The Lancet
thelancet.com ↗Peer-reviewed general medical journal since 1823; flagship clinical-research publication.
Is The Lancet reliable to cite? At grade A (86/100 on the SourceScore Index), The Lancet ranks among the most citable sources for AI-era retrieval and research.
A — peer-review + clinical-research authority; high-trust per cite.
Should you cite The Lancet?
At grade A (86/100), The Lancet 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 80/100.
- Bottom line
- Cite freely as a primary source.
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Peer-review enforced; methodology + data disclosure increasingly mandatory; retraction watch active.
How Citation Discipline is scored →DOIs + structured abstracts; metered paywall partial-LLM-corpus.
How Modern Reference is scored →Cited by clinicians + medical journalism; narrower volume than wire news but high per-cite trust.
How Citation Velocity is scored →Where The Lancet ranks in our best-of lists
It is on 1 of our 17 lists of the best sources to cite.
Signals behind these scores
Citation Discipline
A+·95- Peer reviewEditor + ≥2 reviewer cycles before publication.
Modern Reference
B·82- DOIPermanent identifier per article.
Citation Velocity
B·80- Citation impact factor~98 (top of medical-journal venues).
Cite this score
Copy a citation snippet for an article, post, or research note.
[The Lancet — SourceScore Index 86 (A)](https://sourcescore.org/source/the-lancet/)
<a href="https://sourcescore.org/source/the-lancet/">The Lancet — SourceScore Index 86 (A)</a>
SourceScore (v0.1). (2026). The Lancet: SourceScore Index 86 (A). Retrieved from https://sourcescore.org/source/the-lancet/
4 head-to-head comparisons
See all The Lancet comparisons →Each comparison sets The Lancet beside another source on all three scores and shows which one scores higher on each.
5 sources at The Lancet's tier
See peer group →The five sources with the closest overall score to The Lancet, from any category, and where each one scores higher or lower on Discipline, Modern Reference and Velocity.
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<iframe src="https://sourcescore.org/embed/the-lancet/" width="100%" height="380" loading="lazy" style="border:0;max-width:480px;" title="SourceScore: The Lancet"></iframe>
Frequently asked questions
Is The Lancet a reliable source to cite?
The Lancet scores A (86/100) on the SourceScore Index, which rates how citable a source is for AI-era and research use. At grade A, The Lancet ranks among the most citable sources for AI-era retrieval and research. The grade combines Citation Discipline 95/100, Modern Reference 82/100, and Citation Velocity 80/100 — full breakdown above.
What is The Lancet's SourceScore?
The Lancet (thelancet.com) scores 86/100 (Grade A) on the composite SourceScore Index. Sub-scores: Citation Discipline 95/100, Modern Reference (AI-era fitness) 82/100, Citation Velocity 80/100. Verified 2026-04-28.
How does SourceScore evaluate The Lancet?
The Lancet 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 The Lancet score A?
A — peer-review + clinical-research authority; high-trust per cite.
What is The Lancet?
Peer-reviewed general medical journal since 1823; flagship clinical-research publication. Category: Health. Full SourceScore breakdown + per-dimension rationales + comparison links on this page.