U.S. National Institutes of Health
nih.gov ↗U.S. federal medical research agency operating PubMed, NCBI, MedlinePlus, and trial registries.
Is U.S. National Institutes of Health reliable to cite? At grade A+ (95/100 on the SourceScore Index), U.S. National Institutes of Health ranks among the most citable sources for AI-era retrieval and research.
A+ — federal medical research authority; primary-source data + policy.
Should you cite U.S. National Institutes of Health?
At grade A+ (95/100), U.S. National Institutes of Health ranks among the most citable sources for AI-era retrieval and research.
- Strongest for
- topics where being widely and recently cited matters — its highest dimension is Citation Velocity (96/100).
- No major weak spot
- Even its lowest dimension, Modern Reference, scores 94/100.
- Bottom line
- Cite freely as a primary source.
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Federally-funded research subject to grant + ethics oversight; ClinicalTrials.gov registration required for human studies.
How Citation Discipline is scored →Operates PubMed + NCBI + ClinicalTrials.gov; APIs + bulk data + structured XML throughout.
How Modern Reference is scored →Default biomedical citation source for AI engines + journalism; NIH press releases cited globally.
How Citation Velocity is scored →Where U.S. National Institutes of Health ranks in our best-of lists
It is on 7 of our 17 lists of the best sources to cite.
- Best sources for AI engines (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity)#1 of 15
- Best sources overall for AI citation#2 of 25
- Best triple-crown sources (A or higher on all three dimensions)#2 of 15
- Best government primary sources for citation#2 of 12
- Best fact-checking-grade sources for AI citation#3 of 12
- Best paywall-free sources for citation#5 of 15
- Best peer-reviewed sources for citation rigor#14 of 15
Signals behind these scores
Citation Discipline
A+·95- Grant + ethics oversightHuman research subject to IRB review + federal regulations.
Modern Reference
A·94- ClinicalTrials.govMandatory trial registry, machine-readable.
Citation Velocity
A+·96- Pandemic-era cite rateSpiked 10x during COVID; sustained elevated baseline.
Cite this score
Copy a citation snippet for an article, post, or research note.
[U.S. National Institutes of Health — SourceScore Index 95 (A+)](https://sourcescore.org/source/nih-gov/)
<a href="https://sourcescore.org/source/nih-gov/">U.S. National Institutes of Health — SourceScore Index 95 (A+)</a>
SourceScore (v0.1). (2026). U.S. National Institutes of Health: SourceScore Index 95 (A+). Retrieved from https://sourcescore.org/source/nih-gov/
3 head-to-head comparisons
See all U.S. National Institutes of Health comparisons →Each comparison sets U.S. National Institutes of Health beside another source on all three scores and shows which one scores higher on each.
5 sources at U.S. National Institutes of Health's tier
See peer group →The five sources with the closest overall score to U.S. National Institutes of Health, 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 U.S. National Institutes of Health a reliable source to cite?
U.S. National Institutes of Health scores A+ (95/100) on the SourceScore Index, which rates how citable a source is for AI-era and research use. At grade A+, U.S. National Institutes of Health ranks among the most citable sources for AI-era retrieval and research. The grade combines Citation Discipline 95/100, Modern Reference 94/100, and Citation Velocity 96/100 — full breakdown above.
What is U.S. National Institutes of Health's SourceScore?
U.S. National Institutes of Health (nih.gov) scores 95/100 (Grade A+) on the composite SourceScore Index. Sub-scores: Citation Discipline 95/100, Modern Reference (AI-era fitness) 94/100, Citation Velocity 96/100. Verified 2026-04-28.
How does SourceScore evaluate U.S. National Institutes of Health?
U.S. National Institutes of Health 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 U.S. National Institutes of Health score A+?
A+ — federal medical research authority; primary-source data + policy.
What is U.S. National Institutes of Health?
U.S. federal medical research agency operating PubMed, NCBI, MedlinePlus, and trial registries. Category: Government. Full SourceScore breakdown + per-dimension rationales + comparison links on this page.