Do online social media cut through the constraints that limit the size of offline social networks?
Open accessAbstract
The social brain hypothesis has suggested that natural social network sizes may have a characteristic size in humans. This is determined in part by cognitive constraints and in part by the time costs of servicing relationships. Online social networking offers the potential to break through the glass ceiling imposed by at least the second of these, potentially enabling us to maintain much larger social networks. This is tested using two separate UK surveys, each randomly stratified by age, gender and regional population size. The data show that the size and range of online egocentric social networks, indexed as the number of Facebook friends, is similar to that of offline face-to-face networks. For one sample, respondents also specified the number of individuals in the inner layers of their network (formally identified as support clique and sympathy group), and these were also similar in size to those observed in offline networks. This suggests that, as originally proposed by the social brain hypothesis, there is a cognitive constraint on the size of social networks that even the communication advantages of online media are unable to overcome. In practical terms, it may reflect the fact that real (as opposed to casual) relationships require at least occasional face-to-face interaction to maintain them.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Digitally-mediated interactions challenge traditional conceptualisations of socialising because they can be asynchronous, click based, or audio-video reliant.
“Digitally-mediated interactions challenge our traditional conceptualisations of what socialising entails63 as they can be asynchronous, click based, or audio–video reliant.”
From The effects of social deprivation on adolescent development and mental health (2020) · cites this paper as [63]
The Introduction (page unavailable) describes internet communication as novel channels that have changed the social world, and the Discussion treats digital interactions as distinct from face-to-face contact. The paper does not say that these interactions challenge what counts as socialising, nor does it establish the cited examples of asynchronous, click-based, or audio-video interaction. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe number of significant contacts is constrained by brain size and chemistry and by the time required to maintain meaningful relationships.
“This threshold, Dunbar suggests, is imposed by brain size and chemistry, as well as the time it takes to maintain meaningful relationships.”
From Two social lives: how differences between online and offline interaction influence social outcomes (2020) · cites this paper as [22]
Despite social media's growth, the number of significant contacts people report remains similar to before social media: about 5 intimate friends, 15 close friends, 50 general friends, and 150 acquaintances.
“One study of Facebook users found that despite social media's explosion, the number of significant contacts that people report remains similar to before the rise of social media: around 5 intimate friends, 15 close friends, 50 general friends, and 150 acquaintances [22].”
From Two social lives: how differences between online and offline interaction influence social outcomes (2020) · cites this paper as [22]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Granovetter, M. S. (1973) · American Journal of Sociology · doi:10.1086/225469 · Cited by 40,491 · see citing works
The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier
Rheingold, H. (1994) · Cited by 5,655 · see citing works
Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being?
Kraut, R. E., Patterson, M., Lundmark, V. A., Kiesler, S. B., Mukophadhyay, T., & Scherlis, W. L. (1998) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037//0003-066x.53.9.1017 · Cited by 4,829 · see citing works
Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being?
Kraut, R., Patterson, M., Lundmark, V., Kiesler, S., Mukophadhyay, T., & Scherlis, W. (1998) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.53.9.1017 · Cited by 4,793 · see citing works
Coevolution of neocortical size, group size and language in humans
Dunbar, R. (1993) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x00032325 · Cited by 2,370 · see citing works
Self-citationSocial Isolation in America: Changes in core discussion networks over two decades.
McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Brashears, M. E. (2006) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.1177/000312240607100301 · Cited by 1,887 · see citing works
Does the Internet Increase, Decrease, or Supplement Social Capital?
Wellman, B., Quan‐Haase, A., Witte, J. C., & Hampton, K. N. (2001) · American Behavioral Scientist · doi:10.1177/00027640121957286 · Cited by 1,697 · see citing works
The Company they keep: friendship in childhood and adolescence
(1996) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.34-1227 · Cited by 1,351 · see citing works
Bargh, J. A., & McKenna, K. Y. A. (2004) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141922 · Cited by 1,315 · see citing works
Hill, R. A., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2003) · Human Nature · doi:10.1007/s12110-003-1016-y · Cited by 1,045 · see citing works
Self-citationParks, M. R., & Floyd, K. (1996) · Journal of Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.1996.tb01462.x · Cited by 1,000 · see citing works
Friendships and adaptation in the life course.
