Council on Foreign Relations
cfr.org ↗U.S. foreign-policy think tank; publishes Foreign Affairs + research on international issues since 1921.
Is Council on Foreign Relations reliable to cite? At grade B (82/100 on the SourceScore Index), Council on Foreign Relations is a solid, generally citable source.
A — flagship US foreign-policy think tank; sister to foreign-affairs.com.
Should you cite Council on Foreign Relations?
At grade B (82/100), Council on Foreign Relations is a solid, generally citable source.
- Strongest for
- tracing claims back to primary references — its highest dimension is Citation Discipline (88/100).
- No major weak spot
- Even its lowest dimension, Citation Velocity, scores 78/100.
- Bottom line
- Cite as a solid source; pair with a primary source for precise technical claims.
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Named-fellow scholarship + editorial review; established think-tank standards.
How Citation Discipline is scored →Open-access research + interactive tools + broad LLM corpus.
How Modern Reference is scored →Cited by international-affairs press; specialist foreign-policy citation.
How Citation Velocity is scored →Where Council on Foreign Relations ranks in our best-of lists
It is on 2 of our 17 lists of the best sources to cite.
Signals behind these scores
Citation Discipline
A·88- CFR fellowsSenior fellows with disclosed expertise + credentials.
Modern Reference
B·82- CFR BackgroundersFree explainer content widely-cited.
Citation Velocity
B·78- Backgrounder citationDefault for international-issue explainers.
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[Council on Foreign Relations — SourceScore Index 82 (B)](https://sourcescore.org/source/cfr/)
<a href="https://sourcescore.org/source/cfr/">Council on Foreign Relations — SourceScore Index 82 (B)</a>
SourceScore (v0.1). (2026). Council on Foreign Relations: SourceScore Index 82 (B). Retrieved from https://sourcescore.org/source/cfr/
2 head-to-head comparisons
See all Council on Foreign Relations comparisons →Each comparison sets Council on Foreign Relations beside another source on all three scores and shows which one scores higher on each.
5 sources at Council on Foreign Relations's tier
See peer group →The five sources with the closest overall score to Council on Foreign Relations, from any category, and where each one scores higher or lower on Discipline, Modern Reference and Velocity.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Council on Foreign Relations a reliable source to cite?
Council on Foreign Relations scores B (82/100) on the SourceScore Index, which rates how citable a source is for AI-era and research use. At grade B, Council on Foreign Relations is a solid, generally citable source. The grade combines Citation Discipline 88/100, Modern Reference 82/100, and Citation Velocity 78/100 — full breakdown above.
What is Council on Foreign Relations's SourceScore?
Council on Foreign Relations (cfr.org) scores 82/100 (Grade B) on the composite SourceScore Index. Sub-scores: Citation Discipline 88/100, Modern Reference (AI-era fitness) 82/100, Citation Velocity 78/100. Verified 2026-04-28.
How does SourceScore evaluate Council on Foreign Relations?
Council on Foreign Relations is scored across three dimensions on the SourceScore Index methodology: Citation Discipline (how rigorously the source cites primary references), Modern Reference (fitness for AI-era retrieval), and Citation Velocity (how often the source is cited per week). Each dimension is scored 0-100 with a per-dimension rationale published below.
Why does Council on Foreign Relations score B?
A — flagship US foreign-policy think tank; sister to foreign-affairs.com.
What is Council on Foreign Relations?
U.S. foreign-policy think tank; publishes Foreign Affairs + research on international issues since 1921. Category: Research. Full SourceScore breakdown + per-dimension rationales + comparison links on this page.