Content and editorial quality

The Atlas is an English encyclopedia of the present. Readers trust it because every claim can be checked. Answer first, stay neutral, cite everything a reader could doubt. This skill is for editors working in the administration and for AI agents drafting text for them.

Before you start

• Working in the admin screens (forms, lists, permissions): atlas-admin.
• Search titles, descriptions, keywords: atlas-seo. The "In short" block and AI answer engines: atlas-geo.
• Charts, maps, data layers and their sources: atlas-maps-data.
• Field limits, source hierarchy and credit formats in full: reference.

The content model (what you can write, and where)

• Topic (entries.kind = "entry"): title, summary, up to 5 summary bullets, category, region or global issue, countries, header photo with credit, author, body. The editor has tabs (?tab=): Article, Subtopics (max 12, MAX_CHAPTERS), Timeline, Maps & charts, Learn more (max 24 tiles, 200 links), SEO & GEO (with the FAQ, max 20 questions).
• Subtopic (entry_chapters): title, up to 5 summary bullets, body, illustration with credit, optional audio. It gets the anchor #topic-N on the topic page.
• Portrait sections of a region or global issue: intro, key-fact cards (portrait_metrics), resources, FAQ, timeline, Maps & charts. Up to 50 items per list.
• Key-fact card: big value ("24.4 %"), label, one explaining sentence, source (required), source link, year or period. A card without a source cannot be saved.
• Timeline: max 60 events, each with a date, rich text and up to 20 sources (https links).
• Categories (NEWS_CATEGORIES): Living Conditions, Political System, Society, International Relations, Historical Roots. They group into four portrait groups.
• Content status of a region or global issue: not started (grey on the globe, asks for support), in preparation (hourglass), ready (check mark). Keep it honest — readers fund regions based on it.
• "Planned topic only" (status planned) shows a grey "Coming soon" tile on the portrait. It is not a scheduled publication (see below). The admin list currently labels it "Scheduled".

Rules

Voice and style

• Write in English, British spelling (the site uses "organisation", "labour", "programme").
• Answer first. The first sentence of a summary defines the subject; the first two paragraphs carry the key facts. A reader who stops there must still be informed.
• Write summary bullets as 3–5 standalone claims, each ≤ 300 characters, each backed in the text below.
• Keep sentences ≤ 25 words and paragraphs ≤ 5 sentences. Use active voice.
• Spell out every acronym and explain every specialist term on first use ("the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)").
• Start headings with their most informative words. Use H2 for sections, H3 below; never skip a level.
• Use lists only for real lists or steps. Bold a few key phrases, never whole sentences.
• Write numbers with their unit and year: "about 6.9 million refugees (UNHCR, mid-2025)".
• Dates in full and unambiguous: "24 February 2022". Never "recently", "this year", "last month".

Neutral point of view

• Represent each significant view in proportion to its weight in reliable sources. Say who holds it and whether it is the majority or a minority view.
• Attribute contested framings: "The Russian government describes the war as a 'special military operation'." Never adopt a party's label as the Atlas's own voice.
• Avoid loaded words (regime, terrorist, martyr, so-called) unless you quote and attribute them.
• No original synthesis: do not combine two sources into a conclusion neither of them states.
• Label analysis and opinion as such. News reports facts; topics explain context.
• Disputed borders and names follow the Atlas's UN-based territory policy (atlas-maps-data). Use one name per place across the site; give the alternative name once, attributed.
• Living people: contentious claims need strong sources, allegations are worded as allegations with the denial, birth date only if widely published, no private contact data.

Sourcing and citations

• Cite every figure, quote and contested claim with a link a reader can open. In rich text, link the source in the sentence or add a numbered note.
• Prefer primary data sources for numbers (UN agencies, World Bank, national statistics offices, V-Dem, UNHCR) and reputable secondary sources (scholarly work, major news agencies) for interpretation. Use government statements for what the government says, not as fact.
• Do not cite social media, anonymous blogs or AI chatbots. Do not cite Wikipedia — cite what it cites.
• Every number carries its "as of" date: the year of the data, not the year you looked it up. Mark estimates and projections.
• Key-fact cards, manual indicator values and timeline events must name their source; the database refuses them otherwise. Do not fill the source field with "various" or "own research".
• Drafting with AI: check every fact and every link yourself before saving. Never publish an AI-suggested citation you have not opened.

Corrections (suggested policy — owner to confirm)

• A correction fixes a wrong fact; an update reflects a changed situation; a clarification fixes ambiguous wording. Never silently fix a factual error in a published text.
• For a correction, add a dated line at the end of the article body: "Correction (16 October 2026): An earlier version said X. It is Y." Updates can use "Update (date): …".
• Fix it as soon as it is confirmed. The revision history keeps the old version.
• The site has no public corrections log or report form yet; proposing one is an owner decision.