Hartup, W. W., & Stevens, N. (1997) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.121.3.355 · Cited by 976 · see citing works
Social Consequences of the Internet for Adolescents: A Decade of Research
Valkenburg, P. M., & Peter, J. (2009) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01595.x · Cited by 920 · see citing works
Sociability, Interpersonal Relations, and the Internet: Reconciling Conflicting Findings
NIE, N. H. (2001) · American Behavioral Scientist · doi:10.1177/00027640121957277 · Cited by 803 · see citing works
Tong, S. T., Van Der Heide, B., Langwell, L., & Walther, J. B. (2008) · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2008.00409.x · Cited by 732 · see citing works
(2013) · mediaTUM (Technical University of Munich) · Cited by 701 · see citing works
Modeling Users' Activity on Twitter Networks: Validation of Dunbar's Number
Gonçalves, B., Perra, N., & Vespignani, A. (2011) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0022656 · Cited by 638 · see citing works
Discrete hierarchical organization of social group sizes
Zhou, W.-X., Sornette, D., Hill, R. A., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2005) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2004.2970 · Cited by 574 · see citing works
Self-citationAmygdala volume and social network size in humans
Bickart, K. C., Wright, C. I., Dautoff, R. J., Dickerson, B. C., & Barrett, L. F. (2011) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.2724 · Cited by 556 · see citing works
Adolescents’ identity experiments on the internet
Valkenburg, P. M., Schouten, A. P., & Peter, J. (2005) · New Media & Society · doi:10.1177/1461444805052282 · Cited by 532 · see citing works
Social Network Size Affects Neural Circuits in Macaques
Sallet, J., Mars, R. B., Noonan, M. P., Andersson, J. L., O’Reilly, J. X., Jbabdi, S., Croxson, P. L., Jenkinson, M., Miller, K. L., & Rushworth, M. F. S. (2011) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1210027 · Cited by 514 · see citing works
Approaches to the Evolution of Language
LIEBERMAN, P. H., Hurford, J. R., Studdert‐Kennedy, M., et al. (1999) · Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute · doi:10.2307/2661183 · Cited by 475 · see citing works
Perspective Taking and Memory Capacity Predict Social Network Size
Stiller, J., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2007) · Social Networks · doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2006.04.001 · Cited by 429 · see citing works
Self-citationExploring variation in active network size: Constraints and ego characteristics
Roberts, S. G. B., Dunbar, R. I. M., Pollet, T. V., & Kuppens, T. (2009) · Social Networks · doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2008.12.002 · Cited by 428 · see citing works
Self-citationRelationships and the social brain: Integrating psychological and evolutionary perspectives
Sutcliffe, A., Dunbar, R., Binder, J., & Arrow, H. (2012) · British Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.2011.02061.x · Cited by 415 · see citing works
Self-citationBrandtzæg, P. B., Lüders, M., & Skjetne, J. H. (2010) · International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/10447318.2010.516719 · Cited by 391 · see citing works
Online social network size is reflected in human brain structure
Kanai, R., Bahrami, B., Roylance, R., & Rees, G. (2012) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2011.1959 · Cited by 391 · see citing works
Persistence of social signatures in human communication
Saramäki, J., Leicht, E. A., López, E., Roberts, S. G. B., Reed‐Tsochas, F., & Dunbar, R. (2014) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1308540110 · Cited by 388 · see citing works
Self-citationCairns, R. B., Leung, M., Buchanan, L., & Cairns, B. D. (1995) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1995.tb00938.x · Cited by 385 · see citing works
Cairns, R. B., Leung, M.-C., Buchanan, L., & Cairns, B. D. (1995) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1131650 · Cited by 385 · see citing works
The structure of online social networks mirrors those in the offline world
Dunbar, R., Arnaboldi, V., Conti, M., & Passarella, A. (2015) · Social Networks · doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2015.04.005 · Cited by 378 · see citing works
Self-citationSocial networks, support cliques, and kinship
Dunbar, R., & Spoors, M. (1995) · Human Nature · doi:10.1007/bf02734142 · Cited by 374 · see citing works
Self-citationMilardo, R. M. (1988) · Cited by 365 · see citing works
