Method
MaskScience.org is a methods-first evidence library. These notes govern how entries are selected, labeled, and presented. The public site does not discuss funding, motives, or institutional capture.
Purpose
Organize high-quality evidence on masks, mask mandates, and mask recommendations so readers can compare controlled-trial findings with early high-confidence public messaging—and can inspect tradeoffs, including pediatric communication and language-relevant research, under the same standards as efficacy papers.
Evidence tiers
- Tier 1 — Randomized trials (including cluster RCTs) and systematic reviews / meta-analyses.
- Tier 2 — Laboratory, filtration, and aerosol mechanism studies.
- Tier 3 — Observational and ecological analyses (hypothesis-generating; confounding risk is labeled).
- Tier 4 — Commentary, dashboards, journalism, and open letters (not counted as trials).
Claim standards
- Prefer precise, underclaimed statements over slogans.
- Separate community cloth/surgical masking from fitted respirator use in clinical settings.
- Separate wearer protection, source control, and mandate-level outcomes when sources allow.
- Quote sources accurately; keep editorial notes visually distinct.
- No medical advice. Readers should consult primary literature and clinicians for personal decisions.
Topics (not campaign pillars)
Catalog topics—community efficacy, healthcare, pediatric populations, language and speech, harms/tradeoffs—are filters over the same card format. Pediatric language content is included because visible speech (including lip and mouth cues) is a recognized input to speech perception and early language learning; entries are presented with design labels and limits, not advocacy framing.
Inclusion (v1)
- Migrate and retag the prior live bibliography as the starting inventory.
- Prefer peer-reviewed work and major technical public-health documents for tier 1–2.
- Language and speech entries in v1 emphasize peer-reviewed developmental or experimental work; commentary appears under the commentary filter.
- Link primary sources (DOI, PubMed, journal) whenever possible.
Maintenance
Structured data lives in data/studies.json. Years and designs are reviewed over time;
heuristic fields from migration are corrected as sources are re-checked. Suggestions:
[email protected].
Disclosures
This site is an independently maintained bibliography. It is not affiliated with any public-health agency. Presence of a paper is not an endorsement of every sentence in that paper. Absence of a paper is not a claim that it lacks value—catalogs are incomplete by nature and improve with careful additions.