# How we rank — every tool is researched & quality-gated

> Source: Cited·Index — https://citedindex.com/methodology

Cited·Index is a curated index, not a scraped one. Before any tool appears here it must pass an automated quality gate — the same checks are enforced in code, so a thin or unverified page is structurally impossible to publish.

## The quality gate

Every listing must clear four bars before it can be published:

1. **Structured research.** A minimum set of structured fields — what it is, what it does, key features, pricing and real use cases — must be present and complete. A stub can't pass.
2. **Sourced facts.** Claims are backed by cited sources, not marketing copy. Pricing and capabilities reflect what the tool actually does.
3. **On-topic fit-check.** A tool that isn't genuinely relevant to this directory is rejected, however complete its record — relevance is a gate, not a nice-to-have.
4. **Freshness.** Listings carry a last-verified date and are re-checked over time.

## How listings are ordered

Within a category, listings are ordered by editorial tier and then alphabetically — never by who paid. Any commercial placement is labelled "Sponsored" and still has to pass the very same quality gate; money can move where a tool appears, never whether it earned a page. See https://citedindex.com/pricing.

## Corrections & submissions

Anyone can submit a tool for review, but a submission is only ever a candidate — it enters the same research-and-gate pipeline before it can be published, and nothing a submitter writes becomes page copy unverified. Spotted something wrong? Tell us and we re-verify.