The Colour Index is curated, not crowdsourced. Every Generic Name and Constitution Number passes through the Nomenclature Committee; every commercial product carries a binding supplier declaration. This note sets out the standards by which both are maintained.
The Nomenclature Committee
The committee comprises dye and pigment chemists drawn from industry, academia, and the regulatory community. It meets quarterly to review new Generic Name proposals, retirements, and structural revisions arising from updated chemistry. All decisions are minuted; the minutes are available to subscribers via the Heritage archive from one year after the meeting.
Review criteria
A new Generic Name is admitted only if it satisfies four tests: (1) the colourant is commercially available or has documented academic significance; (2) the structure is unambiguous and supported by published characterisation data; (3) the name does not collide with an existing entry on substrate or application class; (4) the proposer (manufacturer or research group) has confirmed the disclosure and accepts the supplier declaration.
Commercial product submissions
Each submission is checked against its registered fingerprint before publication. Discrepancies are referred back to the supplier with a request for clarification or evidence. The SDC does not independently retest commercial products — the supplier declaration carries that warranty — but the editorial team will withdraw a record where evidence of misrepresentation emerges.
Corrections and retractions
If you find an error in a Colour Index entry, please write to info@colour-index.com with the CICN, the disputed field, and any supporting evidence. Corrections to factual data are typically published within thirty days; structural revisions go through the next committee cycle.