Editorial Team & Review Process

Who reviews Low Dose Ketamine, and how.

Every page on this site is reviewed by three credentialed clinicians: a board-certified psychiatrist, a compounding pharmacist with hands-on sublingual ketamine experience, and a licensed ketamine-assisted integration therapist. We attribute reviewers by credential — not by personal brand — so you can verify the qualifications that actually matter.

Editorial standards

What we require before a page ships

Low-dose ketamine is a Schedule III medication used off-label for several mood, pain, and trauma indications. Patients researching protocols, sublingual troches, and maintenance dosing deserve sourcing that matches the seriousness of the decision.

• Peer-reviewed sourcing first. Clinical claims are supported by PubMed/MEDLINE-indexed literature, the APA Council of Research Task Force consensus statement on ketamine for mood disorders, ASKP3 clinical practice guidance, FDA labeling for esketamine and ketamine, DEA scheduling, and USP <795>/<800> compounding standards. Clinic marketing pages are not treated as primary sources.
• Indication and off-label honesty. Pages are explicit about which uses are FDA-approved (esketamine for treatment-resistant depression and depressive symptoms in MDD with acute suicidal ideation) and which are off-label (most low-dose oral and sublingual protocols). Off-label is not framed as endorsement.
• Dose-conversion accuracy. Any milligram figure tied to a specific route (IV, IM, intranasal, sublingual, oral) is cross-checked against published bioavailability and conversion references and signed off by the pharmacy reviewer.
• Safety language is non-negotiable. Contraindications, drug interactions (benzodiazepines, lamotrigine, serotonergic agents, sympathomimetics), screening for psychosis and uncontrolled hypertension, and suicidality safety planning are not optional sidebars — they belong in the body of any dosing or protocol page.
• Scope-of-practice boundaries. Medical claims, pharmacy claims, and therapy claims are kept distinct and reviewed by the corresponding clinician. Integration content does not give medical advice; medical content does not give therapy advice.
• Conflict-of-interest disclosure. Each reviewer signs a COI disclosure. Active financial relationships with ketamine clinics, compounding pharmacies, or telehealth platforms are listed on the reviewer credential block and disclosed on any page where the relationship is materially relevant. Sponsored content is clearly labeled and is never reviewer-signed.
• Reader-first framing. Every protocol or maintenance-dosing page reminds readers that ketamine is a controlled substance, that at-home dosing requires physician oversight, and that this site does not prescribe.

Reviewer credentials

Three credentialed reviewers sign off on every clinical page

We attribute reviewers by credential and role rather than by personal brand. This is deliberate: ketamine content is a frequent target for marketing-driven "expert" bios, and credential-first attribution lets you verify the qualifications that actually matter — licensure, board certification, DEA registration, pharmacy license, and KAP training.

Source materials

What we cite — and what we never cite

Sources are listed inline on each clinical page. The categories below are the materials our reviewers are willing to sign off on:

• Peer-reviewed literature: PubMed/MEDLINE-indexed trials, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses on ketamine for depression, bipolar depression, PTSD, OCD, suicidality, and pain.
• Consensus and guideline documents: APA Council of Research Task Force consensus statement on the use of ketamine in the treatment of mood disorders, ASKP3 clinical practice guidance, and American Psychiatric Association practice guidelines for relevant comorbid conditions.
• Regulatory sources: FDA full prescribing information for esketamine (Spravato) and ketamine hydrochloride, DEA Schedule III listing and regulatory letters, and FDA safety communications.
• Pharmacy and compounding standards: USP <795> (non-sterile compounding), USP <800> (hazardous-drug handling), and state board of pharmacy guidance.
• Government and academic education: NIH/NIMH educational pages, university medical-center patient-education materials, and SAMHSA resources for safety planning and crisis support.

What we never cite as a primary source: clinic marketing pages, telehealth platform advertising, supplement or nutraceutical vendor sites, unmoderated social media, AI-generated summaries without traceable sources, or anecdote presented as evidence.

