How AMS researches, writes, and updates its resources
The resources at /resources and the on-site glossary at /glossary are written by the AMS editorial team and reviewed against the current state of the relevant law, regulation, or professional standard. This page documents how the process works.
Editorial principles
Cite primary sources
Every regulatory claim links to the underlying statute, regulation, or court rule. References include the U.S. Code, Code of Federal Regulations, state codes, court rules, agency guidance, and recognized professional standards (NAJIT, CCHI, RID, ATA, IMIA).
Verify against current law
Federal language-access regulations have shifted meaningfully in recent years (Section 1557 Final Rule 2024; updated USCIS translation guidance; ongoing court interpreter program changes). Articles are reviewed against the current state of the relevant rule before publication and re-reviewed when the rule changes.
Subject-matter accuracy
Articles touching on legal interpreting are reviewed against current court-interpreter program requirements. Articles touching on medical interpreting are reviewed against CCHI/IMIA standards and Section 1557 / Title VI guidance. Articles on document translation are reviewed against USCIS and Department of State requirements.
No legal or medical advice
AMS articles are informational. They are not legal advice, medical advice, or a substitute for retaining counsel or a clinician. Readers facing a specific legal or medical matter should consult qualified counsel or a clinician. Where an article addresses a regulatory question, it is intended to help a reader understand the framework, not resolve the reader's individual case.
Plain language
Articles are written for the practitioner, the procurement professional, and the lay reader. Jargon is defined at first use. Where industry shorthand exists (CCHI, NAJIT, FCICE, IME, QME, EUO, VRI, ASL, LSM), it is spelled out the first time it appears and used consistently afterwards.
Direct answers first
The first sentence of every article gives the substantive answer to the implied question. Background, history, and qualification follow. This format serves readers in a hurry and is also what AI search engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews) prefer to cite.
Update on a quarterly cadence
Articles are reviewed quarterly for accuracy, citation freshness, and link integrity. Articles touching on rapidly-changing regulation (Section 1557, USCIS guidance) are reviewed more often.
Disclosures
AMS is a commercial language services company. Articles serve both an informational purpose and a marketing purpose. AMS does not publish paid-content articles disguised as editorial. Articles do not name or rank competitors except in publicly-known and citable historical contexts (e.g., government interpreter program announcements).
Who writes and reviews
AMS articles are attributed to the AMS organization as publisher and author. The writing and review roles internally are:
Lead editor
AMS leadership oversees the editorial direction of accessmultilingual.com, drawing on 25+ years operating the AMS practice in California and Nevada.
Subject-matter reviewers
Articles touching legal interpreting are reviewed by experienced AMS staff and certified court interpreters in the relevant language pair. Articles touching medical interpreting are reviewed by AMS's medical-interpreting coordinators. Articles touching translation are reviewed by AMS's document-translation team.
Final review
Every published article is read end-to-end against a checklist that includes: factual accuracy, current regulation, citation integrity, plain-language standard, internal-link integrity, and absence of legal or medical advice.
Corrections policy
If you spot an error in an AMS article, glossary entry, or any other content on this site, please email scheduling@accessmultilingual.com or call (800) 919-2029. Corrections are made promptly. When an article is substantively updated to correct an error, the updated date is reflected in the article metadata and the citing reader can see the change.
Citing AMS in academic, news, or legal writing
Writers, journalists, academics, and compliance professionals are welcome to cite AMS articles. Where AMS aggregates publicly-available data (such as our U.S. language access statistics page or our state-by-state court interpreter certification guide), please cite both AMS as the aggregator and the underlying primary source where verifiable. Linking to the relevant AMS page is appreciated but not required.