Methodology

Unverified: listed but no completed evidence review. Pending: awaiting editorial review. Verified: an editor recorded official evidence and a review date. Rejected: evidence did not establish official ownership. Expired: the review period has ended and a new review is required. These statuses are independent of availability or security checks.

Editors compare institutional identity, official domains, links from a parent institution or government source, and public institutional information. Every approval requires a source URL. A user submission or an automated HTTP result alone cannot prove official ownership.

Official website: institutional identity and domain are checked directly on the official portal. Manual review: an editor compares the portal with a government or parent-institution source. Both require a recorded source URL and review date. Automated checks measure availability; submissions propose a listing and cannot establish ownership.

Review priority: ownership reports, missing evidence, then expired reviews. The evidence completeness target is 100% of Verified listings. The overall coverage below is measured, not a promised review completion rate.

Verification coverage: 26 / 1602 (1.6%)

Policy updated: 2026-10-09

Editorial verification expires after 365 days by default under the current setting. Expired records require review. Automated availability checks follow the configured health-check schedule; their recorded date is shown only after a check has run. Reports of incorrect ownership or broken links enter the editor queue for investigation.

Category hubs need at least 20 published, indexable websites to appear in navigation and sitemaps. Thinner category pages are noindex. Geographic and institution pages require at least 1 published website under the current setting; descriptions and reviewed records also contribute to content quality.

Regions count direct geographic entries; websites count published, indexable catalog records. Institutions and websites are different entities. Totals exclude archived duplicates and can overlap between parent and child regions. Lists show 30 websites per page, while totals cover the full directory scope.

Verification uses official domains, institutional information and links from official sources. Editorial review is separate from automated availability checks. Verified reflects the catalog status; it does not guarantee continued availability or accuracy of external content. Imported records without recorded verification evidence remain unverified.

Geographic names and hierarchy follow the administrative classification in the catalog sources for navigation and data relationships. They do not determine sovereignty, borders or legal status. The current China directory includes a record named Taiwan Province. Disputed names or relationships can be submitted with sources for editorial review.