The complex structure of hunter–gatherer social networks
Hamilton, M., Milne, B., Walker, R. S., Burger, O. F., & Brown, J. H. (2007) · Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2007.0564 · Cited by 357 · see citing works
What do we mean by ‘friend’? an inductive study
Fischer, C. S. (1982) · Social Networks · doi:10.1016/0378-8733(82)90004-1 · Cited by 341 · see citing works
Ventromedial prefrontal volume predicts understanding of others and social network size
Lewis, P. A., Rezaie, R., Brown, R., Roberts, N., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2011) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.05.030 · Cited by 321 · see citing works
Self-citationSocial Networking Sites: Their Users and Social Implications - A Longitudinal Study
Brandtzæg, P. B. (2012) · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2012.01580.x · Cited by 300 · see citing works
Are respondents more likely to list alters with certain characteristics?
Marin, A. (2004) · Social Networks · doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2004.06.001 · Cited by 293 · see citing works
Comparing four different methods for measuring personal social networks
Bernard, H. R., Johnsen, E. C., Killworth, P. D., McCarty, C., Shelley, G. A., & Robinson, S. S. (1990) · Social Networks · doi:10.1016/0378-8733(90)90005-t · Cited by 286 · see citing works
Social Connectivity in America: Changes in Adult Friendship Network Size From 2002 to 2007
Wang, H., & Wellman, B. (2010) · American Behavioral Scientist · doi:10.1177/0002764209356247 · Cited by 284 · see citing works
How Does the Internet Affect Social Capital?
Quan‐Haase, A., & Wellman, B. (2004) · The MIT Press eBooks · doi:10.7551/mitpress/6289.003.0007 · Cited by 269 · see citing works
Powell, J., Lewis, P. A., Roberts, N., García‐Fiñana, M., & Dunbar, R. (2012) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2011.2574 · Cited by 254 · see citing works
Self-citationKim, H., Kim, G. J., Park, H. W., & Rice, R. E. (2007) · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00369.x · Cited by 245 · see citing works
Communication in social networks: Effects of kinship, network size, and emotional closeness
Roberts, S. G. B., & Dunbar, R. (2010) · Personal Relationships · doi:10.1111/j.1475-6811.2010.01310.x · Cited by 244 · see citing works
Self-citationDo Internet Users Have More Social Ties? A Call for Differentiated Analyses of Internet Use
Zhao, S. (2006) · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006.00038.x · Cited by 240 · see citing works
Pollet, T. V., Roberts, S. G. B., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2011) · Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking · doi:10.1089/cyber.2010.0161 · Cited by 237 · see citing works
Self-citationFamily Relations and the Internet: Exploring a Family Boundaries Approach
Mesch, G. S. (2006) · Journal of Family Communication · doi:10.1207/s15327698jfc0602_2 · Cited by 222 · see citing works
Extraverts Have Larger Social Network Layers
Pollet, T. V., Roberts, S. G. B., & Dunbar, R. (2011) · Journal of Individual Differences · doi:10.1027/1614-0001/a000048 · Cited by 219 · see citing works
Self-citationTime as a limited resource: Communication strategy in mobile phone networks
Miritello, G., Moro, E., Lara, R., Martínez-López, R., Belchamber, J., Roberts, S. G. B., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2013) · Social Networks · doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2013.01.003 · Cited by 203 · see citing works
Self-citationContingencies of Self-Worth and Social-Networking-Site Behavior
Stefanone, M. A., Lackaff, D., & Rosen, D. (2011) · Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking · doi:10.1089/cyber.2010.0049 · Cited by 202 · see citing works
Roberts, S. G. B., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2011) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2010.08.005 · Cited by 197 · see citing works
Self-citationLang, F. R. (2000) · Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · doi:10.1177/0265407500172001 · Cited by 186 · see citing works
Haythornthwaite, C. (2000) · New Media & Society · doi:10.1177/14614440022225779 · Cited by 169 · see citing works
Social cognition on the Internet: testing constraints on social network size
Dunbar, R. I. M. (2012) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0121 · Cited by 148 · see citing works
