Empirical fidelity corpus
The public list of the 50 articles used to measure the scoring fidelity (ÉNS, neutral Gaussian distribution, μ=50, σ=20).
Current methodology: v1.1 (since 5/17/2026)
What is a methodology version?
To measure the fidelity of each scoring mode, we use a public and stable corpus of 50 thematic articles. Distribution aligned with the theoretical target (neutral Gaussian, μ=50, σ=20): 5A / 14B / 9C / 14D / 5E + 3 retracted (X).
Why a fixed corpus? So that empirical fidelity is reproducible: if we change the grid or an evaluator, we re-measure on the same corpus → the gap is quantifiable, not arguable.
Why 50 articles distribution / 28 articles paired?
Of the 50 articles in the corpus, 29 have a measurable Full PDF (AI) reference and 28 are effectively used for the concordance measurement (one article excluded for too short an abstract). The other 21 are scored from the abstract (AI) because their PDF is locked behind the NEJM, Lancet, JAMA, or other major journal paywalls that don't enforce open-access deposit.
This asymmetry is not a flaw, it is a deliberate methodological choice that reflects real medical science: cutting-edge clinical medicine is largely published in paywalled journals. Building a 100% paired corpus would have introduced a selection bias toward pure open access (BMJ, PLOS, Cochrane) and made a realistic palier distribution unreachable — most palier A articles are precisely published in NEJM/Lancet.
Operational consequence: the palier distribution (5A/14B/9C/14D/5E/3X) is computed on the 50, and the empirical fidelity (Abstract (AI) vs Full PDF concordance, Metadata (Quick) vs Full PDF concordance) is computed on the 28 paired articles. Both measures remain honest because they answer two different questions: 'does the corpus reflect medical science?' and 'do the modes score consistently with each other?'.
Acknowledged limitation: the concordance measure does not cover the palier A articles in the corpus (all abstract-only). This limitation is a structural property of the editorial ecosystem — not an arbitrary choice of ours.
Observed distribution vs theoretical target
(ÉNS, neutral Gaussian distribution, μ=50, σ=20)
| A | B | C | D | E | X | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Target distribution | 5 | 14 | 9 | 14 | 5 | 3 |
| Observed | 5 | 14 | 9 | 14 | 5 | 3 |
The 50 articles of the corpus
| Tier | Score | PMID | Title | Journal | Year | Mode | Paired | Theme | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 85 | 21767103 | Prevention of HIV-1 infection with early antiretroviral therapy. | The New England journal of medicine | 2011 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Clinical | |
| A | 83 | 29388196 | Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy adults | The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews | 2018 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | MetaEpistemo | |
| A | 81 | 31255301 | Population-level impact and herd effects following the introduction of human papillomavirus vaccination programmes: updated systematic review and meta-analysis. | Lancet (London, England) | 2019 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Infectious | |
| A | 81 | 33627334 | Statin treatment and muscle symptoms: series of randomised, placebo controlled n-of-1 trials. | BMJ (Clinical research ed.) | 2021 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Cardio | |
| A | 79 | 40760353 | Ultraprocessed or minimally processed diets following healthy dietary guidelines on weight and cardiometabolic health: a randomized, crossover trial | Nature Medicine | 2025 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Endocrino | |
| B | 75 | 36715243 | Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses. | The Cochrane database of systematic reviews | 2023 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Infectious | |
| B | 73 | 31922679 | A network meta-analysis of the effects of psychotherapies, pharmacotherapies and their combination in the treatment of adult depression | World Psychiatry | 2020 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | MentalHealth | |
| B | 71 | 26099233 | Antibiotics for acute otitis media in children | Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews | 2015 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Infectious | |
| B | 68 | 26187233 | A 2-Year Randomized Controlled Trial of Human Caloric Restriction: Feasibility and Effects on Predictors of Health Span and Longevity | The Journals of Gerontology: Series A | 2015 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Cardio | |
| B | 68 | 40634782 | Plasma proteomics links brain and immune system aging with healthspan and longevity | Nature Medicine | 2025 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Neurology | |
| B | 67 | 26378978 | Empagliflozin, Cardiovascular Outcomes, and Mortality in Type 2 Diabetes. | New England Journal of Medicine | 2015 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Cardio | |
| B | 66 | 35854107 | The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the evidence | Molecular Psychiatry | 2022 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | MentalHealth | |
| B | 62 | 18303940 | Initial severity and antidepressant benefits: a meta-analysis of data submitted to the Food and Drug Administration. | PLOS Medicine | 2008 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | MentalHealth | |
| B | 62 | 33205991 | Effectiveness of Adding a Mask Recommendation to Other Public Health Measures to Prevent SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Danish Mask Wearers | Annals of Internal Medicine | 2020 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Infectious | |
| B | 61 | 21091279 | Preexposure chemoprophylaxis for HIV prevention in men who have sex with men. | The New England journal of medicine | 2010 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Clinical | |
| B | 59 | 41326666 | Liraglutide in mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease: a phase 2b clinical trial | Nature Medicine | 2025 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Neurology | |
| B | 58 | 24519768 | Twenty five year follow-up for breast cancer incidence and mortality of the Canadian National Breast Screening Study: randomised screening trial | BMJ | 2014 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Onco | |
| B | 58 | 32015508 | A new coronavirus associated with human respiratory disease in China | Nature | 2020 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Infectious | |
| B | 56 | 34020944 | Nonreplicable publications are cited more than replicable ones | Science Advances | 2021 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | MetaEpistemo | |
| C | 55 | 37952131 | Semaglutide and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Obesity without Diabetes | The New England Journal of Medicine | 2023 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Cardio | |
