Editorial Governance

Editorial Standards.

The criteria by which entries are admitted, sourced, edited, and revised.

Black Academia publishes its editorial standards because a library that asks readers to trust it owes them the rules by which that trust is earned. This document governs every entry in the catalogue. It will evolve, in writing and in public.

I. Inclusion criteria

Thinkers

A thinker is admitted to the catalogue when their body of work has measurable intellectual consequence — within a discipline, within a tradition, or within public life — and when their contribution can be sourced from credible primary and secondary literature. Popularity is not a criterion. Partisanship is not a criterion.

Works

A work is admitted when it advances a discipline, anchors a debate, or marks a turning point in a tradition. Each entry must be locatable, citable, and accompanied by editorial framing that places it in context.

Commentary

Essays and articles are admitted when they meet the standard of serious analytic writing and contribute to the catalogue's coverage of a discipline, debate, or thinker.

II. Sourcing

  • Primary works are cited directly wherever feasible.
  • Biographical and bibliographic claims are cross-referenced against at least two independent sources.
  • Living scholars are invited to claim and verify their own profiles.
  • Quotations are reproduced verbatim, attributed, and dated.

III. Editorial process

  1. Entries are drafted by contributing editors against a structured template.
  2. A second editor reviews for accuracy, sourcing, and adherence to standards.
  3. A senior editor signs off prior to publication.
  4. Living thinkers are notified when their profile is published and invited to respond.

IV. Revision & correction

Errors are corrected as soon as they are confirmed. Substantive revisions are dated and logged. The catalogue does not silently rewrite the record.

V. Conflicts of interest

Editors disclose any personal, financial, or institutional relationship with a thinker whose profile they draft or review. Disclosed conflicts may not disqualify an editor, but they are recorded.

VI. What the Library will not do

  • Accept paid placement of any kind.
  • Adjust editorial framing in response to ideological pressure.
  • Publish entries that cannot be sourced.
  • Permit AI-generated text to enter the catalogue without editorial authorship and review.