in our own work receive a correction notice.
Examples are labeled as hypothetical when appropriate. Estimates, assumptions and material uncertainty stay visible. We do not turn a descriptive financial explanation into a personalized recommendation or a prediction that the evidence cannot support.
Images and illustrations
Editorial illustrations help explain a subject; they do not document a real event or establish a factual claim. Profile illustrations accompany editorial pen names. Charts and tables must reflect their stated data, dates and assumptions.
Independence and corrections
Our funding policy separates commercial arrangements from factual conclusions. We do not imply endorsement by a source institution simply because we cite its work.
Read our corrections policy for how errors, later updates and unsupported articles are handled. Send a possible correction to our reader inbox, with the article link and supporting evidence.