| C | 53 | 34278372 | Effectiveness of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine among French nursing home residents | Lancet Regional Health – Europe | 2021 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Infectious | |
| C | 53 | 40839273 | GLP-1 Receptor Agonists and Cancer Risk in Adults With Obesity | JAMA Oncology | 2025 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Onco | |
| C | 51 | 20233825 | Stereotactic body radiation therapy for inoperable early stage lung cancer. | JAMA | 2010 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Onco | |
| C | 51 | 31986264 | Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. | Lancet (London, England) | 2020 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Infectious | |
| C | 50 | 33306989 | Safety and efficacy of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (AZD1222) against SARS-CoV-2: an interim analysis of four randomised controlled trials in Brazil, South Africa, and the UK | The Lancet | 2021 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Infectious | |
| C | 48 | 32284615 | The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2. | Nature medicine | 2020 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Infectious | |
| C | 47 | 22998339 | A randomized trial of sugar-sweetened beverages and adolescent body weight. | New England Journal of Medicine | 2012 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Nutrition | |
| C | 46 | 35249272 | Covid-19 Vaccine Effectiveness against the Omicron (B.1.1.529) Variant. | The New England journal of medicine | 2022 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Infectious | |
| D | 44 | 21639808 | Improved survival with vemurafenib in melanoma with BRAF V600E mutation. | The New England journal of medicine | 2011 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Onco | |
| D | 44 | 23413192 | Multiple instances of ancient balancing selection shared between humans and chimpanzees. | Science (New York, N.Y.) | 2013 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Clinical | |
| D | 44 | 29262275 | Tumor Mutational Burden and Response Rate to PD-1 Inhibition. | The New England journal of medicine | 2017 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Onco | |
| D | 44 | 33301246 | Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine | New England Journal of Medicine | 2020 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Infectious | |
| D | 43 | 33545094 | Safety and efficacy of an rAd26 and rAd5 vector-based heterologous prime-boost COVID-19 vaccine: an interim analysis of a randomised controlled phase 3 trial in Russia. | Lancet (London, England) | 2021 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Infectious | |
| D | 41 | 31621801 | Circulating Tumor DNA Analyses as Markers of Recurrence Risk and Benefit of Adjuvant Therapy for Stage III Colon Cancer. | JAMA oncology | 2019 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Onco | |
| D | 39 | 16060722 | Why most published research findings are false. | PLoS medicine | 2005 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | MetaEpistemo | |
| D | 38 | 32521345 | How can airborne transmission of COVID-19 indoors be minimised? | Environment international | 2020 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Infectious | |
| D | 35 | 28322183 | The UN Decade of Nutrition, the NOVA food classification and the trouble with ultra-processing | Public Health Nutrition | 2017 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Nutrition | |
| D | 35 | 33961695 | β-d-N4-hydroxycytidine Inhibits SARS-CoV-2 Through Lethal Mutagenesis But Is Also Mutagenic To Mammalian Cells | The Journal of Infectious Diseases | 2021 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Infectious | |
| D | 34 | 35116013 | SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination and Protection Against Clinical Disease: A Retrospective Study, Bouches-du-Rhône District, Southern France, 2021 | Frontiers in Microbiology | 2022 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Infectious | |
| D | 33 | 32459046 | Scientific and Standardization Committee communication: Clinical guidance on the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of venous thromboembolism in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. | Journal of thrombosis and haemostasis : JTH | 2020 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Infectious | |
| D | 29 | 20089734 | Saturated fat, carbohydrate, and cardiovascular disease. | The American journal of clinical nutrition | 2010 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Cardio | |
| D | 28 | 16115318 | Chloroquine is a potent inhibitor of SARS coronavirus infection and spread. | Virology journal | 2005 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Infectious | |
| E | 25 | 35045295 | A bidirectional competitive interaction between circHomer1 and Homer1b within the orbitofrontal cortex regulates reversal learning. | Cell reports | 2022 | Abstract (AI) | — | MentalHealth | |
| E | 23 | 17240006 | B cell mediated priming following pneumococcal colonization | Vaccine | 2006 | Abstract (AI) | — | Clinical | |
| E | 20 | 29253145 | Noncommunicable Diseases in People Living With HIV: Time for Integrated Care | J Infect Dis | 2016 | Abstract (AI) | — | Infectious | |
| E | 12 | 32516120 | Programming and reprogramming from conception till death | New England Journal of Medicine | 2020 | Abstract (AI) | — | Clinical | |
| E | 11 | 34469921 | Ivermectin for Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19 Infection: A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, and Trial Sequential Analysis to Inform Clinical Guidelines. | American journal of therapeutics | 2021 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Infectious | |
| X | 0 | 23432189 | Primary prevention of cardiovascular disease with a Mediterranean diet | New England Journal of Medicine | 2013 | Abstract (AI) | — | Nutrition | Retracted |
| X | 0 | 32356626 | Cardiovascular Disease, Drug Therapy, and Mortality in Covid-19. | The New England Journal of Medicine | 2020 | Abstract (AI) | — | Cardio | Retracted |
| X | 0 | 34796244 | Meta-analysis of Randomized Trials of Ivermectin to Treat SARS-CoV-2 Infection | Open Forum Infectious Diseases | 2021 | Full PDF (AI) | ✓ | Infectious | Retracted |
Column legend
- Mode: method used to score this article. Full PDF (AI) = full-text analysis; Abstract (AI) = abstract only; Metadata (AI) = title/journal/authors without abstract; Manual entry = manual scoring via form.
- Paired: ✓ if the article is used in the cross-mode concordance measure (Full PDF reference available). — otherwise (paywalled PDF, measured on its own tier only).
Raw data
The 50 scoring files are publicly available in the open source repository. Each article contains its detailed score, the per-criterion breakdown, the integrity coefficient and the AI justifications. The fidelity measurement is fully reproducible and free from these files.