Citation guide

Suggested formats for citing CLCI Hub entries in academic, journalistic, and legal contexts.

What to cite

CLCI Hub is an editorially-maintained dataset and reference website rather than a peer-reviewed journal. Cite specific group profiles by URL, with the date you accessed the page (since scores and content can change over time per the score-updates policy). For broader claims about the dataset, cite the methodology pages and the dataset itself.

Suggested formats

APA (7th edition)

For a group profile:

CLCI Hub. (n.d.). Church of Scientology — CLCI 37/40. Retrieved May 20, 2026, from
https://clcihub.com/groups/church-of-scientology/

MLA (9th edition)

"Church of Scientology — CLCI 37/40." CLCI Hub, https://clcihub.com/groups/church-of-scientology/.
Accessed 20 May 2026.

Chicago (footnote)

1. CLCI Hub, "Church of Scientology — CLCI 37/40,"
   https://clcihub.com/groups/church-of-scientology/ (accessed May 20, 2026).

Journalistic / news citation

For news articles, the practical convention is to name CLCI Hub in the sentence, link the specific profile URL, and indicate the CLCI score and access date. Example: “CLCI Hub, a public dataset cataloguing high-control groups using Steven Hassan's BITE model, scores the organisation at 33/40 (high control) [link]; accessed May 2026.”

Legal / regulatory citation

Where CLCI Hub material is used in legal filings or regulatory submissions, please cite the specific URL and date and note that the score is editorial rather than a legal finding. See the scoring appeals and legal disclaimer pages for the canonical framing.

Dataset-level citation

When citing the dataset as a whole rather than a specific profile:

CLCI Hub Dataset (2026). Cult-Like Control Index — public dataset of
high-control-group profiles scored on Steven Hassan's BITE model.
https://clcihub.com/research/dataset/ (accessed May 20, 2026).

What to do when scores change

Where you have cited a CLCI score in publication and it later changes, our recommended practice is to leave the original citation intact (it accurately reports the score at the time you accessed the page) and note in any updated work that the score has since changed, with a link to the current profile. The score-updates page explains the change process.

What is not a legal finding

Please make explicit in any external citation that the CLCI is an editorial score reflecting public-record indicators rather than a court ruling or regulator finding. Where CLCI Hub cites court findings or regulator reports, those underlying sources can be cited directly.

See editorial policy, source hierarchy, and living-persons policy for the editorial framework.