Editorial Standards
How we source, write, and review every article.
Our sourcing standards
Every claim about mechanism — how a practice affects the nervous system, what the research says about somatic healing, why polyvagal states matter for grief — must be traceable to peer-reviewed research. Our primary sources:
- PubMed / NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information)
- NIH (National Institutes of Health)
- APA (American Psychological Association) publications and databases
- Peer-reviewed journals in the fields of grief science, somatic therapy, and autonomic nervous system research
- Published books by named researchers (Porges, van der Kolk, Schwartz, Levine) — cited with title, author, and year
We include outbound links to source material at the bottom of every article. We link to PubMed abstracts and DOI pages, not to secondary summaries of studies.
When we describe a practice rather than a mechanism — how a ritual feels, what a grief circle looks like — we draw on the direct experience of our authors and the people they've worked with. We say so clearly.
How articles are written and reviewed
Each article is assigned to one of three authors based on the topic and their area of direct experience. The author writes a first draft anchored to the target question: the thing a reader is actually searching for when they arrive at this page.
Before publication, every article is reviewed internally for:
- Accuracy of any research claims — claims are checked against cited sources
- Clarity — if a reader unfamiliar with polyvagal theory can't follow it, we revise
- Tone — we do not use clinical detachment or alarmist language
- Scope — we do not make claims beyond what the evidence supports
- Completeness — the article must answer the question it promises to answer
We do not publish articles with vague or untraceable claims. If we can't source it, we don't assert it.
What we don't do
- Make medical claims or diagnose conditions
- Recommend replacing professional therapy or licensed mental health care
- Use credentials our authors don't have (no "PhD," no "LCSW," no "certified" anything)
- Accept sponsored content, advertising, or affiliate arrangements that influence editorial decisions
- Publish content designed to sell a product without disclosing that editorial judgment shaped the mention
Experience-based authority
Our authors do not hold clinical licenses. They state this clearly. Their authority comes from:
- Years of direct practice guiding people through grief transitions (Sable March)
- Deep study of somatic therapies and their translation for non-clinical audiences (Eden Voss)
- Research-focused analysis of peer-reviewed literature in behavioral science and contemplative traditions (M. Ellis)
We believe experience-based authority, paired with rigorous sourcing, is more honest than credential-signaling. We say what we've seen, what the research shows, and where the two converge.
Correction policy
We correct errors. If you find a factual error in any article — a misrepresented study, an inaccurate claim, a broken source link — email us at editor@theritualjournalcollective.com.
Corrections are noted inline at the top of the affected article with a date. We do not delete or silently rewrite errors. We fix them visibly.