Asian Preventive Oral Health Map
Methods

How this map works

Web pages age; methods should not. Five pictures explain how every number and badge on the map is produced.

1 · Anatomy of an item

Five parts, on every item

Community water fluoridation Discontinued. First programme Jinhae 1981, peak 2001 (31 areas), all programmes suspended as of 2018. DOCUMENTED J Korean Acad Oral Health 2021;45(2) checked 13 Oct 2026 1 Indicator 3 Status = strength of evidence 2 Finding: “No” and “Discontinued” are answers 4 Source, linked 5 Date checked
One item from the South Korea profile. Every item on every profile carries these five parts; the status describes the evidence, never the answer.
Read the provenance rule

Every profile carries the source documents, linked; the verifier, by role, once verified; and the date the profile was checked against its source. Sources have years: a profile built from a 2024 catalog says so. Nothing on this map pretends to be more current than its documents.

Changes and conflicting information are tracked by academic year. A newer document never silently overwrites an older one; conflicts are flagged and resolved in the open.

2 · Status

Four rungs of evidence

1Not yetdocumented 2Documented 3Community-reviewed 4Institutionallyverified ✓ 1 linked document document alumni review official document faculty confirmation + one linkeddocument + review without objection + confirmation + document, about the same content signals only, never rewrites the only path to ✓
How an item climbs. Community feedback flags an item for review and never rewrites it; only a faculty confirmation with an official document reaches the top step.
Read the four definitions

NOT YET DOCUMENTED No citable source yet. Shown openly; gaps are the map’s to-do list.

DOCUMENTED Backed by at least one citable document: a law, an official catalog, a government publication or a peer-reviewed article, linked on the item.

COMMUNITY-REVIEWED Documented, and reviewed by people who studied or taught at the school without unresolved objections. Repeated or credible feedback flags an item for team review; it never rewrites a profile by itself.

INSTITUTIONALLY VERIFIED ✓ A responsible faculty member or curriculum authority confirms the information, and an official school document supports it. Confirmation plus document, about the same content.

“No” is an answer, not a blank. The finding itself can be Yes, No, Partial or Discontinued.

3 · Numbers

Two numbers, and a third that waits

Official documents laws · catalogs · papers extracted counted ON THE MAP · DAY ONE Measurement facts courses, hours, programmes, dates ON THE MAP · DAY ONE Data completeness share of indicators with a source validation literature → indicators → expert weighting → validation NOT SHOWN YET Performance index shown after validation
Everything measurable is measured; what we judge is scored only after validation. The index is a research project of its own and waits behind the gate.

Everything measurable is measured; what we judge is scored only after validation.

4 · Freshness

Keeping country data alive

checks the source policy changes, time passes new document conflict? flagged, resolved in the open Country focal pointa named academic Item showschecked 13 Oct 2026 Item looks stalevisibly, to everyone Profile updatedold version kept by AY versioned by academic year
The map does not promise constant freshness. It names who updates each country, shows when every item was last checked, and lets an old item look old.
  • Country focal points. One named academic per country owns its updates, instead of a central team chasing everything.
  • Visible staleness. Every item shows when it was last checked. An outdated item looks outdated.
  • Start small. Updating is tested first in Korea and Malaysia, where focal points exist, before any wider promise.
  • Public sources only. Unpublished or co-authored findings enter only with every author’s agreement. Provisional translations say so.
5 · Contributing

Who moves an item, and how far

Faculty, curriculum staffteach or run a programme Students, alumnistudied there, in years they can name Researchers, ministriesknow the statute, plan or notice Country focal pointone academic who owns updates DOCUMENTEDitem gains a linked source COMMUNITY-REVIEWEDa signal; never rewrites INSTITUTIONALLY VERIFIED ✓the only path to the top Country opensJapan · Indonesia · Philippines one official document confirmation + official document what was taught, placed by study years statute · plan · notice · paper owns one country’s updates
Who contributes and what their input becomes. Status always describes the evidence; a documented No counts as much as a documented Yes.
Read how to take part