Every professional claim on AyurvedaDocs carries a badge saying how well it is evidenced — and, just as importantly, how far it is not evidenced. Here is what each badge means, in plain language.
Last updated 31 July 2026
The rule we do not bend
An uploaded certificate is never shown as independently verified.
A document a doctor gives us can travel as far as Document Reviewed and no further. The fourth rung requires the awarding institution, registration council or employer to confirm the claim to us directly. If they have not, the badge says so — even when the paperwork looks flawless, even when we personally believe the doctor.
That restraint is the whole product. A platform willing to call an upload “verified” is a platform whose badges mean nothing, and it would take us one afternoon to be that platform. We would rather show you a profile that is honestly half-checked.
The four levels, from weakest to strongest
Ayurvedic practice in India spans hundreds of colleges, dozens of state councils and thousands of clinics and resorts. There is no single register to look a doctor up in. So instead of a yes/no “verified” tick, we show you how much weight a particular claim can carry — and who is behind it.
The four badges you will see on a profile
L1Self-Declared
L2Doc. Submitted
L3Doc. Reviewed
L4Independently Verified
Weakest on the left, strongest on the right. Every material claim on a profile — each degree, each registration, each job — carries its own badge. A doctor is not “verified”; individual claims are.
L1
Self-Declared
Claim rests on: The doctor
On a profileL1Self-Declared
The doctor typed this in themselves. Nothing has been checked. It is on the profile because the doctor says it is true, and for no other reason.
What it does not mean
It does not mean we think the claim is false — only that no one has looked at it yet. Treat it exactly as you would treat a line on a CV a stranger handed you.
How a claim moves up
The doctor uploads a certificate, licence, letter or registration document supporting the claim.
L2
Document Submitted
Claim rests on: The doctor
On a profileL2Doc. Submitted
A document has been uploaded and is sitting in our queue. The file exists and is attached to this claim. No one has opened and assessed it yet.
What it does not mean
This is not a verification step. An upload on its own tells you only that the doctor was willing to attach a file — not that the file says what the claim says, and not that the file is genuine.
How a claim moves up
A member of the AyurvedaDocs verification team opens the document and assesses it against the claim.
L3
Document Reviewed
Claim rests on: The AyurvedaDocs team
On a profileL3Doc. Reviewed
A named reviewer on the AyurvedaDocs team has read the document. It is legible, it names this doctor, and it is consistent with the claim on the profile — the same degree, the same institution, the same year.
What it does not mean
We have not contacted anyone. A reviewer reading a certificate cannot establish that the certificate was actually issued. A convincing forgery and a genuine document look the same on a screen. This is the highest level a document alone can ever reach.
How a claim moves up
We contact the awarding institution, registration council or employer and they confirm the claim to us directly.
L4
Independently Verified
Claim rests on: The institution or employer
On a profileL4Independently Verified
The organisation that granted the qualification, holds the registration or employed the doctor has confirmed it to AyurvedaDocs directly — by letter, by email from an institutional address, through an official register, or by a call we placed to a number we sourced ourselves.
What it does not mean
It is not a judgement about the doctor's clinical skill, bedside manner or treatment outcomes. It says one narrow thing: this specific claim is true, and someone other than the doctor said so.
How a claim moves up
Nothing above this. L4 is the top of the ladder, and it is the only rung that involves a third party.
The badge on a profile is the same badge as the one on the card above, in the same colour, with the same words. If a profile shows L3Doc. Reviewed next to a degree, that degree is at level three — a person on our team has read the certificate, and the college has not been contacted.
What “confirmed directly” actually involves
Level four is expensive and slow, which is exactly why it is worth something. A claim only reaches it when a third party tells us it is true, through a channel we chose:
A reply from an institutional email domain — a university registrar, a state council office, an employer’s HR desk — answering a specific question we asked about a specific doctor.
A phone call we placed to a number we found ourselves, on the institution’s own published listing. Never a number the doctor supplied.
A lookup in an official public register maintained by the awarding or licensing body, where one exists.
A signed letter sent to AyurvedaDocs by the institution, on its own letterhead, in response to our request.
Every one of those exchanges is logged against the claim with a date and the name of the AyurvedaDocs staff member who made contact. If an institution does not respond, the claim stays where it is. Silence is never read as a yes.
The doctor is never the messenger
A confirmation forwarded to us by the doctor is not a confirmation. It has to arrive at AyurvedaDocs from the institution, through a channel we initiated. This is not scepticism about any individual doctor; it is the only way the badge can mean the same thing on every profile.
What no badge on this site claims
Verification is narrow on purpose. Even a profile where every single claim sits at level four is telling you about paperwork and history — nothing else.
Not clinical competence
We confirm that a qualification was awarded. We cannot and do not assess how well anyone practises.
Not treatment outcomes
Nothing here predicts whether a treatment will work for you. That is a conversation with the doctor.
Not an endorsement
A doctor being listed is not a recommendation from AyurvedaDocs. We rank nobody and we sell no placements.
Not medical advice
Published answers are general professional writing, reviewed for accuracy. They are not advice about your case.
Evidence can move down as well as up
A badge describes what we know today, not what we knew when the doctor joined. Registrations lapse, employment ends, and confirmations age.
Registration claims are re-confirmed with the issuing council on a recurring cycle. If a council tells us a registration has lapsed, the claim drops off the profile rather than sitting there stale.
When a doctor edits a claim that had already been confirmed — changing a year, an institution or a job title — the edited claim returns to Self-Declared and is put back through the ladder from the bottom.
Current employment claims are re-checked when a doctor updates their profile, and at least annually.
How to read a profile without over-reading it
A profile with a mix of levels is normal and healthy. A brand-new profile is mostly self-declared; a long-standing one usually has its degree and registration confirmed and its recent jobs still under review. What you are looking for is not a wall of green.
1Look at the claim you actually care about. If you need a Panchakarma specialist, the badge on the Panchakarma qualification matters more than the overall picture.
2Check who is behind that badge. Levels one and two rest on the doctor. Level three rests on our team. Only level four rests on someone independent.
3Read the completeness ring as effort, not as proof. It measures how much of a profile has been filled in and evidenced — a full ring is not a verification.
4Ask the doctor. A doctor who is comfortable with their record will happily talk you through a claim that is still at level one.
The rule we do not bend
An uploaded certificate is never shown as independently verified.
A document a doctor gives us can travel as far as Document Reviewed and no further. The fourth rung requires the awarding institution, registration council or employer to confirm the claim to us directly. If they have not, the badge says so — even when the paperwork looks flawless, even when we personally believe the doctor.
That restraint is the whole product. A platform willing to call an upload “verified” is a platform whose badges mean nothing, and it would take us one afternoon to be that platform. We would rather show you a profile that is honestly half-checked.
If a badge looks wrong, tell us
We would rather hear about it than not. If you are an institution and a claim naming you is incorrect, or you are a doctor whose record has been graded wrongly, write to us and we will re-open the claim and put it back through the ladder.