A preflight should reliably catch mechanical release defects while leaving source interpretation and final judgment visibly assigned to people.
Separate deterministic checks from review
Mechanical checks should answer questions with repeatable rules: Does every in-text citation resolve to one reference? Does every reference appear in the text when the house style requires it? Are URLs syntactically valid and reachable? Are figures and tables numbered and cited? Do defined terms remain consistent? Are tracked comments resolved? Are required sections present in the correct order?
Crossref's reference practices emphasize complete, machine-readable references and persistent identifiers where available. Use DOI and other identifiers to improve matching, then preserve the displayed citation required by the buyer's style. A successful link check does not prove support, and a failed link does not necessarily invalidate an archived source. The preflight should distinguish access status from evidentiary disposition.
Produce a receipt, not a green badge
Record the report file hash or version, source-archive version, rule set, check time, tool versions, passes, failures, warnings, and exclusions. A receipt lets another reviewer rerun the same preflight and understand why the release was held or accepted. Avoid a single score that gives a broken heading and an unsupported central claim the same implied meaning.
Run the check on the final export as well as the editable source. Page numbers, link targets, figure placement, fonts, and contents tables can change during export. Inspect a rendered copy for clipping and unreadable tables. Deterministic checks reduce avoidable defects, but the final human pass still needs to examine consequential claims, context, and visual communication.
Make the release state explicit
Use release candidate, held, accepted, or withdrawn with the responsible person and timestamp. List remaining warnings and accepted exceptions beside the state. If an author accepts a broken external link because an archived copy is available, record that rationale. If a source conflict is unresolved, do not hide it behind a passing mechanical check.
Evidence Gate runs the preflight through Reality Contact, LLC and returns the rule set and receipt. The buyer approves the house style, acceptance criteria, final exceptions, and release state. This quality-assurance service does not replace legal, investment, accounting, medical, scientific, or client review, and it does not guarantee that every factual error has been found.
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 best practices for complete references; NIST Information Quality Standards.