# A Global Claim Needs Global Source Authority ## Claim Mentioning many countries does not create a global account when authorship, archives, categories, bibliography, and editorial decisions remain concentrated elsewhere. <!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ --> ## Scope & conditions - Applies to research, reference works, and institutional reports that claim global coverage or interpretation. - Contributor residence is one indicator, not a verdict; source access, language, institutional location, and editorial decision rights also matter. - A concentrated team can produce careful global work when it documents limits and shares interpretive authority through sources and review. - The rule evaluates research design, not an author's identity or goodwill. ## Evidence The reviews of *The Encyclopedia of Protestantism* and the 1988 *Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements* distinguish geographic inclusion from interpretive control. Both cover material beyond Europe and North America, while their review audits still find categories, archives, and editorial framing concentrated in those centers. The Cambridge and NIDPCM reviews show the corrective: regional contributors and local histories can change the explanation from one-way import to local reconstruction within unequal transnational exchange. ## Links - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Global Religious Counts Are Versioned Model Outputs]] — because extends: who defines the category is part of the model behind the total. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Community Identity Does Not Substitute for Power Analysis]] — because applies-in: geographic representation alone does not show who controls interpretation. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Procedural Burden Falls Hardest on Those With Least Standing]] — because extends: source requirements can privilege institutions already able to preserve, publish, and translate records. - [[3. Resources/MOCs/Faith & Theology MOC]] — because applies-in: global theology needs both worldwide subjects and distributed interpretive authority. - [[3. Resources/MOCs/Book Review Synthesis MOC]] — applies-in: the MOC lists this note under Reference-work comparison added 2026-08-28. ## Tests / falsifiers - Audit a claimed global work by contributor location, cited-source location and language, entry length, and final editorial rights. If those measures are widely distributed, geographic claims may be warranted even when one publisher owns the imprint. - Compare how a topic changes when a regional scholar controls the question and bibliography rather than supplying a local example to a fixed external framework. ## Source - [[3. Resources/Literature Notes/Pentecostal Reference Works - Categories Counts and Authority - Literature Note]] — comparative review synthesis separating global coverage from global interpretive control.