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Editorial Policy

Our Editorial Standards

How What's Your IQ researches, designs, and maintains its cognitive tests and psychology articles. The editorial process, the people behind it, the science we cite, and the limits we are honest about.

Published byKalenux
Founded2020
Edited byEmir B.
Available in9 languages

Our Editorial Principles

P

Psychometric Basis

Tests grounded in published research on intelligence and cognition

H

Human Authorship

Written and reviewed by contributors with cognitive-science backgrounds

C

Honest Caveats

Explicit about what online screening tests can and cannot tell you

S

Cited Science

Peer-reviewed research, not pop-science summaries or anecdotes

I

Independent Editorial

Advertiser relationships never influence test design or conclusions

About What's Your IQ and Kalenux

What's Your IQ is an independent online publication founded in 2020 and published by Kalenux, a publisher of research-driven educational and assessment websites. Kalenux's portfolio includes:

  • What's Your IQ - cognitive screening tests and intelligence research (this site, 9 languages, 270k+ pages)
  • Strange Animals - zoological reference and species comparisons
  • File Converter Free - technical reference for file format conversion
  • QR Bar Code - barcode and QR-code utilities and reference
  • Evolang - professional writing and language reference
  • Pass4Sure - certification exam preparation
  • Down Under Cafe - Australian cafe discovery and reviews

The shared discipline across all Kalenux properties is the same: cite the literature, write for humans not for keywords, be honest about what we know and what we do not. Each property is staffed by domain-specialist editors; Kalenux provides shared infrastructure, editorial standards, and the technical platform.

What's Your IQ is edited by Emir B., the founder of Kalenux. Editorial decisions - how tests are designed, what research we cite, which cognitive claims we publish, when to correct - rest with the editorial team. Advertisers do not influence test design, scoring, or editorial conclusions.

For editorial questions: editorial@whats-your-iq.com

What Our Tests Can and Cannot Tell You

Our online tests are screening and self-assessment tools. They are not clinical instruments, and a score from this site is not equivalent to a professionally administered IQ test.

Clinical IQ assessments - the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV), the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales (5th Edition), the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC-II) - are administered one-on-one by licensed psychologists under standardized conditions, with norms built from large representative samples. An online screening test cannot replicate these conditions, and it does not try to.

Our tests are designed for curiosity, self-exploration, and cognitive engagement. They should not be used for:

  • Diagnostic purposes (intellectual disability, giftedness identification)
  • Educational placement decisions
  • Employment selection or screening
  • Clinical assessment or treatment planning
  • Forensic or legal purposes

For any clinically valid evaluation, consult a licensed psychologist or neuropsychologist. We say this on the test results page, in our FAQ, and here - not because it is required boilerplate, but because we genuinely care about not misleading users.

How We Design Tests and Articles

1

Psychometric Research Foundation

Our cognitive tests are informed by published research on intelligence testing, working memory, pattern recognition, fluid reasoning, and processing speed. We reference the public literature on Raven's Progressive Matrices, the Wechsler scales, the Cattell-Horn-Carroll framework, and contemporary cognitive psychology when designing test items. Methodology is documented on our IQ test methodology page.

2

Original Item Development

Test items are developed by contributors with backgrounds in psychology, psychometrics, or cognitive science. We do not use leaked or licensed clinical test items. All items are original and designed to assess the cognitive domain described by the test - matrix reasoning items measure matrix reasoning, working memory items measure working memory.

3

Article Research Standards

Articles about intelligence, cognition, learning, and cognitive development cite peer-reviewed studies and books by named researchers. Where claims are contested in the scientific literature - the nature of general intelligence, the Flynn effect, the limits of cognitive training - we describe the debate rather than picking a side. We name researchers and link to original sources where possible.

4

Editorial Review and Versioning

Every article and test goes through editorial review for accuracy, appropriate caveats, and sourcing quality before publication. We track corrections, version major content, and timestamp updates so readers can see when material was last reviewed.

Research Sources We Draw On

  • Intelligence (Elsevier journal)
  • Journal of Educational Psychology
  • Psychological Review
  • Cognitive Psychology and Journal of Cognitive Psychology
  • Wechsler scale technical manuals (Pearson)
  • Stanford-Binet 5 technical materials (Riverside)
  • Raven's Progressive Matrices literature (Pearson Clinical)
  • Cattell-Horn-Carroll theoretical framework (McGrew, Schneider)
  • Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) longitudinal data
  • Open Science Framework replication archives for cognitive training claims

Who Writes Our Content

Articles on intelligence, cognition, and learning are written by contributors with backgrounds in psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, or educational research. We do not assign content about intelligence or brain function to generalist writers without subject-matter familiarity.

Test items are developed by contributors with relevant psychometric or psychology backgrounds. Every published item is reviewed for content validity (does it measure what it claims to measure?) and difficulty calibration (does its observed difficulty match its design difficulty?).

The editorial team reviews all content for accuracy, appropriate caveats, and sourcing quality before publication. Final editorial responsibility rests with Emir B., who founded What's Your IQ in 2020 and remains its editor.

Our Policy on AI-Assisted Content

What's Your IQ content is written and edited by humans. We do not publish AI-generated articles or AI-designed test items as final content. Given the nature of our subject matter - making claims about human cognition and providing cognitive assessments - human expertise and editorial accountability are non-negotiable.

Software tools support our workflow: search, reference management, translation review, grammar checking, image generation for illustrative content. These assist human contributors and editors; they do not replace the cognitive-science expertise and editorial judgment that define our content.

Where translation tools are used for multilingual articles, the output is reviewed by a human editor before publication. Auto-translations are never published as final content.

Conflicts of Interest and Advertising

What's Your IQ displays third-party advertising (Google AdSense). Advertisers do not influence editorial decisions, article topics, test content, or conclusions. Test scores, score interpretations, and cognitive ability claims are not influenced by advertiser preferences.

If an article discusses a product, service, or organization with which the publication has any commercial relationship, we disclose it at the top of that article. We do not accept payment to modify test results, alter cognitive claims, or suppress caveats about the limits of online testing.

The site is free to use, without registration or email collection, because we believe cognitive self-knowledge should not be paywalled. Optional detailed reports (PDF, in-depth analysis) are available as paid add-ons and never affect the core test result.

Corrections Policy

Cognitive science evolves. Research findings get replicated, revised, or overturned. When our articles fall behind the current state of the evidence, we want to know.

How to Report an Error

Email editorial@whats-your-iq.com with the article URL and the specific issue. If you have a citation to the contradicting evidence, include it. We respond to all correction requests and check each one against our sources.

Material corrections - factual errors about intelligence research, outdated claims about cognitive science, or test items that incorrectly assess the domain they target - are noted at the bottom of the article with the correction date and a description of what changed. Minor corrections (typos, formatting) are made without notation.

We do not delete articles to avoid accountability. If we published something inaccurate, we correct it and document the correction.

What This Page Is For

If you are reading this, you probably want to know whether you can trust the tests and articles on this site. The honest answer is: trust us where we describe sources and methodology openly; verify everything where it matters to you.

We have published this editorial standards page because we think you deserve to know who writes what you read, what the limits of an online test actually are, and how to contact us when we get something wrong. Sites that hide their editorial process should be trusted less, not more - transparency is a prerequisite, not a substitute, for quality.

Last reviewed: 2026. Reviewed quarterly.