Methodology

Primary sources only

A figure is publishable when it can be traced to the organisation that produced it — a regulatory filing, a government statistics release, an industry body, or peer-reviewed work. Where a figure has circulated widely without a traceable origin, we leave it out rather than repeat it.

Every figure carries its provenance

Each number is published alongside the publisher it came from, the year it describes, and the date we last checked the source was still live and still said what we quoted. The year a figure describes and the year it was published are often different; we record both.

The rule is enforced, not just stated

Each figure is bound to an entry in the page's source list. A figure whose source does not resolve fails the build, so an unsourced number cannot reach the site by oversight.

Commissioned research is labelled

Where a figure comes from research commissioned by the company it flatters, we say so on the page and weight it accordingly. Such figures are not excluded, but they never stand as the sole support for a claim.

Corrections

When a figure turns out to be wrong or its source is withdrawn, we correct the page and note what changed. Pages carry a visible revision date. We would rather publish a correction than leave a number standing that someone else has already cited.

Reuse

Charts may be republished with attribution. Where a chart is offered for embedding, the snippet includes the link back to the underlying report so readers can reach the sources themselves.