Editorial principles

A short statement of how The Clean Paper works, and what it refuses to do.

No ads. No display advertising, programmatic advertising, native advertising, sponsored posts, or affiliate links disguised as recommendations. We do not use any monetisation model based on extracting attention from readers. This is not because all advertising is wrong; it is because this project exists to resist the incentive structure that turns scientific communication into traffic bait.

No comments. Open comment sections under general science articles tend to decay. We welcome precise corrections by email instead, and log substantive ones transparently.

No hype. We avoid inflated language even when the topic is genuinely exciting. “Breakthrough”, “revolutionary”, “scientists stunned”, “this changes everything” — these require evidence, and usually the evidence is more interesting than the slogan.

What it does not prove. Every article states the boundary conditions: what the paper shows, what it merely suggests, and what it does not establish. This section is close to mandatory. It is where most science coverage fails, and where this site earns its name.

Sources first. Every article links to the original paper or preprint and distinguishes peer-reviewed work from preprints. Claims are checked against the primary source, not a press release.

AI-assisted, not AI-abdicated. AI tools may help draft, simplify, and check. Responsibility for selection, interpretation, and final wording stays with the human editor.

Small rather than compromised. If The Clean Paper cannot be sustained without selling attention, it should remain smaller, publish less often, pause, or stop.