Method
Evidence first, for every single claim
Govpedia is a record of who holds public office. Each statement in it carries its own sources and a status that says how far it has been confirmed. This page sets out how that works.
The four statuses
A person’s office can be verified while another detail about them is only sourced. So the status sits on each statement, not on the whole page.
Confirmed by an official record of the government or institution.
Backed by an identifiable, reputable source; not yet confirmed by an official record.
Credible sources conflict, or the claim is formally contested.
Proposed or collected, with insufficient evidence so far. Not shown as fact.
Unverified claims are never shown as fact. They wait as proposals, for example a change spotted in the news, until a source supports them.
Which sources count
- Official records first. The government’s own list of ministers, the head of state’s office, official gazettes and parliamentary records. A claim confirmed on one of these is verified.
- Reputable references and news. Established news organisations and well-maintained references such as Wikipedia’s lists of office holders. A claim backed only by these is sourced, and is checked against an official page as soon as one is available.
- Datasets such as the UN E-Government Survey, cited by name and year.
Every source is listed on the page that cites it, with its publisher, address and the date Govpedia last opened it.
How a record is made
- Collect. A researcher, human or the Govpedia research agent, gathers the current office holders from the official page.
- Check. Every source is opened and the claim compared with the source text: the name, the exact title of the office and, where published, the start date.
- Record. Each claim is stored with its sources, its status and the date it was checked. Records live as plain data files, one per country, so every change is reviewed and kept in the history.
- Review. An editor reviews each change before it is published. Machine-extracted data never goes straight to the record.
How often it is checked
The aim is to re-check every country against its official pages at least once a month, and within days of an election, a reshuffle or a change of head of state. Each page shows the date it was last checked and how complete its record is (see coverage).
Corrections and changes
Anyone can suggest a correction. Send the source: a correction backed by an official page can be made quickly. Changes to the record appear in the changes feed, which is also available as RSS.
What Govpedia is not
- It records public roles only: no private addresses, family details or other private data.
- It does not rate or rank politicians, and it takes no position on any government.
- It is not an official register. Where it matters, check the official source, which every claim links to.