Our Editorial Process

Answer

Every article requires primary government or standards body sources for every claim and passes through multiple review stages before publication.

  • All content published under collective byline after multi-stage review, no individual authors.
  • Only primary sources accepted: BLS, OSHA, EPA, NCCI, state regulators, ISSA, USGBC.
  • No paid placement, vendor sponsorship, or fabricated credentials permitted.

Opora Supply | www.oporasupply.com | Opora Editorial Team

Opora Field Guide articles are built on a defined process, not on a single author's judgment. Every piece goes through multiple review stages before publication. This page explains how that process works and what standards govern it.

Who writes Opora

Opora content is published under a collective byline: Opora Editorial Team. We use a collective byline because every article goes through multi-stage review — sourcing, drafting, fact-checking, cross-linking, and final editorial approval. The published work product is the result of that process.

No individual bylines appear on Field Guide articles. Guest contributions are accepted only in limited circumstances, require separate editorial approval, and are held to the same sourcing and style standards as in-house content. Guest contributors may not use a byline to promote products or services.

The standard we hold ourselves to

Every article must cite primary government or standards-body sources for every factual claim. Acceptable primary sources include:

  • BLS — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, for wage, employment, and occupational data
  • OSHA — for workplace safety regulations; 29 CFR section citations are required (e.g., 29 CFR 1910.1030(d)(2), not "OSHA regulations")
  • EPA — for environmental regulations, product registration data, and PFAS rulemaking
  • NCCI — National Council on Compensation Insurance, for workers' compensation rate data
  • DOL — U.S. Department of Labor, for wage and hour law
  • State regulators — applicable state departments of labor, environmental agencies, and contractor licensing boards
  • ISSA — for production rate standards (specific document and edition required)
  • USGBC, IWBI, Fitwel, ASHRAE — for green building and wellness standard requirements
  • U.S. Census Bureau — for demographic and market data

Secondary sources (trade publications, industry surveys) are permitted only when no primary source exists and are labeled as secondary in the article. Numbers without verifiable primary sources are not published.

The full sourcing and citation framework is on our Editorial Standards page.

How an article gets published

Every article follows this sequence before publication:

  1. Source pre-mapping. Before drafting begins, we identify five to 15 primary sources the article will cite. If the required primary sources don't exist for a claim, that claim doesn't appear in the article.
  1. Drafting. Written to the Editorial Voice & Style Guide — Bloomberg/Economist neutral, operator-grade, specific, with citations placed inline at the moment of each claim.
  1. Fact-check pass. Every number, regulation citation, and date is verified against its primary source. Regulation citations include the specific CFR section. Wage and cost data includes the BLS release month and year.
  1. Cross-link pass. The article is connected to three to five related articles, one to two relevant tools, one cheat sheet (where applicable), and its hub pillar page. Links are placed inline, at the point where the topic is first meaningfully referenced. No "Related Articles" dump sections.
  1. Editorial approval. Final review against the Voice & Style Guide checklist: no banned phrases, no restated-title openers, no padding headers, all external links open in a new tab, internal link count within the five to 10 target range.
  1. Update cadence. Articles are reviewed annually. Regulatory content (OSHA, EPA, state law) is reviewed quarterly. Tool data is refreshed on the underlying data-source release cycle (e.g., BLS OEWS annual release, NCCI annual filing).

What we won't do

These are firm limits, not editorial preferences:

  • No paid placement in editorial content. Vendors do not pay for coverage. A product's presence in an article reflects factual relevance, not a commercial arrangement.
  • No vendor sponsorship of articles. No company pays to shape, influence, or review editorial content in any form before publication.
  • Product mentions are factual, not recommendations. Where a product appears in an article, it is because it is relevant to the analysis — dilution ratios, SDS data, product registrations. It is not an endorsement.
  • No fabricated credentials, expert quotes, or case studies. We do not invent authority signals. Every claim is sourced and verifiable.
  • No professional advice in regulated domains. We explain statutes, regulations, and compliance processes factually. We do not advise on legal strategy, tax treatment, insurance coverage, or medical matters. Where professional judgment is required, the article says so and directs the reader to the appropriate licensed professional.

Corrections

If we get something wrong, we fix it visibly. The correction type (typographical, factual, material) determines the format of the correction notice and whether the original text is preserved for transparency.

If you spot an error, contact us with the article URL, the specific claim, your suggested correction, and the source for your proposed correction. We acknowledge correction requests within five business days and resolve verified corrections within 10 business days.

The full process is on our Corrections Policy page.

Contact

For questions about our editorial process or to submit a correction, contact us.

Effective June 2, 2026. Opora Editorial Team.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is there no author name on the articles?

You won't find one, and that's deliberate. Field Guide pieces publish under a collective byline because no single person carries an article start to finish. Each one moves through sourcing, drafting, fact-checking, cross-linking, and final editorial approval before it goes live. Putting one name on top would misrepresent how the work actually gets made, so we credit the process instead of a person.

What counts as an acceptable source?

Anything a reader can go check for themselves. That means primary statutes and agency guidance, BLS and OEWS tables, ISSA publications, manufacturer safety data sheets and technical bulletins, and research that is peer-reviewed or government-funded. Marketing copy on its own does not clear the bar. If a claim traces back only to a sales page, it does not run.

Can we cite something published by a manufacturer?

It depends entirely on which document you're holding. A manufacturer's safety data sheet or technical bulletin is acceptable, because those carry specifications the maker is accountable for. A brochure or campaign page is not, since marketing copy alone is not enough to support a claim. Same company, different document, completely different standing in the review.

What happens to a draft before it publishes?

Five stages, in order: sourcing, drafting, fact-checking, cross-linking, and final editorial approval. Nothing skips a step to make a date. That sequence is also the reason the byline is collective rather than individual — by the time a piece is live, the sourcing, the numbers, and the internal links have each been handled separately from the writing itself.