Ratings
In evaluating the Web site, we reviewed information on at least three of what we considered to be among the most widely used herbs. Each site has been assessed by establishing and rating three categories, Pharmacy Information, Information Quality and Web Site Design. Reviewed sites having three or fewer than three monographs are identified with "Q".
This category, encompassing pharmaceutical attributes such as side effects, dosages, drug interactions, and mechanisms of action, is the most valuable to pharmacists and patients and is given a numerical rating.
Scoring for subcategories of pharmaceutical information is primarily based on the presence or absence of a particular attribute, such as dosage or side effects, and also on the presence, absence and quality of references. The scoring scheme is as follows:
Does not contain a particular attribute (i.e. dosage) = 0
Has attribute, but not referenced = 1
Has attribute and is referenced = 2
Has attribute and is well referenced = 3
"Referenced" includes sources such as tertiary literature, folklore, testimonials, manufacturer information and case reports.
"Well referenced" includes, but is not limited to, citations from primary and secondary literature, and also standard tertiary sources for health care professionals.
Each attribute is assessed independently by the authors and the average constitutes the final rating. A final score followed by an asterisk denotes a rating difference equal or greater than two points between two evaluators.
"3 Leaf" rating system
The "3 Leaf" rating is applied only to the Pharmacy category. After assessing each of the subcategories in Pharmacy, the overall rating is expressed in terms of 1, 2 or 3 leafs. This scoring is derived from the total number of points the site received in each of the pharmaceutical subcategories.
Total maximum points = 30 points
25 to 30 points 
20 to 24 points
15 to 19 points
10 to 14 points: No leaf but sites are listed on the rating tables
Less than 10 points: Less desirable sites. Not listed on the rating tables but address and access available from the Web Description page if sites are thought to be of value in some specific area
In addition to the "3 Leaf" rating system, a gold background has been used to identify those sites that were found to offer easy retrieval.
Information Quality and Web Site Design
These categories are rated as "Not Found", "Unacceptable", "Acceptable", "Good" or "Excellent".
Information Quality includes such attributes as objectivity and authority, and Web Site Design includes ease of navigation and information retrieval.
