Fact Checking Policy

Last updated: July 30, 2026

1. Our Commitment
   Readers use CourseJournal to decide where to spend their money and time — on courses, software, and
   certifications that can shape their careers. That makes accuracy our first obligation. Every article we
   publish goes through the verification process described on this page before it goes live, and remains
   subject to it after publication.
2. What We Fact-Check
   We verify every checkable claim in an article, with particular attention to:

• Pricing and offers: prices, discounts, refund windows, and free-trial terms;
• Product claims: features, integrations, platform availability, course length, curriculum contents,
  and included materials;
• Certification details: exam requirements, prerequisites, costs, validity periods, and renewal rules
  for certifications such as AWS and Microsoft credentials;
• Statistics: salary figures, job-market data, completion rates, and any numeric claim;
• Credentials: instructor backgrounds, qualifications, and stated experience; and
• Quotes and attributions: anything an article attributes to a company, study, or person.
  Opinions, product ratings, and editorial judgments are not facts and are not presented as such — but
  the observations underlying them must be accurate and grounded in the testing described in our Testing
  Process.

1. Our Sourcing Standards
   We verify claims against sources in this order of preference:
2. Direct verification: the product itself — what we observe directly when we enroll in a course or
   use a tool, as documented in our testing;
3. Primary sources: the vendor’s official website, documentation, changelog, or pricing page; the
   certifying body’s official pages for certification details; government and institutional data (e.g., BLS)
   for labor-market statistics;
4. Original research: the original published study or report for any statistic — we cite the source
   itself, never another blog’s summary of it; and
5. Reputable secondary sources: verified user reviews and community feedback, used to supplement
   our own testing and always identified as such.
   We do not treat other affiliate sites, press releases, or AI-generated summaries as sources of fact.
6. The Verification Process
   Before publication, every article goes through these steps:
7. Writer verification: the writer verifies claims against primary sources while drafting and records
   where each material fact came from;
8. Editorial review: a second set of eyes reviews the article, spot-checks material claims — always
   including prices, statistics, and certification details — against the sources, and challenges anything
   unsupported;
9. Unverifiable claims: claims that cannot be verified are removed, reframed as clearly-labeled
   opinion, or qualified with the uncertainty stated; and
10. Freshness check: time-sensitive facts such as prices and promotions are checked as close to
    publication as practical, and articles indicate when such details were last verified.
11. Pricing and Promotions
    Course platforms change prices constantly — flash sales, regional pricing, and personalized discounts
    mean the price a reader sees may differ from the price we saw. We report the price at the time of
    verification, avoid presenting temporary sale prices as permanent, and encourage readers to confirm
    current pricing with the vendor. If we describe a coupon or deal, we verify it works before publishing it.
12. AI Assistance and Human Responsibility
    Where AI tools assist with research or drafting, they are treated as a starting point, never as a source.
    Every factual claim in an AI-assisted draft is verified by a human against the sources described in Section
    3 before publication. A named human writer and an editor remain accountable for the accuracy of every
    article we publish.
13. Corrections
    When we learn that something we published is wrong, we correct it promptly:

• Significant factual errors (wrong price tier, wrong exam code, a claim our sources don’t support)
  are fixed and, where the error was material to the article’s conclusions or recommendations, a
  correction note is added to the article;
• Minor errors (typos, formatting, broken links) are fixed without a note; and
• Outdated information (a product changed after publication) is handled as an update per our
  Editorial Policy, with the article’s last-updated date reflecting the revision.

1. Report an Error
   If you spot an inaccuracy anywhere on CourseJournal, tell us. Include the article URL, the specific claim,
   and — if you have it — a source showing the correct information.
   Email: corrections@coursejournal.com
   Contact form: https://coursejournal.com/contact/
   We review every report and respond to substantive ones. Reader corrections make the site better, and
   we appreciate them.