Fact-check & review cadence

How often each page is re-reviewed

• Dosing & protocol pages: reviewed at least every 12 months and whenever the FDA, DEA, APA, or ASKP3 publishes material new guidance. Any change to a milligram figure or route recommendation triggers an immediate pharmacy + medical re-review.
• Safety, contraindication, and interaction pages: reviewed at least every 12 months and within 30 days of any FDA safety communication or DEA scheduling change.
• Integration & psychotherapy pages: reviewed at least every 12 months by the integration therapist; KAP training literature is checked annually for updates from major training programs.
• Comparison & explainer pages: reviewed at least every 18 months and whenever a referenced study, label change, or guideline is materially updated.
• Visible “last reviewed” date: every clinical page carries a visible last-reviewed date and the reviewer role that signed it off.
• Corrections: reader, clinician, or researcher corrections are triaged within 5 business days. When content materially changes, a visible correction note is added to the page.

Step-by-step review

How a page gets reviewed before it goes live

1. Source from primary materials. Drafts cite peer-reviewed literature, APA/ASKP3 consensus, FDA labels, DEA scheduling, and USP compounding standards — not clinic marketing.
2. Medical review. A board-certified psychiatrist reviews indication framing, contraindications, drug interactions (benzodiazepines, lamotrigine, serotonergic agents), and suicidality safety language.
3. Pharmacy review. A compounding PharmD reviews dose conversions, sublingual vs. oral bioavailability claims, beyond-use dating, excipient selection, and stability statements.
4. Integration review. A KAP-trained therapist reviews preparation, set-and-setting, dissociation management, and integration content for scope-of-practice accuracy.
5. Conflict-of-interest check. COI disclosures are confirmed; sponsored content is labeled and explicitly excluded from reviewer sign-off.
6. Publish with visible review metadata. Page ships with last-reviewed date, reviewer role(s), and a link back to this page.

Conflict-of-interest disclosure

How we handle reviewer COI, sponsorship, and affiliate relationships

• Reviewer COI on file. Each reviewer signs a written conflict-of-interest disclosure covering active financial relationships with ketamine clinics, compounding pharmacies, telehealth platforms, training programs, and pharmaceutical sponsors. Material relationships are listed on the reviewer credential block and disclosed on any page where the relationship is materially relevant.
• Sponsored content is labeled and unsigned. Sponsored articles, advertisements, and directory listings are visibly labeled. Reviewers do not sign off on sponsored content, and sponsored copy may not carry a "Medically reviewed by" badge.
• Affiliate and referral links use rel="sponsored nofollow". Any outbound link that pays a fee on click, signup, or purchase is tagged so search engines and readers can identify it.
• No paid placement in clinical rankings or comparisons. Clinical comparison content (e.g., "sublingual vs. oral", "low-dose protocols") is not for sale. Reviewers are explicitly instructed to remove content that reads like a covert ad.
• Editorial independence. A sponsorship relationship does not buy edits, ranking changes, or removal of unfavorable evidence on any clinical page.

Verification

How to verify our reviewers — or any ketamine reviewer

You should not have to take any website's word for who reviewed a ketamine protocol. Credential-first attribution is meant to make verification straightforward:

• Physician licensure and board certification. State medical board licensee lookups and the ABMS / ABPN CertificationMatters registry confirm active medical licensure and psychiatry board certification.
• DEA registration. Active controlled-substance registration is publicly verifiable via DEA-authorized lookup tools used by pharmacies and credentialing organizations.
• Pharmacist licensure. Each state board of pharmacy maintains a public license lookup; 503A compounding pharmacies are listed there as well.
• KAP training and therapist licensure. Therapist licensure is verifiable through state mental-health boards. KAP training programs (Fluence, Polaris Insight, Sage Institute, and similar) maintain graduate directories or can confirm completion on request.

If any health website refuses to disclose a reviewer's credential category, license type, or training program, treat that as a red flag.