Editorial Guidelines

Providing reliable, up-to-date, and evidence-based information on all things CBD and cannabis.

Our Mission

Our mission at CBD Oracle is to provide objective, reliable and science-based information to help people trying to navigate the complex hemp and cannabis industry. Above all, we want to empower people to heal through natural and holistic approaches. Whether it’s through our reviews and recommendations based on extensive first-hand testing or our articles based on in-depth research and vetted through a team of expert fact checkers, our goal is to ensure that when you come to CBD Oracle, you know the content you’re about to read is dependable and accurate.

Our goal is to collect the best knowledge on CBD and cannabis, and then present it clearly and honestly. And if the knowledge doesn’t exist, we strive to conduct, commission or advocate for the necessary research to create the knowledge for everybody.

Our Values

Accuracy

First and foremost, we aim to provide accurate and reliable content. Our editorial team and expert reviewers thoroughly fact-check each article and ensure they reflect current knowledge as closely as possible. This is an ongoing process, and we continually check and update content to account for new information or knowledge. If you notice any inaccuracies in our reporting, please report the error to us at [email protected].

Independence

We are a completely independent organization, and our reporting, reviews or other content is never influenced by any company which collaborates, advertises or works with us. Our focus is solely on providing information that is useful to consumers, not beneficial to companies. This might mean that we upset our advertisers sometimes, but it also gives readers confidence that they’re getting our take, and not a take we’ve been explicitly or implicitly encouraged to provide.

Authority

Our content is based on both data taken directly from authoritative sources and focused interviews with subject matter experts. Moreover, this is handled in a transparent way, with sources hyperlinked (and detailed in a reference list) and all interview content clearly identified as such and attributed to the relevant expert.

Honesty

All of the content on CBD Oracle is honest. For factual content, this is already guaranteed by our other values – we ensure that the content is as accurate as possible and taken from authoritative sources, which are clearly cited. For reviews and editorial content, our honesty is the cornerstone of what we do. A review on CBD Oracle is a first-hand take on what the product is actually like for a real user. Likewise, an editorial might sway towards a particular viewpoint, but our goal is to present the best arguments both for and against the viewpoints and weigh their strengths in a fair and transparent fashion.

Editorial Team

Our experienced editorial team manages all of the content on CBD Oracle on an ongoing basis. Any given piece of content has been checked and vetted by editors and expert fact-checkers before publication, and is revisited regularly to ensure the information it contains is accurate, clearly-communicated and consistent with current knowledge.

Our writers create the content based on reliable sources, first-hand experience and expert insight, but the work from the editorial team continues for as long as the content remains on our site.

Subject-Matter Expert Writers

Our writers are experts on the subject matter they cover. They’ve been chosen specifically for their expertise and real-world experience with CBD, cannabis and everything in between, as well as their ability to clearly communicate complex concepts and offer unique insights alongside the facts. Although they have to cite sources and pass experts’ fact-checks, our writers are ultimately the people that gather and package the information for our readers, and we only choose the best.

References, Sources, and Citations

Every claim we make is supported by a credible, authoritative reference, which is provided in-text as a hyperlink and (for academic sources) listed as an APA-format reference at the bottom of the article. Likewise, we make the full transcript of each interview we conduct available separately, so readers can always verify the context and intent of any quoted statement for themselves.

The reason for this is simple: a claim is only as good as the source that supports it. This doesn’t just mean that a claim should be supported by a source; it means that the source supporting the claim should be relevant, authoritative, reliable and verifiable. You should never read anything on CBD Oracle and find yourself wondering where the information came from: you can always click the link and verify it for yourself too.

Medical Expert Board

Providing health-related information means accepting the responsibility that the content is consistent with current medical knowledge and best practices. Our Medical Review Panel exists to ensure that we meet this responsibility. Every article on CBD Oracle with medical content has been independently reviewed by either an experienced medical professional or a researcher specializing in cannabis. Their role is to ensure that each claim is supported by good evidence and in line with current expert knowledge. If an article can’t meet this standard, it cannot be published.

