The Highlight HEALTH Web Directory is Now HONcode Accredited

Reading time: 3 – 5 minutes

I’ve written previously about the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory and my effort to catalog and make available health-related websites I find to be informative and useful.

I’m very pleased to announce that, similar to Highlight HEALTH, the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory is now an HONcode accredited website.

The Health On the Net (HON) Foundation is a non-profit organization that is attempting to guide the growing community of healthcare providers and consumers on the World Wide Web to sound, reliable medical information and expertise through quality assessment and systematic and stringent peer review. HON is the largest voluntary accreditation network on the Web with over 4,700 HONcode accredited websites that honor the standards for disclosure and responsibility in online medical publishing [1].

There are 8 principles of the HON Code of Conduct (HONcode):

  1. Authority – Indicate the qualifications of the author(s).
  2. Complementarity – Information should support, not replace, the doctor-patient relationship, which is the desired means of contact.
  3. Privacy – Respect the privacy and confidentiality of personal data submitted to the site by the visitor.
  4. Attribution – Cite the source(s) of published information, date and medical and health pages.
  5. Justifiability – The website must back up claims relating to benefits and performance.
  6. Transparency – Accessible presentation, accurate email contact of authors.
  7. Financial disclosure – Sponsorship should be transparent and funding sources identified.
  8. Advertising policy – Clearly distinguish advertising from editorial content.

Below is a list of HONcode accredited websites in a number of categories from the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory that I recommend. Hint: click on the category title to see all the websites currently listed.

Is your site listed in the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory?
Send me an email if you would like to be included!

References

  1. Boyer and Geissbuhler. A decade devoted to improving online health information quality. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2005;116:891-6.
    View abstract
About the Author

Walter Jessen, Ph.D. is a Data Scientist, Digital Biologist, and Knowledge Engineer. His primary focus is to build and support expert systems, including AI (artificial intelligence) and user-generated platforms, and to identify and develop methods to capture, organize, integrate, and make accessible company knowledge. His research interests include disease biology modeling and biomarker identification. He is also a Principal at Highlight Health Media, which publishes Highlight HEALTH, and lead writer at Highlight HEALTH.