Editorial Standards

Independence

The editorial team is independent of the commercial team. Decisions about what to cover, how to evaluate it, what awards to give, and which providers to include or exclude rest with the editorial team alone. The commercial team is not in the room for ranking decisions and is not consulted on editorial judgements. We do not accept payment, gifts, or value-in-kind from any provider in exchange for coverage, inclusion, a ranking, or specific editorial copy.

Sourcing

Clinical and pharmacological claims rest on three categories of source: the major menopause-society and endocrine-society guidance documents; the peer-reviewed literature, with preference for systematic reviews and large randomised trials over single small studies; and FDA-approved prescribing information for the specific products discussed. We name sources within the text where the claim turns on a specific finding.

Provider-specific claims about formulary, pricing, state coverage, and clinical model are sourced from the vendor's own materials at the time of evaluation and, where possible, verified against a second source. Pricing and state coverage move; we date the evaluation cycle so the reader can judge currency.

Labels we never use without earning them

We do not say a provider has been “hands-on tested” unless an editor completed the sign-up flow and the consult. We do not say a piece has been “clinically reviewed” unless a named licensed clinician with appropriate credentials read and signed off on the piece. We do not invent author headshots, credentials, or affiliations. We do not fabricate user quotes, customer testimonials, sample-size claims, or case studies. We do not display fake “As Seen In” badges or fake social-proof counters.

Voice and tone

We address the reader directly, in plain language, as an intelligent adult. We do not write “girl,” “babe,” or “queen.” We do not write in the breathy idiom of aughts-era women's blogging. We avoid medicalese where plain English will do. We do not present opinion as fact; where we are making an editorial judgement, the text says so.

Separation of editorial and affiliate

Affiliate links exist on the site. They are labelled at the top of every page that contains them. They use rel="sponsored noopener" and open in a new tab. They do not influence rankings. We cover providers with whom we have no affiliate relationship where doing so makes the comparison more honest, and we are willing to remove a provider from coverage even where we have a commercial relationship if our editorial judgement requires it. See our affiliate disclosure.

Medical scope

We are a publication. We are not a clinical service, a pharmacy, a prescriber, or a medical device. Nothing on the site constitutes medical, diagnostic, or treatment advice. Every page that touches a hormone or medication is framed in educational and product-feature terms, points the reader to a clinician for individualised decisions, and is labelled with the appropriate medical-review status (see medical review policy).

Escalation

Where a clinical claim is contested by a reader, a clinician, or a vendor, the editorial team escalates the claim to a medical reviewer (one of the clinicians on our review board where one is involved). The decision is documented and, if it results in a change to the published page, logged in corrections.

Conflict of interest

Editors and writers disclose financial relationships with any provider we cover. Anyone with a relevant relationship is recused from the relevant assignment. No editor or writer holds equity in any provider currently reviewed on the site.

Corrections

We acknowledge corrections received, verify them against source material, update the affected page with a visible “Updated: [date]” stamp, and log the correction at /corrections/.