Seeking Alpha's editors are tasked with selecting outstanding articles from credible authors and editing them for clarity, consistency and impact. Editors follow the following criteria in deciding whether or not to accept an article for publication:

1. The author must agree in writing to abide by Seeking Alpha's disclosure standards.
2. Articles must interest our readership. The key criterion we use is: Does the article help a fundamentally-oriented investor decide whether to buy or sell the stock in question? Specifically, does it provide meaningful information about or analysis of the company's competitive environment, management, products, corporate strategy, earnings potential or balance sheet? This definition excludes pure technical (chart) analysis of stocks.
3. Articles must conform to Seeking Alpha's standards of rigor and clarity.
4. Articles may not focus on stocks that trade below $1.00, as they are most subject to manipulation. (Update: See our interim policy on the $1.00 rule.)

Seeking Alpha does not allow its editors to accept or reject an article due to the stock covered (other than the $1.00 rule above) or the editor's agreement or disagreement with the contributor's viewpoint on the stock.

This means that the stocks featured on Seeking Alpha, and whether the articles published about them are bullish or bearish, are effectively determined by our contributing authors (once they satisfy our quality and integrity criteria) and not by our editors. Editorial changes to articles are intended to clarify the author's viewpoint and may not interfere with the substance of the author's argument or viewpoint. Our strict adherence to these editorial guidelines means that Seeking Alpha authors are genuinely independent.

In keeping with this authorial independence, authors are required to disclose personal positions in stocks they write about. Because Seeking Alpha's editors have no input into which stocks are covered or the nature of the commentary on them, they are not required to disclose positions in articles they edit.