Methodology
How a record gets published. Every center profile and research item on this platform follows the same verification pipeline, source standards, and update cadence described below.
How centers are documented
A center profile moves through four stages before it appears as verified on the platform. No stage can be skipped, and each leaves a traceable audit trail.
Submission
A center, paper, or correction arrives via public tip, institutional self-registration, or editorial fieldwork. Submissions include at least one supporting source and a contact point.
Source cross-check
An editor seeks at least two independent sources — a public registry, academic citation, or direct institutional confirmation — before any field is marked verified.
Contact confirmation
We contact the institution directly to confirm existence, location, services offered, and founding date. Unresponsive institutions are published as unconfirmed, not verified.
Editorial review
A second editor, who did not conduct the initial cross-check, reviews the record for neutrality, completeness, and source attribution before publication.
Verification process
Every published record carries a status badge. These are the criteria editors apply before assigning each label.
- Verified
Existence, location, and core services confirmed by at least two independent sources and direct institutional contact within the last 24 months.
- Source attribution
Every factual claim links to its origin — government registry, academic publication, or institutional statement. If we cannot point to a source, we do not publish it as verified.
- Neutrality review
Editors document presence, not orthodoxy. Inclusion on this platform is not endorsement of any school, movement, or institution.
- Community authorship
Institutions can claim, correct, and update their own records. Editors verify submissions; they do not invent details.
Research curation
Research items are indexed separately from center profiles. Each must meet the following criteria before inclusion.
- Published or publicly accessible — working papers, journal articles, theses, reports, and conference proceedings.
- Relevant to Islamic institutional life, communities, or policy in Latin America.
- Attributed to a named author or institutional publisher with verifiable affiliation.
- Indexed with country, language, publication type, and centers referenced where applicable.
- Open-access preferred; paywalled items listed with DOI or stable URL for library access.
Data updates
Verified records are not permanent. We re-verify on a rolling schedule and respond to corrections within defined timelines.
Limitations & transparency
A profile that is thin but accurate beats one that is full and wrong. We would rather leave a field empty than guess at it. Coverage varies by country — Brazil and Argentina are more complete than smaller markets where public registries are sparse.
Self-reported information is always labelled as such. Historical institutions that no longer operate are retained with a "Historical" badge rather than deleted. If you spot an error, every record has a correction link and a published change log.