As AI accelerates the spread of content of uncertain origin, the signals people have long relied on — peer review, editorial standards, curation, institutional reputation — are scattered, hard to see, and increasingly easy to fake. TrustMarc brings those existing signals together into a single, shared, machine-readable framework.
A TrustMarc is a portable, machine-verifiable token linked to a tamper-proof digital certificate that gathers the cumulative record of trust endorsements for a content item from many sources: creators, reviewers, publishers, repositories, and the criteria they applied. Via the embedded TrustMarc token, the item's trust record and endorsements travel with it — instantly verifiable, anytime, anywhere, by any reader or agent. Organizations acquire and apply TrustMarcs to signal the credibility of their content.
The TrustMarc framework is open and independently governed by the TrustMarc Standards Council — a group of leaders in research libraries and knowledge stewardship: chair Christian Dupont (Associate University Librarian, Boston College, and special collections curator), Dr. Buhle Mbambo-Thata (University Librarian, National University of Lesotho, and an IFLA leader), and Carol Mandel (Dean of Libraries Emerita, New York University, and digital preservation leader). Also part of the initiative is Toby Green, who built the OECD’s digital library and pioneered improved access to grey literature. Coherent Digital serves as founding implementation partner, building and operating the registry and supporting infrastructure on the community’s behalf.
"Most credible organisations already do the work that earns trust — they review, curate and, stand behind what they publish. TrustMarc doesn't ask them to do anything new. It takes the standards they already apply and makes them visible, verifiable, and machine-readable — so that trust travels with the content, not just with the brand — even when it's read by machines." — Toby Green, The TrustMarc Initiative
“TrustMarcs fulfill a vision for providing researchers and the public at large visible, verifiable means of assuring that information sources they depend upon come from trustworthy sources, thereby restoring and promoting in the web as a dependable global information resource.” —Christian Dupont, Chair, TrustMarc Standards Council
Last month, proof of concept was shown at the On Think Tanks Conference in Rabat, Morocco, and a public beta will be unveiled at the Charleston Conference in November 2026. The initiative is now recruiting a small group of development partners. Learn more and get involved at trustmarc.org.
About the TrustMarc Initiative
An open, independently governed effort to make trust in content visible, verifiable, and portable — for people and machines. It is guided by an independent Standards Council, with Coherent Digital as founding implementation partner building and operating the underlying infrastructure.
Media contact
Toby Green· Council Member· toby.green@trustmarc.org