Editorial Policy

VA Disability Hub publishes information that veterans rely on to make real decisions about real benefits. That responsibility is the reason this editorial policy exists. It describes how we research and write our content, how we choose sources, how we handle corrections, and how we keep ourselves independent from the financial pressures that distort a lot of online information about the VA disability system.

Our Standard

We write our guides to a single standard: a veteran with no prior knowledge of the VA disability system should be able to read one, understand the rating in question, know what evidence the VA looks for, and check the numbers on the page against the primary sources it cites. When we find a guide that falls short, we rewrite it.

Sourcing Standards

We rely on primary, public-record sources wherever possible. The hierarchy we use, in descending order of authority, is:

1. The Code of Federal Regulations — particularly 38 CFR Part 3 (Adjudication) and 38 CFR Part 4 (Schedule for Rating Disabilities). Our guides cite diagnostic codes, rating percentages, and secondary service-connection rules to the CFR. We link to the current eCFR rather than to a snapshot, so the link shows the regulation as it reads today.
2. The VA M21-1 Adjudication Procedures Manual for how the regulations are actually applied during claim adjudication.
3. The Federal Register for cost-of-living adjustments, rule changes, and newly added presumptive conditions.
4. VA.gov for official benefits information, application procedures, and claim processing details.
5. Board of Veterans' Appeals decisions for context on how borderline rating questions tend to be resolved.
6. Peer-reviewed medical literature and government health agencies (NIH, CDC, VA research) for clinical context on conditions and the relationships between primary and secondary conditions.

We do not source rating information from forums, social media, claims-shark marketing pages, or AI summaries of those pages. When we cannot verify something against a primary source, we either omit it or label it explicitly as our interpretation.

Our veteran stories are retold from accounts published elsewhere, including by commercial companies. Each story names and links its source, marks the veteran's quoted words, and adds our own notes on the claims process. We do not use those accounts as a source for rating rules.

Author and Reviewer Bylines

Long-form content carries a byline identifying the author. When a named person has reviewed a page, the byline also lists them as reviewer. The "Last updated" date on a guide reflects its most recent substantive update, not the most recent deploy of the website.

Update Cadence

Compensation rates have an effective date that is separate from the date a payment reaches your account. VA’s official 2026 compensation rates took effect December 1, 2025. Use the VA compensation tables to check official amounts and effective dates. Proposed rating changes are distinct from final rules; consult the cited source and publication date before relying on a news article.

Corrections Policy

Accuracy is more important to us than speed. When a reader reports a possible error, we:

1. Verify the claim against the controlling primary source.
2. Fix the page if the report is correct.
3. Update the "Last updated" date so the change is visible.
4. Reply to the reader who reported it, where possible.

For substantive errors that may have misled readers — incorrect rating ranges, wrong diagnostic codes, wrong pay amounts — we add a dated correction note to the affected page so readers can see what changed. To report a correction, see the contact page.

Independence and Conflict of Interest

VA Disability Hub is independent. We are not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, any branch of the military, any law firm, any claims agent, any VSO, or any medical nexus letter service. We do not earn referral fees or commissions for sending veterans to paid claims services, and we do not run sponsored content. The site may display contextual advertising via Google AdSense to cover hosting and writer time. Ads are kept separate from editorial content and are not placed inside the body text of our guides.

If our funding model ever changes, this policy will change first.

Use of AI

We use AI tools to help with drafting, copyediting, link checking, and accessibility review. AI tools also run separate accuracy reviews that check rating figures, diagnostic codes, dollar amounts, and CFR citations against the primary sources cited on the page. The site owner reviews and approves every published change. These are not professional or VA-accredited reviews, and we do not claim they are. When an error gets through, we correct it openly with a dated correction note. We do not accept AI-generated guest posts.

How to Reach the Editorial Team

Corrections, source suggestions, and questions about how a guide was researched should be sent through our contact form — choose Correction or errata as the inquiry type. See the contact page for more about what we can and cannot help with.