Evidence supported by a reliable external source appropriate to the claim. Whether a VERIFIED claim's wording was also checked against the source's own text is a separate fact, shown with each claim: 2 of 166 could not be, because no abstract or other summary of the source was available.
EVIDENCE GUIDE
Not every kind of smell knowledge is the same.
SmellBook uses visible labels so observation, community perception, cultural association and prediction do not blur together.
SmellBook keeps six evidence classes apart (scientific evidence, historical evidence, cultural description, editorial interpretation, community observation and experimental / predicted). The seven labels below are what readers see on pages: VERIFIED marks scientific evidence, and historical evidence together with HISTORICAL; PREDICTED and EXPERIMENTAL are two labels of the one experimental or predicted class, shown only in Labs.
PUBLISHED ENTRIES200
ENTRIES WITH VERIFIED EVIDENCE145
VERIFIED CLAIMS166
PUBLIC SOURCES160
145 of 200 entries have at least one VERIFIED claim: 135 have VERIFIED scientific claims (listed on the By evidence page), and 10 have historical sources only. See the list by evidence →
Supported by a registered historical record or archive source. Shown with VERIFIED as VERIFIED · HISTORICAL; it records what a source wrote, not a scientific finding.
A SmellBook editorial decision, such as a classification, a link between entries or a curated list. It is not evidence.
A contribution or observation from the public. It never becomes scientific fact automatically.
A relationship or property estimated by a model and not yet confirmed as observed data.
An early concept, prototype relationship or research direction under evaluation.
An association that depends on context, language, memory, convention or cultural experience.
SOURCE QUALITY TIERS
VERIFIED still needs context.
Peer-reviewed primary research or an equivalent authoritative primary source supporting a narrow claim.
A peer-reviewed review or synthesis used for broader, clearly scoped claims.
Standards bodies, government, universities or recognized professional organizations for appropriate factual claims.
THE RULE