How we research
Every claim on this site traces to clinical guidance, peer-reviewed research or a government health body, opened and read at the source. Consumer health publishers are used to locate a primary source and are never cited as evidence. Pages carry a real last-reviewed date, and review means the sources were read again.
This page describes exactly how information on Tommy & James is gathered, checked and revisited. It is linked from the body of every guide on the site, not just the footer, because a method you cannot inspect is not a method.
Which sources count as primary?
Sources are ranked, and the ranking decides what can be cited. Peer-reviewed research and formal clinical guidance sit at the top. Government health bodies come next. Consumer health publishers are used only to locate a primary source, never as the citation itself. No claim on this site rests on another blog.
| Tier | What it covers | How it is used |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Clinical guidance | ACOG, NAMS, USPSTF, specialty society statements | Cited directly for what is recommended and why |
| 2. Peer-reviewed research | Systematic reviews first, then trials, then cohort studies | Cited for mechanism and effect size, with the study design named |
| 3. Government health bodies | NIH, NIA, CDC, FDA labelling | Cited for population figures, definitions and drug facts |
| 4. Consumer health publishers | Large health media | Used only to find a tier 1 to 3 source. Never cited as evidence |
How is a single fact checked?
Every number, date, threshold and eligibility rule is opened at its source before it is written down. Not a summary of the source, the source. If a figure cannot be traced to a tier 1 to 3 document, the sentence containing it is cut rather than softened.
Two rules follow from that. Statistics are never carried across from another article without re-checking the origin, because transcription errors compound. And where two credible sources disagree, both are named and the disagreement is described, rather than the more convenient one being quietly chosen.
Why are dates written in full instead of “recently”?
Because health guidance changes and undated claims rot silently. Every page carries the date it was last reviewed. No page says “as of this year” or “recently updated” without the actual date attached, and no body copy hard-codes a month that will quietly become wrong.
How often is a page revisited?
Review means the sources are opened again and the text is changed if the evidence changed. It does not mean a date is bumped. Priority guides are revisited roughly every 30 days; everything else runs on a slower cycle.
| Page type | Review cadence | What triggers an early review |
|---|---|---|
| Pillar guides | Around every 30 days | New clinical guidance, or a reader correction |
| Individual answers | Around every 90 days | A cited source moves, is retracted, or is superseded |
| Trust and legal pages | Twice a year | Any change to how the site operates |
What happens when something is wrong?
It gets fixed in place and the correction is noted. Pages are not silently deleted to make an error disappear. If you can point to a primary source that contradicts something here, send it through the contact page. Source challenges are read before anything else.
What will this site never do?
It will never invent a statistic, a quotation, a review count or a rating. It will never present a mechanism as settled when the research is contested. It will never accept money from a supplement brand, telehealth service, laboratory or clinic in exchange for coverage, and it will never write a first-person offer of treatment or testing. It is a publication, not a provider.
Not medical advice. Tommy & James is an independent publication, not a clinic and not affiliated with any health agency, laboratory or supplement brand. This article is general information for healthy adults. Speak to a clinician who knows your history before you start, stop or change any medication, supplement or treatment.