Methods

Sources

A number, a clinical claim or a mechanism is backed only by a tier 1–2 source.

• Tier 1: peer-reviewed papers (cited by DOI)
• Tier 2: primary records from regulators and governments (FDA approval letters and labels, Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and similar)
• Tier 3: institutional archives — universities, museums, learned societies
• Tiers 4–5: major news organizations and popular media — used for historical context and anecdote only.

We never cite Wikipedia. We follow its references to the underlying paper or primary record, check the claim there, and cite that. When a news story is reporting a regulator's data, we find and cite the regulator's record instead of the story.

What every essay discloses

Sourced claims link straight to the source from the sentence that makes them, and the full reference list sits at the end of each essay. Every chart states where its data comes from and the date it reflects. We do not change the units or scope a source reports, and we do not claim what a source does not.

We are adopting a format that also states, for each key claim, the strength of the evidence, the conditions under which the result holds, and its known limits. New essays will carry it first; earlier essays will be updated in turn.

Review

Every essay is currently written by the editorial team and checked by an editor who is studying pharmacy. We are building an external review process in which pharmacists, researchers and clinicians review essays in their own fields. Essays that go through external review will name their reviewers and affiliations.

Keeping the Journal and the Studio apart

The editors alone decide what the Journal covers and what its essays conclude. Studio clients have no say in either.

Studio projects are built from material the client supplies and approves, and are published on the client's own channels or on separate pages. If content developed with a Studio client appears in the Journal, the sponsorship is stated clearly at the top of that piece. Studio projects are held to the same sourcing standard as this page.

The Galenus carries no banner or in-article advertising for medicines or medical devices.

Corrections

If you find an error, write to thegalenus@gmail.com. When checking against the original source confirms it, we correct the essay and state in it what was changed and when. Changes that do not affect meaning, such as typos, may be made without a note.