Vika Intelligence Editorial Charter
Editorial Charter
The governing standard for all Vika Intelligence publications. Defines the purpose, principles, and quality gates that every Vika publication must satisfy before it is issued.
Established 24 July 2026. Amendments require a formal decision by the founding principal, recorded in the Editorial Record.
Constitutional Document
This Charter is a constitutional document. It is not revised in response to individual publication decisions. Changes are rare, deliberate, and formally recorded in the Editorial Record. The operational procedures that implement this Charter are set out in the Publication Governance framework. The quality protocol governing maps and figures is set out in the Cartographic Standards.
Contents
Purpose
Vika Intelligence exists to produce research and analysis that is worth reading in five years. Not commentary. Not market colour. Not content produced to fill a calendar.
The purpose of this Charter is to define the standard every Vika publication must meet before it is issued — and to make that standard explicit, durable, and independent of any individual's judgment.
The Charter governs all publications in the Vika Intelligence programme: Research Dossiers, Perspectives essays, Annual Letters, Monthly Intelligence Notes, and Quarterly Industrial Outlooks. It does not govern internal working documents, draft materials, or correspondence.
The Standard
A Vika publication must satisfy all of the following before it is issued:
Removal test
Every claim that cannot be supported by a named, verifiable primary source must be removed. The publication is not weakened by its removal — it is strengthened.
Evidence test
Every factual claim is traceable to a specific source cited in the bibliography. The source exists, is publicly accessible or institutionally verifiable, and says what the publication claims it says.
Independence test
The analysis is independent of the commercial interests of Vika Group. Where Vika Group's strategic position is relevant, it is confined to a designated section (§VII) and clearly identified as such. It does not appear in the analytical body of the publication.
Specificity test
Claims are specific. Vague formulations — 'significant', 'substantial', 'considerable', 'major' — are replaced with figures, ranges, or explicit acknowledgements of uncertainty. Where a precise figure is unavailable, the publication says so.
Currency test
Data is current. Where the most recent available data is used, the publication states the source date. Where more recent data exists but is not used, the publication explains why.
Decision-usefulness test
The publication answers a question that a serious institutional reader — an investor, a DFI analyst, a senior operator — would actually ask. It does not exist to demonstrate that Vika Group has published something.
Disclosure test
Where Vika Group has a commercial interest in the subject matter, that interest is disclosed. Where analytical conclusions are Vika Group estimates rather than published data, they are labelled as such.
Duplication test
The publication does not duplicate material already covered in an existing publication without adding new analysis. Cross-references to existing publications are preferred over repetition.
The longevity test: will this still be worth reading in five years? If the answer is no — because the content is time-sensitive, event-driven, or dependent on conditions that will change — the material belongs in an Intelligence Brief, not a Dossier or Perspectives essay.
Publication Types and Their Standards
Different publication types serve different purposes. The standard is the same; the application differs.
Research Dossiers
Reference documents. Structured, sourced, and designed to remain accurate over time. Each Dossier occupies a defined node in the knowledge graph. A Dossier is not commissioned unless a subject with sufficient primary-source coverage exists and its position in the graph is identified.
Five-year standard applies in full.
Perspectives Essays
Analytical essays under named authorship. The author's argument is the subject. Perspectives may take positions that Research Dossiers do not. They are not required to be neutral — they are required to be honest, argued, and supported.
Five-year standard applies. The argument must be durable, not merely timely.
Annual Letters
The institutional voice of Vika Group for the year. Written by the founding principal. Not a performance report. A statement of where the institution stands, what it has learned, and what it intends.
Permanent record. No longevity test — the letter is the record of a moment.
Monthly Intelligence Notes
Concise, structured intelligence on material developments. Time-sensitive by design. The five-year longevity test does not apply — these are records of conditions at a point in time.
Archived, not revised. The record of what was known at the time of publication.
Quarterly Industrial Outlooks
Structural analysis of Central African industrial investment. Longer-form than the Monthly Note. The analytical framework is durable; the data is current at time of publication.
Archived by quarter. The framework is reviewed annually.
What This Charter Does Not Govern
This Charter governs published output. It does not govern:
Internal working documents, draft materials, research notes, or correspondence. These are not publications and are not subject to the publication standard.
The Intelligence Dashboards and data products. These are data services, not publications. They are governed by the data accuracy and disclosure standards set out in the Publication Governance framework.
Website copy, navigation text, and product descriptions. These are operational communications, not research publications.
Corrections
A correction is issued when a published claim is found to be factually incorrect. The correction is applied to the publication, recorded in the Corrections Register, and reflected in the version number.
A correction does not change the argument of a publication. It corrects the factual basis on which the argument rests. If a correction would require the argument to change, the publication is reviewed for a new edition or retirement.
Corrections are not issued for changes in conditions after publication — for example, a change in a commodity price, a regulatory amendment, or a new data release. These are addressed in new editions where material, or noted in the Intelligence Notes.
The Corrections Register is maintained in the Editorial Record at /knowledge/editorial-record. Every correction is identified by a register ID, the affected publication, a description of the change, the version applied, and the date.
Authority and Amendment
This Charter is established by the founding principal of Vika Group and takes effect from 24 July 2026.
Amendments to this Charter require a formal decision by the founding principal, recorded in the Editorial Record. Amendments are not made in response to individual publication decisions — they are made when the Charter itself requires revision.
The Charter does not expire. It remains in force until formally amended or superseded.
The operational procedures for commissioning, editing, issuing, correcting, and retiring publications are set out in the Publication Governance framework at /knowledge/publication-governance. The Charter governs the standard; the Governance framework governs the process.