Self-citationVergeer, M., & Pelzer, B. J. (2009) · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01499.x · Cited by 145 · see citing works
Network scaling reveals consistent fractal pattern in hierarchical mammalian societies
Hill, R. A., Bentley, R. A., & Dunbar, R. (2008) · Biology Letters · doi:10.1098/rsbl.2008.0393 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Self-citationBoase, J. (2006) · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Orbital prefrontal cortex volume correlates with social cognitive competence
Powell, J., Lewis, P. A., Dunbar, R., García‐Fiñana, M., & Roberts, N. (2010) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.08.004 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
Self-citationUslaner, E. M. (2000) · Communications of the ACM · doi:10.1145/355112.355125 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
Sharing the joke: the size of natural laughter groups
Dezecache, G., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2012) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2012.07.002 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Self-citationDunbar, R. (2014) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0963721413517118 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
Self-citationSize and structure of freely forming conversational groups
Dunbar, R., Duncan, N. D., & Nettle, D. (1995) · Human Nature · doi:10.1007/bf02734136 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
Self-citationEffects of Duration and Laughter on Subjective Happiness Within Different Modes of Communication
Vlahovic, T. A., Roberts, S. G. B., & Dunbar, R. (2012) · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2012.01584.x · Cited by 107 · see citing works
Self-citationSbarra, D. A., Hasselmo, K., & Bourassa, K. J. (2015) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0963721414559125 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Exploring the relationship between perceptions of social capital and enacted support online
Stefanone, M., Kwon, K., & Lackaff, D. (2012) · J. Comput. Mediat. Commun. · doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2012.01585.x · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Buys, C. J., & Larson, K. L. (1979) · Psychological Reports · doi:10.2466/pr0.1979.45.2.547 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Johnson, M. P., & Milardo, R. M. (1984) · Journal of Marriage and the Family · doi:10.2307/352537 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Online and Offline Social Networks: Investigating Culturally-Specific Behavior and Satisfaction
Rosen, D., Stefanone, M. A., & Lackaff, D. (2010) · Proceedings of the ... Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences/Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences · doi:10.1109/hicss.2010.292 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Roberts, S. G. B., & Dunbar, R. (2015) · Human Nature · doi:10.1007/s12110-015-9242-7 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Self-citationAre mobile phones changing social networks? A longitudinal study of core networks in Kerala
Palackal, A., Mbatia, P. N., Dzorgbo, D. S., Duque, R. B., Ynalvez, M. A., & Shrum, W. (2011) · New Media & Society · doi:10.1177/1461444810393900 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Communication Dynamics in Finite Capacity Social Networks
Haerter, J. O., Jamtveit, B., & Mathiesen, J. (2012) · Physical Review Letters · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.109.168701 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Bridging and bonding in social network sites – investigating family-based capital
Brandtzæg, P. B., Heim, J., & Kaare, B. H. (2010) · International Journal of Web Based Communities · doi:10.1504/ijwbc.2010.033750 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Wellman, B. (2011) · British Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.2011.02075.x · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Spatial patterns of close relationships across the lifespan
Jo, H.-H., Saramäki, J., Dunbar, R., & Kaski, K. K. (2014) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/srep06988 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Self-citationCarrington, P. J. (2014) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781139227193.004 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Untangling the technology cluster: mobile telephony, internet use and the location of social ties
