Contribution types we record
Every action recorded on CitePep is a typed contribution, tied to a real person and a specific page. Each type earns its own credit and counts toward that person's topic authority.
- Author: wrote the original content and is accountable for what it says.
- Reviewer: read the page critically and confirmed it holds up.
- Editor: improved clarity, structure, and tone without changing what is true.
- Correction: found something wrong and fixed it.
- Source & citation: supplied the references behind a page, or was cited as a trusted source by another.
Verification rules
A contribution does not count toward anyone's record until the publisher or editor responsible for the page accepts it. Self-claimed work, unaccepted submissions, and unverifiable bylines carry no weight. This is the core rule that keeps CitePep from becoming a marketplace for purchased authority.
- Accepted work only. Reputation is built solely from contributions a publisher actually accepted.
- Identity. Profiles progress through verification levels (email, a confirmed external profile such as a professional or code-hosting account, then staff review), and each profile shows its current level.
- Expertise tags. A contributor's topic authority is derived from the topics of their accepted contributions, not from self-described titles.
- Public record. Accepted contributions are public by default. Rejected and pending contributions are kept in the internal record and shown publicly only where appropriate, following publisher and contributor visibility rules.
How reputation is calculated
Reputation is computed from accepted contributions and is fully transparent:
- Contribution score: a weighted total of accepted contributions, with authoring and reviewing carrying the most weight.
- Trust score: an acceptance-rate measure tempered by track record, so a long, consistent history counts for more than a perfect record over one or two contributions.
- Topic authority: a separate score per topic, so a profile shows precisely where a person's expertise is concentrated.
The full methodology is described on the reputation page.
Conflict-of-interest policy
Trust depends on disclosure. Contributors must disclose any relationship that could bias their work on a page, including employment, client relationships, ownership, paid affiliation, or a personal stake in the subject. A contributor must not review or approve their own work, and must decline a contribution where a conflict cannot be disclosed and managed. Undisclosed conflicts are grounds for removing a contribution and the credit attached to it.
Correction policy
Any contributor can flag wrong, outdated, or unsupported information on a page and suggest a fix. Every correction follows the same path:
- The correction is submitted with the specific change and, where relevant, a supporting source.
- The publisher or editor reviews it and accepts or rejects it.
- Accepted corrections are attributed to the contributor and recorded against the page; rejected ones remain logged but earn no credit.
- The contribution history of a page is public, so its correction record can always be inspected.
Publisher responsibility
The publisher always holds final editorial authority over their own pages. CitePep does not edit anyone's content or decide what is true on a publisher's behalf. What CitePep does is record who contributed what, capture the publisher's acceptance decisions, and turn that verified history into public attribution and portable reputation. The publisher decides; CitePep keeps the record.
Reporting a problem
If you believe a contribution, credit, or profile is inaccurate or violates these standards, contact us at standards@citepep.com. We review every report and will correct or remove records that do not meet these standards.