Evidence Tier
theoretical
Last updated
Rung 6 on this site's ladder. An inference from established biology to a claim about this compound, where no study has measured the claimed outcome for this compound. It qualifies only if the biology being reasoned from is itself established at a higher rung and cited, the inference chain is written out, and the step that has not been measured is named on the record. The full criteria are at /evidence/rubric.
Flagged for specialist review
This entry describes something contested, or asserts a detail we have not been able to confirm against a settled source. It is published rather than withheld, with the flag visible, because an entry you can weigh beats a gap you cannot see.
Why it matters here
Rung 6 is where a record states in public which step is missing, so the entry names the gap rather than smoothing it over.
What it is not
A theoretical grade licenses nothing about magnitude, direction in a living body, or safety. Class inference is specifically excluded: it is a growth hormone secretagogue, therefore it does X is a claim about a class, not about the molecule in front of you.
Also called
- theoretical
- mechanistic reasoning
- hypothesized
- proposed mechanism
- inferred
Proposed mechanism, mechanistic reasoning and inferred all name this rung, and all of them read like findings in product copy when what they describe is a hypothesis with its author's reasoning attached.
Compounds carrying this term
None on file yet. This term is in the controlled vocabulary but no compound record currently uses it — which is a statement about our coverage, not about the term.