Office of the Ombuds

Gartner is known for our independence and objectivity, and our Copyright and Quote Policy is one way that we reinforce these qualities. With this in mind, we frequently look for ways to improve the policy; our latest look highlighted a few areas where we could increase consistency and further reinforce our independence and objectivity. This update focuses on both of these.

What’s changed?

Now permitted in the policy:

• The word “Gartner” may be used in titles/subtitles of press releases and newsletters, and the subject line of e-mail communications (exceptions: you may not say, “Gartner Says” or “Accordingly to Gartner”).
• Retrospective wording is permitted. This means you may use words such as “consecutive” and “again”. For example, “ABC Company has received a ‘strong positive’ rating for three consecutive years.”
• Comparative wording is permitted. This means you may use words such as “only” or “sole”. For example, “XYZ Company is the only vendor in the leaders’ quadrant.”

Now no longer permitted in the policy: Custom analyst quotes. If it hasn’t been published, vendors may not quote a Gartner analyst as having said it in their external communications.

Timing: We will hold all requests to quote from newly published Magic Quadrant, MarketScope and Cool Vendor research for 24 hours after publication, to provide a level playing field for all requestors.

Why the change?

The update addressed some confusing aspects of the policy; for example, we had not allowed the word “Gartner” in titles, so vendors would have to say “analyst firm” and readers would have to look further to find out that this firm was Gartner. Readers shouldn’t have to do this. Our policy allowed retrospective and comparative wording for some document types, and not for others. This change makes the policy consistent.

The Copyright and Quote policy has long prohibited quoting from non-syndicated research. Custom analyst quotes were essentially non-syndicated research positions that had not gone through the rigorous research process that is Gartner’s hallmark. The updated policy lets our published research speak for our analysts.

The Copyright and Quote Policy on gartner.com reflects these changes. If you have questions about this updated policy, contact ombudsman@gartner.com, as the Office of the Ombudsman maintains this policy. Please continue to send all quote requests (including reports of potential external use violations) to quote.requests@gartner.com.