Legal Expert Board

The law is complex, nuanced and ever-changing, stuffed full of subtle clauses and easy-to-miss amendments that make a lot of reporting on the topic lacking. That’s why our Legal Expert Panel exists: to ensure that any legal article on CBD Oracle is both accurate and up-to-date. Every legal article we publish has been thoroughly researched using our unique research methodology and independently reviewed by a lawyer, ensuring that all claims are correct and the right statutes and bills are cited in support of them. If our experts don’t approve an article, it will not be published.

What Do Our Icons Mean?

We make use of icons to show content that has either been medically-reviewed or fact-checked by an expert in a relevant field.

Medically reviewed: The “medically reviewed” tag on our health and wellness articles means that an experienced medical professional or a researcher who specializes in cannabis has reviewed the content, evaluated the references, and confirmed that the information contained within reflects current scientific knowledge.
Expert reviewed/Fact checked: Our expert reviewers ensure that every article on CBD Oracle is factual and well-sourced. This tag means that the content has been independently reviewed by a qualified expert in a relevant field prior to publishing and before any major revisions, with a focus on accuracy and reliability. If we can’t source good evidence for a claim, we don’t publish it.

Up-to-Date Information

Knowledge changes with time, and so do our articles. Providing reliable and accurate content means acknowledging that an article written a year ago about a rapidly-evolving field likely misses the mark in some places or uses outdated evidence. This is why our editorial team and writers work continuously to ensure that any information presented on CBD Oracle is up-to-date and accurate.

To make it easy to see how up-to-date an article is, we mark original publication, any major updates and any fact checks or medical reviews with the date. Generally, you can look for:

Publication date: On publication, articles are accompanied by a date of publication. For news articles and reviews, it’s more likely that this will continue to be the date most of the content was produced.
“Updated on” date: This is the date when the content was most recently updated. Most informative articles on CBD Oracle are updated more regularly, to ensure the content continues to reflect the most accurate scientific or legal knowledge.
“Fact check/medical review” date: This is the date when the content was most recently approved by a subject matter expert. This generally follows publication and major updates, but is sometimes undertaken in response to new information, feedback and comments, even when the review determines that the content is still accurate as written.

In some cases, we make small edits to content to reflect new knowledge before re-working the whole article accordingly, and the date of these changes will be noted in-text.

Fact Check

Every claim we make on CBD Oracle is supported by good evidence and fact-checked by a relevant expert. Our fact-checkers vet every article to ensure that the statements they contain accurately reflect current scientific and legal knowledge, based on both a careful reading of primary sources and their own expert analysis. If you see a claim on CBD Oracle, you can rest assured that it has been thoroughly checked, vetted and approved by expert writers, our editorial team and independent fact-checkers from the field before publication.

Accuracy and Corrections

We strive for accuracy with every article we publish. However, despite all the steps taken to fairly present the information from authoritative, primary sources and all the checks an article goes through prior to publication, there are still occasions when we publish something either misleading or incorrect. This is why we both actively search for errors in our own content and rectify any mistakes brought to our attention as soon as possible. When we make a correction, we’ll add a note at the bottom of the article that briefly explains the mistake and describes how and when it was corrected.

If you notice an error in any content on our site, report it to [email protected] and we will correct it as quickly as possible.

Independence and Impartiality

Our independence and impartiality is what makes us CBD Oracle. Consumers looking for the best CBD oil, for example, want a list of the actual best products as chosen by an expert, not a list of companies that have paid for placement or sent enough free samples out. Readers come to CBD Oracle for recommendations and information precisely because we are independent and impartial, and this is something we can never jeopardize by producing content to please a sponsor, partner or advertiser.

