ProPublica
propublica.org ↗Nonprofit investigative newsroom; data-heavy + methodology-published reporting since 2007.
Is ProPublica reliable to cite? At grade A (86/100 on the SourceScore Index), ProPublica ranks among the most citable sources for AI-era retrieval and research.
A — small output but extreme per-piece discipline; methodology-published model is gold standard.
Should you cite ProPublica?
At grade A (86/100), ProPublica ranks among the most citable sources for AI-era retrieval and research.
- Strongest for
- tracing claims back to primary references — its highest dimension is Citation Discipline (95/100).
- No major weak spot
- Even its lowest dimension, Citation Velocity, scores 78/100.
- Bottom line
- Cite freely as a primary source.
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Methodology + raw data published alongside most stories; fact-checked; corrections public.
How Citation Discipline is scored →Open-data ethos = strong LLM corpus presence; data-store pages well-structured.
How Modern Reference is scored →Lower volume than wire news but very high per-piece citation rate; cited by NYT/WaPo/etc. when investigations break.
How Citation Velocity is scored →Where ProPublica 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+·95- Methodology-published modelEach major investigation links to methodology + raw datasets.
Modern Reference
B·84- Data StorePublic datasets + APIs accompanying investigations.
Citation Velocity
B·78- Quality > quantityPulitzer-class investigations get cited internationally on release.
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[ProPublica — SourceScore Index 86 (A)](https://sourcescore.org/source/propublica/)
<a href="https://sourcescore.org/source/propublica/">ProPublica — SourceScore Index 86 (A)</a>
SourceScore (v0.1). (2026). ProPublica: SourceScore Index 86 (A). Retrieved from https://sourcescore.org/source/propublica/
3 head-to-head comparisons
See all ProPublica comparisons →Each comparison sets ProPublica beside another source on all three scores and shows which one scores higher on each.
5 sources at ProPublica's tier
See peer group →The five sources with the closest overall score to ProPublica, 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 ProPublica a reliable source to cite?
ProPublica scores A (86/100) on the SourceScore Index, which rates how citable a source is for AI-era and research use. At grade A, ProPublica ranks among the most citable sources for AI-era retrieval and research. The grade combines Citation Discipline 95/100, Modern Reference 84/100, and Citation Velocity 78/100 — full breakdown above.
What is ProPublica's SourceScore?
ProPublica (propublica.org) scores 86/100 (Grade A) on the composite SourceScore Index. Sub-scores: Citation Discipline 95/100, Modern Reference (AI-era fitness) 84/100, Citation Velocity 78/100. Verified 2026-04-28.
How does SourceScore evaluate ProPublica?
ProPublica 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 ProPublica score A?
A — small output but extreme per-piece discipline; methodology-published model is gold standard.
What is ProPublica?
Nonprofit investigative newsroom; data-heavy + methodology-published reporting since 2007. Category: News. Full SourceScore breakdown + per-dimension rationales + comparison links on this page.