Images

• Use only images you may republish: your own, public domain, Creative Commons (not ND if you crop), or Unsplash. Check the licence on the file page, not on a search result.
• Fill the credit field every time (header photo, subtopic illustration, tile photo, region and issue hero). Credit the author, then the source and licence: "Jane Doe / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)". Unsplash needs no credit by law; give "Name / Unsplash" anyway.
• Upload JPEG, PNG, WebP or AVIF up to 3 MB (no SVG). Audio up to 50 MB.
• Hero images use the page title as their alt text. This is an owner decision — keep it; do not add a separate alt field or change those texts.
• In "Maps & charts", an image's title is its alt text and the heading under it: describe what the image shows and why it matters, not "Photo of…".
• Images inside rich text need an alt attribute that says what the image adds.
• No identifiable private individuals in distress without consent; personality rights apply on top of the licence.

Titles and URLs (slugs)

• Titles: plain, specific, answer-first ("Why the Sahel's juntas left ECOWAS"), ≤ 200 characters; keep them short enough to read in one glance. The search title is set separately (atlas-seo).
• Slugs: lowercase words and hyphens, no dates, no stop-word padding. Decide before publishing.
• A published article keeps its URL: the slug field locks. To move it anyway, ask a developer.
• Renaming an author URL leaves a permanent redirect automatically.
• Renaming a global issue or custom region does not: add the redirect yourself in URL redirects (old path → new path). The database refuses loops.

Publishing, scheduling and revisions

• Workflow: draft → submit for approval (pending) → approve and publish. An approver can send it back with a note. Anyone in the admin team may edit any content; do not add extra sign-off steps.
• Scheduled publication: approve with a time instead of now (5 minutes to 1 year ahead). The database publishes it within 5 minutes of that time and the site shows it within an hour. If someone other than the scheduler edits the article meanwhile, the schedule is cancelled.
• Share an unpublished draft with a preview link (24 h, 3 days, 7 days or 30 days).
• Each save to the database is a revision; compare versions before approving. Autosave only keeps a backup in your browser — save before you close the tab.
• Site pages have their own revisions with restore, and a "Last updated" date: set it whenever the page meaningfully changes.
• Re-read fast-moving topics at least every 3 months; update figures and the "as of" dates.

UI texts and site pages

• UI text overrides keep the {placeholders} of the original exactly (same names); the form refuses others. Max 2,000 characters. Sign-in, account and invitation texts are locked; menu labels are edited in Site menus.
• Site page bodies may use {{contact}}, {{email}} and, on About, {{data-sources}} (the live list of data sources).

How it connects to SEO and GEO

The SEO & GEO tab of a topic holds the search title (≤ 70), description (≤ 170), keywords (≤ 12), share image (1200×630), "In short" summary (≤ 800, shown on the page) and noindex. Empty fields fall back to the title and summary. Writing rules for them: atlas-seo and atlas-geo.

Checklist before you submit or approve

• [ ] Summary answers the main question in its first sentence; 3–5 bullets, each backed in the text.
• [ ] Every figure has a source link and an "as of" year; estimates are marked.
• [ ] Contested claims attributed; no loaded labels in the Atlas's own voice.
• [ ] Acronyms spelled out on first use; sentences ≤ 25 words.
• [ ] Every image has a licence you checked and a credit; chart and image titles describe them.
• [ ] Key-fact cards and timeline events have sources; content status of the portrait is accurate.
• [ ] Slug final before first publication; a renamed global issue has a redirect.
• [ ] SEO & GEO tab filled or deliberately left to defaults (atlas-seo, atlas-geo).
• [ ] Revision diff checked before approving.

Anti-patterns

• "Experts say…" with no named expert or source — unverifiable.
• Pasting a figure without its year — it silently becomes wrong.
• Fixing a factual error without a correction note — readers who quoted us cannot see why.
• Using an image found on a search engine — licence unknown, credit impossible.
• Writing "Photo of a protest" as an image title — says nothing a screen reader user needs.
• Changing a published slug or a global issue slug without a redirect — breaks every link out there.
• Copying text from a source — paraphrase and cite; quote at most a short sentence, attributed.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Core content policies — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Core_content_policies
• Wikipedia: Reliable sources — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources
• Wikipedia: Biographies of living persons — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons
• BBC Editorial Guidelines: Accuracy — https://www.bbc.com/editorialguidelines/guidelines/accuracy
• The Trust Project: Trust Indicators — https://thetrustproject.org/trust-indicators/
• GOV.UK: Writing clearly — https://guidance.publishing.service.gov.uk/writing-to-gov-uk-standards/writing-guidelines/clear-language/
• NN/g: F-shaped reading pattern — https://www.nngroup.com/articles/f-shaped-pattern-reading-web-content/
• Wikimedia Commons: Reusing content — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Reusing_content_outside_Wikimedia
• Creative Commons: Recommended practices for attribution — https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Recommended_practices_for_attribution
• Unsplash License — https://unsplash.com/license
• More sources and full field limits: reference