How we verify every statistic

Every figure on Factory Metrics passes a four-stage pipeline before publication.

Primary-source collection

Figures come only from peer-reviewed work, government statistics and named industry reports — never unsourced blogs.

Editorial curation

An analyst records every figure's source and date and discards anything that cannot be traced.

Independent verification

Each statistic is reproduced from the original source and cross-checked against a second where one exists.

Senior sign-off

Only verified figures are published, tagged Verified, Directional or Single-source.

Confidence labels

Verified — reproducible from two or more independent primary sources. Directional — sources agree on direction and magnitude but not the exact value. Single-source — one primary source, not yet corroborated.

Software rankings follow the same discipline: one uniform rubric (Features 40% · Ease of use 30% · Value 30%), applied identically to every vendor. See How we make money.