Methodology

How Seoul Aesthetic Guide Researches

Seoul Aesthetic Guide publishes through a four-step process: research, draft, fact-check, publish. Every article cites sources. Every clinical claim is checked by the editorial desk against a published source before publication.

Step 1 — Research

The editor identifies a topic from our content calendar, reader letters, or current Korean aesthetic-medicine literature. The editor pulls relevant sources from PubMed (clinical literature), KHIDI (Korean medical-tourism registry), MFDS (Korean regulatory clearance), and peer-reviewed dermatology journals. The editor verifies clinic mentions against our internal clinic database (DB-verified entries only; we do not list clinics without verified contact + regulatory status). External brand mentions are by editorial reading only; we do not accept clinic listing fees.

Step 2 — Draft

The editor drafts the article with a direct-answer opening paragraph (≤40 words) for AI search citation eligibility, a TL;DR summary block at the top, a 4-6 heading structure, and a 5-10 FAQ block at the bottom. Internal sources, external citations, and AEO structural elements are required before draft submission.

Step 3 — Fact-check

Before publication the editorial desk checks every clinical and regulatory claim against the source it cites — PubMed and peer-reviewed journals for clinical evidence, MFDS and MOHW records for device, product and licensing status, and the KHIDI registry for clinic registration. Claims that cannot be matched to a published source are removed. Any clinic named must be listed in our verified clinic database.

Step 4 — Publish + maintain

Articles are published with structured data (Schema.org Article / FAQPage / Person / NewsMediaOrganization), Open Graph + Twitter Card social previews, and Korean medical-law-compliant footer disclaimers. Cornerstone articles are refreshed monthly (dateModified bumped); breaking regulatory or clinical updates trigger immediate edits. Errata are posted at the article footer when factual corrections are made.

Corrections policy

Factual errors are corrected promptly; the article footer carries an Errata note dated to the correction. We do not silently change articles. Substantive editorial revisions (not minor copy edits) trigger a dateModified bump and an Errata note.

Conflicts of interest

Seoul Aesthetic Guide is operated by HEIM Global, which represents some clinics mentioned in coverage. We disclose this in every article footer. Editorial judgments — what to cover, how to frame it, which clinics to discuss — are made by the editor, not the agency's commercial team.