Editorial Standards

Author qualification requirements

All editorial content on Truck Graph — including methodology documentation, data analysis, and interpretive commentary — is authored by qualified professionals who meet the following minimum requirements:

• Domain expertise — minimum 5 years of professional experience in transportation safety, freight compliance, or logistics data systems
• Credential verification — relevant certifications (CDS, CCFS, or equivalent) or advanced degrees in transportation engineering, safety management, or related fields
• Federal experience preferred — direct experience with FMCSA, DOT, or state-level transportation agencies strongly preferred for safety-related content
• Ongoing education — authors must complete at least 20 hours annually of continuing education in their domain area

Every author has a public profile page (e.g., Sarah Chen) listing their credentials, experience, and published pages. This transparency allows readers to independently verify the expertise behind our analysis.

Editorial review process

Truck Graph uses a multi-stage review process for all published content:

1. Automated validation — data ingestion pipelines check record completeness, detect anomalies (e.g., fleet sizes that change by more than 500% between syncs), and flag entries that deviate from expected patterns
2. Statistical verification — aggregate statistics displayed on pages (carrier counts, averages, percentages) are cross-validated against raw database queries at publication time
3. Peer review — editorial content (methodology, analysis, commentary) is reviewed by at least one additional qualified team member before publication
4. Freshness verification — automated monitoring confirms that all displayed timestamps and "last synced" indicators accurately reflect the underlying data state

Error correction policy

When errors are identified — whether by our team, users, or the carriers themselves — we follow a structured correction process:

• Acknowledgment within 24 hours — all error reports submitted through our contact page receive acknowledgment within one business day
• Source verification — reported errors are verified against federal source records before correction to ensure we do not introduce new inaccuracies
• Immediate correction for safety-critical data — errors affecting authority status, insurance coverage, or out-of-service orders are corrected within 4 hours of verification
• Standard correction within 48 hours — non-critical corrections (address updates, fleet size adjustments) are applied within 2 business days
• No silent corrections — significant corrections include a visible correction notice on the affected carrier profile for 30 days, explaining what changed and why

Data quality controls

The following automated controls run continuously to maintain data quality across all 757,873 carrier profiles:

• Completeness checks — required fields (DOT number, legal name, state) must be present; incomplete records are held from publication
• Consistency validation — cross-table references are verified (e.g., a carrier with inspections must exist in carrier_master)
• Temporal logic — dates must be logically consistent (authority grant date cannot follow authority revocation date without an intervening reinstatement)
• Duplicate detection — fuzzy matching on name + address identifies potential duplicate entries for manual review
• Range validation — numeric fields (power units, driver count) must fall within physically plausible ranges

Independence and conflicts of interest

Truck Graph does not accept payment from carriers to modify, remove, or suppress any data displayed on their profiles. Risk scores, risk indicators, and safety indicators are calculated algorithmically from federal records without manual override capability. No commercial relationship between Truck Graph and any carrier influences the data we display.