How the Trust Score Works: A Complete Guide to All 12 Verification Sources

Transparency is the foundation of any verification system worth using. Every point in your Trust Score comes from a specific source, and you can see exactly which source contributed what — in your profile dashboard, at any time, with a one-click removal option for any data point you want excluded.

This article walks through all 12 sources in the order they contribute to your score, from highest to lowest maximum points. Total maximum is 1,000 points across all sources combined.

1. ORCID — up to 200 points

ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is the gold standard for research identity. When you connect your ORCID profile, we import your publication record, grant history, institutional affiliation, and peer review activities. These are publicly visible on ORCID and independently maintained by the researchers themselves.

The 200-point maximum reflects the highest single-source contribution in the system — because a verified publication record is the most difficult professional credential to fabricate. A researcher with 12 peer-reviewed publications in aerospace engineering, a current institutional affiliation, and an active ORCID profile provides a level of verifiable evidence that no self-reported credential can match.

How to maximize: Connect your ORCID iD in onboarding Step 4. If you do not have an ORCID, register free at orcid.org — the process takes 10 minutes. Ensure your publication list is complete and your employment affiliations are current.

2. Activity Score — up to 150 points

The Activity Score component reflects your mission execution history on the platform itself. It compounds over time: completed missions, on-time milestone delivery rate, peer endorsements from collaborators, and the quality of your community contributions all feed into this component.

At launch, new members start at 0 Activity Score points. This component is designed to reward demonstrated professional behavior on the platform — it cannot be imported or purchased, only earned. A Professional tier member who has completed three missions with 95% on-time milestone delivery will have a significantly higher Activity Score than an identical member who has been inactive.

How to maximize: Complete your first mission. Deliver milestones on time. Request endorsements from collaborators after project completion. Contribute to Community Spaces consistently.

3. SAM.gov Registration — up to 150 points

System for Award Management registration is the federal government's entity validation database. A verified, active SAM.gov registration with a current CAGE Code demonstrates that you or your organization has completed the federal contractor onboarding process — identity verification, business type classification, and NAICS code registration included.

This is the highest-value compliance credential in the system because it is government-maintained and regularly updated. An active SAM.gov registration means the registrant passed real identity verification with real legal consequences for falsification.

How to maximize: Register at sam.gov if you intend to work on federal programs. Registration is free and takes 7–10 business days for first-time registrants. Once registered, connect your CAGE Code in onboarding Step 4.

4. Identity Verification — up to 100 points

Legal name and nationality verification through document-based identity confirmation. This component establishes the legal person behind the profile — a fundamental requirement for ITAR-adjacent mission work where deemed export restrictions apply to specific nationalities.

5. LinkedIn Professional Network — up to 100 points

Employment history, education, and institutional affiliation from LinkedIn. Unlike ORCID (which focuses on research outputs), LinkedIn captures the employment timeline: where you worked, in what role, and for how long. The verification signal here is behavioral — a professional with 12 years of documented employment history across three aerospace organizations provides a credible professional narrative.

6. Network & Connections — up to 60 points

Partner connections, organization affiliations, and referred professionals on the platform. This component rewards genuine professional network depth — not follower count, but the number of verified professionals who have connected with you, endorsed you, or been referred by you and become active members.

7. Academic Degree Verification — up to 60 points

Institutional degree verification through direct academic record confirmation. This is distinct from self-reported education on LinkedIn — it requires confirmation from the issuing institution or a recognized credential verification service.

8. GitHub Contributions — up to 40 points

Public contribution history, repository quality, and open-source engagement. GitHub is a behavioral verification source: it shows what you actually built, not what you claim to have built. A profile with 1,200 public commits across 8 repositories in aerospace simulation tools is a meaningfully different signal than a blank GitHub profile.

9. Kaggle Competition Rank — up to 35 points

Competition ranking, published datasets, and notebook quality. Kaggle is particularly valuable for data scientists and ML engineers working on health, environmental, and infrastructure missions where data modeling is a core deliverable.

10. HuggingFace Model Contributions — up to 35 points

Model downloads, dataset contributions, and community engagement on HuggingFace. This source is most relevant for AI/ML engineers and researchers publishing models used in scientific or technical applications.

11. Security Clearance — up to 50 points

Self-certified clearance level — always labeled as self-certified on your profile, in mission search results, and in all contracts. This point value reflects the signal value of the self-certification, not verified clearance status. The platform never claims to verify clearance independently.

12. Discord Community — up to 20 points

Verified membership in relevant technical professional communities. The 20-point ceiling reflects its role as a supplementary rather than primary signal — community participation is evidence of engagement with a domain, not deep expertise in it.

What the score is used for

Mission leads can set a minimum Trust Score threshold on their mission posting — applicants below the threshold are filtered before the lead sees them. Professionals with higher Trust Scores appear higher in mission search results when other factors are equal. Contracts for ITAR-adjacent missions may specify a minimum Trust Score as part of the team brief.

The score is a filter, not a ceiling. Exceptional professionals with lower Trust Scores can still be invited directly by mission leads who know their work. The score removes friction from cold discovery — it does not replace judgment in warm introductions.