A claim ledger creates a reviewable relationship between what the report says, what the source actually establishes, and who owns any remaining inference.
Keep the claim and source as separate records
The claim record should contain the exact sentence, report location, claim type, materiality, owner, and current disposition. The source record should contain title, author or organization, publication date, stable identifier or URL, access date when relevant, and archive location. A link between them stores the specific page or passage and an explanation of the support relationship.
This separation matters when one source supports several claims or a claim synthesizes several sources. It also prevents a corrected bibliography entry from being mistaken for corrected reasoning. Crossref's reference-linking guidance explains how deposited references and persistent identifiers support navigation between research objects. A DOI improves identification, but the reviewer must still inspect whether the cited content supports the report's language.
Record scope and limitations explicitly
Add fields for population, geography, period, method, unit, definition, and limitations when those dimensions affect meaning. A claim about all customers may rest on a survey of current subscribers. A market-size number may use a category definition that differs from the report. A percentage can be correct while the denominator remains invisible. Put these differences beside the claim rather than burying them in a general note.
Use a short support rationale written in ordinary language. Avoid copying long source passages into the deliverable or private ledger when a location and concise paraphrase will do. Preserve copyright and access restrictions. If the team cannot retain a source, store enough metadata and access instructions for an authorized reviewer to locate it again without treating a private file as a public citation.
Make every open state actionable
A useful ledger has a finite vocabulary: supported, repair wording, repair citation, source required, contradiction, stale, duplicate, judgment required, and held. Each non-final state needs an owner and next action. Keep the previous disposition in history so reviewers can see whether the source changed, the claim changed, or an author deliberately accepted a narrower statement.
Evidence Gate builds the ledger through Reality Contact, LLC and returns it with the release candidate. The accountable author controls source authorization and substantive conclusions. The ledger reports the review performed on the supplied version and archive; it does not establish that undisclosed evidence does not exist or that a supported claim is suitable for every downstream decision.
Where the service stops
Reality Contact, LLC performs editorial quality assurance and evidence reconciliation but does not provide legal, investment, accounting, medical, or scientific peer-review advice; originate unrequested findings; decide contested judgments for the author; or certify that a report is true, complete, or fit for every use. The accountable author supplies the governing brief and authorized sources, resolves listed judgment calls, approves any substantive change, and accepts, holds, or withdraws the release candidate. This quality-assurance service does not replace legal, investment, accounting, medical, scientific, client, or publication review. The buyer supplies authorized sources, resolves substantive judgment calls, approves revisions, and controls release.
Sources: Crossref reference-linking documentation; NIST standards for information quality and source transparency.