Research integrity
Audit trail anchors
Every change to research records, manuscripts and publications on SHODHX is written to a chained audit trail: each entry carries a hash of the one before it. Once a day the hash of the newest entry is sent to an independent timestamping authority, which signs it with the time. Only that hash leaves SHODHX, never any research content.
If anyone, including SHODHX, later changed or removed an earlier entry, the chain would no longer reach these signed hashes. The trail currently holds 1 entries.
| Signed at (IST) | Entries | Hash of the newest entry | Token |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 Nov 2026, 23:05 | 1 | 386540bde9a4efa651f5bde458349b5707d743ef31ecdf4af3c56a2df47ecbcd | Download (.tsr) |
Random audits
Each month about one in three hundred certified records (verified research results and SeqVerify reports older than 30 days) is picked for a check of the raw data behind it, about 4% a year. Being picked is not suspicion. The pick uses a seed made from the newest anchored hash and the month: a record is picked when the first eight hex digits of SHA-256(seed|record type|record id), read as a fraction of 232, fall below the monthly rate. So anyone can confirm that no record was picked, or spared, by hand.
No audits have been picked yet.
Something you think is wrong? Raise an integrity concern, confidentially.
Check an anchor yourself
Download a token and check it with OpenSSL against the hash shown in the same row. Keep a copy of the tokens you care about: a copy held outside SHODHX is what makes the record hard to rewrite.
openssl ts -verify -digest <hash of the newest entry> -in shodhx-anchor-<n>.tsr -CAfile <your trusted certificate bundle> openssl ts -reply -in shodhx-anchor-<n>.tsr -text
Timestamping authority: http://timestamp.digicert.com. The first command should print "Verification: OK"; the second shows the signed time.