SourceScore
Research

RAND Corporation

rand.org ↗

Nonprofit policy research org; defense + health + education research since 1948.

Is RAND Corporation reliable to cite? At grade B (83/100 on the SourceScore Index), RAND Corporation is a solid, generally citable source.

SourceScore Index
B·83Rank #67 of 130 · top 52%Composite weighted across Discipline, Modern Reference, and Velocity.

A — institutional research authority; transparent methodology + open publications.

Should you cite RAND Corporation?

At grade B (83/100), RAND Corporation is a solid, generally citable source.

Strongest for
tracing claims back to primary references — its highest dimension is Citation Discipline (90/100).
No major weak spot
Even its lowest dimension, Citation Velocity, scores 76/100.
Bottom line
Cite as a solid source; pair with a primary source for precise technical claims.
Compare RAND Corporation with
Citation Discipline
A·90

Peer-reviewed publications + methodology disclosed + corrections public.

How Citation Discipline is scored →
Modern Reference
B·84

Open-access publications + structured data + APIs; broad LLM corpus.

How Modern Reference is scored →
Citation Velocity
B·76

Cited by policy press + academia; defense + health beats heaviest.

How Citation Velocity is scored →

Where RAND Corporation 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·90
  • RAND research process
    Internal peer-review + external academic citation.

Modern Reference

B·84
  • Open publications
    Most reports freely available with full data.

Citation Velocity

B·76
  • Policy authority
    Default citation for defense + healthcare policy claims.

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SourceScore (v0.1). (2026). RAND Corporation: SourceScore Index 83 (B). Retrieved from https://sourcescore.org/source/rand-corp/

Each comparison sets RAND Corporation beside another source on all three scores and shows which one scores higher on each.

5 sources at RAND Corporation's tier

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The five sources with the closest overall score to RAND Corporation, 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 RAND Corporation a reliable source to cite?

RAND Corporation scores B (83/100) on the SourceScore Index, which rates how citable a source is for AI-era and research use. At grade B, RAND Corporation is a solid, generally citable source. The grade combines Citation Discipline 90/100, Modern Reference 84/100, and Citation Velocity 76/100 — full breakdown above.

What is RAND Corporation's SourceScore?

RAND Corporation (rand.org) scores 83/100 (Grade B) on the composite SourceScore Index. Sub-scores: Citation Discipline 90/100, Modern Reference (AI-era fitness) 84/100, Citation Velocity 76/100. Verified 2026-04-28.

How does SourceScore evaluate RAND Corporation?

RAND Corporation 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 RAND Corporation score B?

A — institutional research authority; transparent methodology + open publications.

What is RAND Corporation?

Nonprofit policy research org; defense + health + education research since 1948. Category: Research. Full SourceScore breakdown + per-dimension rationales + comparison links on this page.