Sources policy

Summarise and comment. Never copy. A short quotation only, and always a link.

Words

A piece in this journal is a summary and a comment. It is not a reprint. The wording of a source — an article, a paper, an abstract, a caption, a press release — is not copied into the journal, and it is not lightly rewritten so that it looks original.

A short quotation is allowed when the words themselves are the point: a definition in a standard, a sentence a company chose carefully, a line from a judgment. One sentence, or two. It is marked as a quotation. Around it, the journal says whose words they are and links to them.

Every factual claim that comes from a source carries that source. A piece with no source is not published.

What is not allowed

• Pasting a source, or a close paraphrase that tracks it sentence by sentence.
• A citation the assistant has not actually used. If it was not read, it is not in the list.
• A number, a name or a date invented to make a paragraph sound finished.
• A sample presented as news. Samples are marked, and they stay marked.

Pictures

Plates are greyscale. The journal applies the greyscale; the file itself may be colour. Each plate names the maker and the licence in the caption. Public domain, or a licence that allows this use. No scraped brochure photography, and no picture whose licence cannot be shown.

Corrections

A source that has been misread, or a passage that quotes too much, is corrected on thecorrections page and on the piece. To ask for one, write tohello@printedspareparts.com with the permanent id of the piece and the passage.