Our editorial method

Our role

The essential information on PCOS (PMOS), endometriosis, perimenopause, PMDD, vulvodynia or POTS already exists, free of charge: international and national guidelines, World Health Organization fact sheets, pages from the French national health insurance (Assurance Maladie), brochures from university hospitals. We do not claim to replace them. Our work is to make them easier to understand and use, to link every statement to its source, and to offer practical tools for preparing an appointment.

Where our information comes from

We give priority, in this order, to:

• evidence-based international and national guidelines, such as the 2023 guideline on PCOS coordinated by Monash University;
• publications from public health organisations (WHO) and from reference institutions in Switzerland and France;
• public information for patients, published by recognised hospitals or organisations.

We summarise these sources in our own words. We do not reproduce their text, tables or illustrations, and for each one we state what we are allowed to do with it. The full list of sources gives their version and the date we accessed them.

The stages of a page

1. 01Research. We gather the reference sources and record, for each one, its version, its date and what we are allowed to do with it.
2. 02Writing. The text is written by the editorial team, which signs anonymously. Every medical sentence points to a neutral “statement”, itself linked to its sources and to the exact passage that supports it.
3. 03Automatic checks. They flag statements without a source, unsourced figures and banned wording (promises of a cure, guarantees, etc.).
4. 04Publication. The page goes online with its update date, its numbered sources and a form to report an error.
5. 05Verification by a specialist. A health professional whose identity and right to practise have been checked by the editorial team reads the exact version, ticks off each statement and signs. The page then shows “Verified by a specialist”, their speciality and the date, but never their name.
6. 06Review or withdrawal. On the scheduled date, a verified page is marked “verification to be renewed”. A page can be corrected or withdrawn immediately if there is a problem.

Each version is identified by a digital fingerprint. If a single word changes after the verification, or if a cited source is modified, the fingerprint changes and the “Verified by a specialist” notice disappears automatically until the page is verified again.

Anonymity

Our articles are signed “Anonymous editorial team”, and the specialists who verify them are not named. The editorial team knows who they are and checked their right to practise before any verification; only their speciality and their conflicts of interest are published.

Independence

• The person who verifies a text is not its author and does not publish it.
• Specialists declare their conflicts of interest, which are published without their name. Their pay does not depend on their decision.
• The site has no advertising, no sponsors and no affiliate links, and receives no funding from the pharmaceutical industry.
• Commercial aspects (price, presentation) cannot change a medical statement.

Artificial intelligence tools

AI tools may be used to prepare a first draft or illustrations. This is stated on the pages concerned. Every statement remains linked to a source that you can consult yourself. The site does not offer a chatbot and does not use AI to answer health questions.

Languages

The site is published in English, German and French. The English and German versions were translated from the French text with an AI tool; each translated statement still has to be checked against its sources. Each language is verified on its own: a specialist's verification of a page in one language does not carry over to its translation.

How we write

We talk about “people affected”: these conditions affect people of different identities, ages, weights and life plans. We avoid words that make people feel guilty or that stigmatise, particularly about weight. We distinguish between what is established, what is recommended and what remains uncertain.

Updates and corrections

Every page shows the date it was last updated. Reported errors are classified by severity; an error that could harm health leads to the page being withdrawn immediately. Significant corrections are published, with their date, on the Corrections page. We do not rewrite earlier versions without saying so.

Our limits

This site does not make diagnoses, does not interpret symptoms or test results, and does not recommend treatments. It does not replace a consultation. The guidelines cited are international: how care is organised, which medicines are available and what is reimbursed can differ between Switzerland and France.