Methodology

The three tiers: how Acta Veri grades every source

Not all evidence is equal. A short guide to the system behind every figure we publish.

By Methodology Desk 2026-07-04 Standing document · revised as the method evolves

Every figure we cite is tagged by the strength of its origin. T1 is a primary, official record — a regulatory filing, a court document, a government dataset. T2 is reputable secondary reporting that we could, in principle, trace back to a T1. T3 is contextual or unverified, published only when it is clearly labelled as such.

The point is not to rank sources for their own sake but to let a reader see, at a glance, how far a claim sits from the underlying record. A story built entirely on T3 is a hypothesis. A story built on T1 is a matter of record. Most sit in between, and we show our working.

The tiers at a glance

Matter of record

The primary, official record itself — produced by an authority, filed under legal duty, or generated by the process it describes.

Regulatory and statutory filings
Court documents and judgments
Primary legislation and official statistics
Audited accounts as filed

Cited with durable identifiers

Traceable reporting

Reputable secondary reporting that we could, in principle, follow back to a T1 record.

Established press citing named documents
Peer-reviewed research
Analysis with published methodology
Official statements about a record

Named · dated · traceable

Context only

Unverified or contextual material, carried only when the label is visible and the claim carries no weight on its own.

Single-source claims
Market chatter and anonymous sourcing
Preliminary or self-reported figures
Our own desk characterisations

Never load-bearing

Anatomy of a citation

T1 Companies House — Annual accounts, Meridian Holdings plc ·filed 2026-03-14 ·ref 08814292

Tier markerThe grade of the source — solid for T1, ruled for T2, dashed for T3. The mark alone tells you how far the claim sits from the record.
Issuing bodyWho holds the record, not who reported it.
DocumentThe specific record, named so it can be pulled independently.
Date · identifierISO date and the durable reference — a filing number, case number or dataset version, set in monospace. Links rot; identifiers do not.

The rules we hold ourselves to

Every figure carries a tier.

If a number appears in our pages, its origin is graded. There is no exemption for facts that feel well known — those are the ones least often checked.
A claim inherits its weakest link.

A T1 figure passed through an unverified intermediary is cited at the intermediary’s tier. Provenance is a chain, and the chain is only as strong as its softest join.
T3 is never load-bearing.

A headline claim must rest on T1, or on at least two independent T2 accounts. Contextual material may colour a story; it may not carry one.
Identifiers over links.

Where a record has a durable identifier — a filing number, a case number, a dataset version — we cite it. A reader in ten years should be able to pull the same document we did.
Downgrades are public.

If a source is re-graded after publication, the article is annotated, not silently edited. Corrections are part of the record, and we treat our own record the way we treat everyone else’s.

The tiers at a glance

Matter of record

Traceable reporting

Context only

Anatomy of a citation

The rules we hold ourselves to

Every figure carries a tier.

A claim inherits its weakest link.

T3 is never load-bearing.

Identifiers over links.

Downgrades are public.