Fair Play
When we strip away all the language of the Citation Policy and reduce it to one basic principle, you get the concept of “Fair Play.” Our rules, guidelines, and review processes are all aimed at making sure that when our research is cited in a third party’s materials, it is done in an impartial way that doesn’t give one company an untoward advantage and accurately retains the integrity of the research being cited.
Practically speaking, you can see this reflected in our policy in a number of ways:
- The research cannot be used to negatively portray another company or its products. Our reports are not intended to speak ill of a company or its products, even when they contain constructive or objective statements. As such, no client can cite research that presents another company in a pejorative light.
- Emphasis on verbatim quotes and exact numbers from our written research. We want to be sure that the nuanced message of the report stays intact when it is cited in outside documents. We stand behind our findings, and in order to do that in the larger context of the Web, we ask that statements and findings from the original reports be replicated exactly from the initial source.
- No endorsements as citations. As an independent research firm, Forrester does not endorse or validate other companies or their products. If we did, how would you know that we really mean it when we do have something positive to say?
So what does this mean for you when you send us a citation request? We treat each in the same way and hold every client to the same standards, which you can see described in detail in our Citation Policy.
