Citation Conventions

Transparent citation is fundamental to our credibility. Every claim on UK JournoHub that draws on an external source should be traceable to that source. This page explains exactly how we cite different types of sources so that readers — many of them professional journalists — can check our work.

Our citation conventions aim to be consistent, unambiguous, and aligned with established UK legal and journalistic practice. If you find an uncited claim, a broken link, or a citation you cannot verify, please use our corrections process.

How We Cite Statute

We cite primary legislation using the standard UK legal citation format: Act name, year, and section. We use the abbreviation “s.” for section and “Sch.” for Schedule.

All statute citations link directly to the relevant provision on legislation.gov.uk, which publishes the revised (amended) version of Acts. Where we are citing a provision as it was at a specific date (for example, before a significant amendment), we note this and link to the relevant historical version.

For Scottish Acts, we use the same format: e.g. “Defamation and Malicious Publication (Scotland) Act 2021, s.1.” For Northern Irish legislation, we note the assembly or Order in Council origin where relevant to understanding the provision.

Case Law Citations

We use neutral citations for UK case law. Neutral citations are the official citation format assigned by the courts and do not depend on a particular law report series.

Example: “Flood v Times Newspapers Ltd [2012] UKSC 11” — we then link to the judgment on BAILII where available.

We note the year and the division of the court because the same case name can appear at multiple levels of appeal. Where a case has been appealed and the appellate judgment is the materially significant one, we cite that and note the lower court decision for context.

Regulator Code Citations

We cite regulator codes by name, clause number, and (where the code is versioned) the version or date. This matters because regulator codes are updated periodically.

All code citations link directly to the relevant clause on the regulator’s official website. Where a code has been updated since publication of a piece of our content, our review process will update both the text and the link. If you find a stale link to a superseded version of a code, please report it via our corrections process.

Linking Conventions

Our links follow consistent standards for security and user experience:

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  External links open in a new tab (target="_blank") and carry rel="noopener noreferrer" for security. This prevents target-blank exploits and avoids leaking referrer information to external sites.
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  Internal links open in the same tab, as is standard for same-site navigation.
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  External link indication: Where context makes it important (for example, on resource pages), we indicate that a link leaves the site so readers know they are leaving UK JournoHub.
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  Link text:We use descriptive link text, not “click here.” Link text should describe the destination: e.g. “IPSO Editors’ Code, Clause 1” rather than “here.”
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  Broken links: We check links as part of our regular review cycle. If you find a broken link, please report it.

Quote Attribution Standards

UK JournoHub does not conduct interviews and does not publish original quotes from sources. Where we quote individuals — for example, quoting a legal scholar in a guide or citing a statement from a regulator — we follow these standards:

• ›Every quotation is attributed to a named person, their role, and the outlet or document in which the statement was made.
• ›The date of the statement is included where material (statements about live legal situations can become outdated quickly).
• ›We do not paraphrase and attribute. If we paraphrase, we do not use quotation marks.
• ›We do not fabricate or reconstruct quotes. All quotations are taken verbatim from their source.

Image Attribution

Where we use images on UK JournoHub, we follow these standards:

• ›Unsplash images: We credit the photographer by name with a link to their Unsplash profile where required by the licence terms. We do not crop or alter images in ways that change their meaning.
• ›Public domain images: We do not claim copyright over public domain images. Where a public domain image has a known creator, we credit them.
• ›No stock images without licence: We do not use copyrighted images without a valid licence. If you believe any image on UK JournoHub is used without proper attribution or licence, please contact us.
• ›Alt text: All images carry descriptive alt text for accessibility.

Data Citation

When we use data — for example, figures about journalism employment, salary ranges, or IPSO complaints statistics — we follow a standard citation format designed to maximise verifiability:

• ›Source: The name of the organisation or publication that produced the data.
• ›Dataset or report title: The specific document or dataset we are drawing from.
• ›Date retrieved: The date on which we accessed the data, since datasets are updated over time.
• ›Link: A direct link to the dataset or report, where publicly accessible.

We welcome “where did you get that number?” questions. If you cannot find the source for a figure on any of our pages, email hello@ukjournohub.com with the page URL and the figure in question. We will provide a full source reference within five working days.

Asking Us Where a Number Came From

We encourage readers to question our figures. If you see a statistic, a rate, or a claim on UK JournoHub and want to know its source, we will always tell you.

Please include:

• ›The URL of the page where you found the figure
• ›The figure itself (quoted exactly as it appears on the page)
• ›Any specific concern you have about the source or its currency

We will respond with the full source reference within five working days. If on investigation the figure turns out to be incorrectly sourced or out of date, we will correct it in accordance with our corrections policy.