Sooryamoorthy, R., Miller, B. P., & Shrum, W. (2008) · New Media & Society · doi:10.1177/1461444808094354 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
The rich get richer: Online and offline social connectivity predicts subjective loneliness
Freberg, K., Adams, R. N., McGaughey, K. J., & Freberg, L. A. (2010) · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Clique Size and Network Characteristics in Hyperlink Cinema
Krems, J. A., & Dunbar, R. (2013) · Human Nature · doi:10.1007/s12110-013-9177-9 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Self-citationRoberts, S. G. B., Arrow, H., Gowlett, J. A. J., et al. (2014) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199652594.003.0008 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Human Sympathy-Groups: Cross-Cultural Data
Buys, C. J. (1992) · Psychological Reports · doi:10.2466/pr0.1992.71.3.786 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Dunbar, R. I. M. (1998) · Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews · doi:10.1002/(sici)1520-6505(1998)6:5
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- [38]Hansen M 2009 Collaboration. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
- [68]Rands M 1988 Changes in social networks following marital separation and divorce. In Families and social networks (ed. RM Milardo), pp. 127– 146. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The effects of social deprivation on adolescent development and mental health
Orben, A., Tomova, L., & Blakemore, S.-J. (2020) · The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health · doi:10.1016/s2352-4642(20)30186-3 · Cited by 1,229 · see citing works
“Digitally mediated interactions challenge our traditional conceptualisations of what so-cialising entails( 64 ) as they can be asynchronous, one-to-many, click-based or audio-video-reliant.”
The “online brain”: How the Internet may be changing our cognition
Firth, J., Torous, J., Stubbs, B., Firth, J. A., Steiner, G. Z., Smith, L., Alvarez‐Jimenez, M., Gleeson, J., Vancampfort, D., Armitage, C. J., et al. (2019) · World Psychiatry · doi:10.1002/wps.20617 · Cited by 694 · see citing works
Two social lives: how differences between online and offline interaction influence social outcomes
Lieberman, A., & Schroeder, J. (2020) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.06.022 · Cited by 252 · see citing works
Smartphones and close relationships: the case for an evolutionary mismatch
Sbarra, D. A., Briskin, J. L., & Slatcher, R. B. (2019) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691619826535 · Cited by 162 · see citing works
Wiwatkunupakarn, N., Pateekhum, C., Aramrat, C., Jirapornchaoren, W., Pinyopornpanish, K., & Angkurawaranon, C. (2022) · Aging & Mental Health · doi:10.1080/13607863.2021.1966745 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Cross-lagged modeling of cognition and social network size in the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study
Casey, A.-N. S., Liu, Z., Kochan, N. A., Sachdev, P. S., & Brodaty, H. (2021) · The Journals of Gerontology: Series B · doi:10.1093/geronb/gbaa193 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Gendron, M., Mesquita, B., & Barrett, L. F. (2020) · Culture, Mind, and Brain · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.010 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
- Authors
- Dunbar, R. I. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Dunbar, R. I. M.
- ORCID
- Dunbar, R. I. M.
- Venue
- Royal Society Open Science
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2016-01
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 150292
- ISSN
- 2054-5703 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4736918
- OpenAlex
- W2285398278
- Cited by
- 404
- References
- 81
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 82 · 2020: 87 · 2019: 41 · 2018: 70 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 7
- FWCI
- 26.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Royal Society Open Science (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- European Research Council (295663)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Statistical and Nonlinear Physics › Complex Network Analysis Techniques
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Networks and Communications › Media and Digital Communication
- Keywords
- social brain hypothesis, social network size, online social networking, Facebook friends, personal networks, face-to-face relationships, social support, network layer
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
