IFCN Code of Principles

A public standard for transparency, fairness, sourcing, funding, and corrections.

The International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles sets out commitments for organizations that publish fact-checks. It covers nonpartisanship, source transparency, funding and organizational transparency, a clear methodology, and an open corrections policy. The value of the code is not that it settles individual claims. It makes the checking organization’s own process easier to inspect.

We reference it because evidence work needs rules that readers can see. A citation is more useful when people understand how sources were selected, how conflicts are handled, and what happens after an error is found. The code is written for fact-checking organizations, so it should be read as a professional accountability framework rather than a universal recipe for every research workflow.