Like many review sites, we do receive free samples of products to review, and we do earn affiliate payments for some purchases made from the links in our content. However, this never influences the content we produce, because otherwise our recommendations and commentary would no longer hold meaning. We are a trusted source of information, and this gives us a responsibility to inform consumers in an impartial, honest and objective fashion at all times.

If any company or partner receives criticism from us, the only way to change the article is to change the product or whatever it is we were criticizing in a way that addresses the complaint. A free sample may encourage us to review a product, but it will never influence the substance of the review itself.

Responsible Use

As a hemp and cannabis focused website, CBD Oracle is intended for adults. Because of this, we avoid presenting information in a way that may appeal to minors, and we won’t run any advertisement that could appeal to minors. Additionally, we openly report on the proven risks of cannabis use for youth, and our market studies have consistently called out the industry for not using child-proof packaging, using designs that may appeal to minors and the lack of robust age verification. We wholeheartedly support cannabis use, but it should be restricted to adults.

Promoting responsible use doesn’t just mean discouraging minors. The truth is that cannabis isn’t for everyone, and despite the proclamations of some supporters, it carries risks just like any other substance. We actively seek for the truth about cannabis’ benefits and risks, in both medical and recreational contexts, and report on what we find completely openly and honestly. We don’t want to promote cannabis for anybody, we want to help people understand the risks and benefits as they relate to them, and empower them to make their own decision about whether to try it.

Originality

All of our content is original and produced by humans. We never use large language models (like ChatGPT) or other artificial intelligence to write our content.

The reason for this is simple: ChatGPT can offer readable sentences and surface-level coherence, but it cannot provide the real-world experience, expertise and insight that our content depends on. Our goal is to leverage our experience, research and knowledge to produce original content tailored to the needs of human readers. We know what people looking for information on CBD want, because we were all once in your position. A surface-level replication – however elegant – can never replace the fundamental insight that comes from this fact.

Additionally, if another writer has produced an informative and well-written explanation of a topic that we think our readers should be aware of, it will always be referenced clearly and any quotations will be explicitly marked as such. We would never plagiarize and rob that individual of the recognition they rightfully deserve.

In short, we follow all accepted journalistic practices and relevant laws, including:

Advertising Policy

We only work with advertisers that match our values and that will provide value to our readers. We never write advertising content disguised as another type of content, and if we were ever to publish a piece of sponsored content, not only would it be clearly identified as such, it would only be published if it provided unique value to our readers (not the sponsor).

How We Make Money

CBD Oracle is an independent consumer research company, with a focus on honest, accurate and evidence-based reporting. We receive income from affiliate links in reviews and “best of” lists, but positive reviews or placement on any such list is never influenced by this income. Instead, we hope to inform consumers to the best of our ability and allow companies which produce good products to earn the sales they deserve. Any money we earn from this ultimately comes from the trust our readers place in us, and we have the utmost respect for that fact.

Likewise, we earn money from advertisements, but only accept advertisers relevant to our readers that are aligned with our values and never disguise advertisements as genuine content.

Read our full advertising disclosure.

Affiliations

CBD Oracle is an independent organization and is not affiliated with any hemp company, cannabis company, or any other for-profit organization. However, our reviews, recommendations and “best” lists do contain affiliate links, which earn us money to keep the website running at no cost to the reader. These affiliate links have no influence whatsoever on the content we produce, because we love CBD and we recommend the products that tick the right boxes for us. We will only recommend products that deserve the recommendation.

Medical Disclaimer

CBD Oracle is a digital publisher and does not offer health or medical advice. The information on this website is for general information purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. You should never disregard medical advice based on something you have read on cbdoracle.com or any properties or channels owned by CBD Oracle. If you have a medical emergency, contact your doctor or local emergency services immediately.

Read our full disclaimer.

Feedback

We love hearing from readers. It helps us understand how we can improve to better serve your needs. If you have a comment, question, or suggestion about our editorial policies or a specific piece of content on CBD Oracle, please share your thoughts with us at [email protected].

Our Editorial Guidelines