So our reviews and other stories are typically written by journalists, not specialists in their field. Our DNA is that of a news organization and we trust journalists to collect information from experts and distill it into a package that we think readers will find compelling and useful.That said, we do look for journalists with relevant experience in the subjects they write about.

So for instance, in the Money group we generally do not ask financial planners to write for us. However, several of the people who've written for us happen to hold a certified financial planner designation or have previously worked in the financial services industry.

But authors aside, I think the main way we try to build credibility and give our rankings heft, is the process we use to produce them.We ask writers to go through extensive research and testing to pick the products that are the best based on what we think are the most important features. The process isn't always perfect-—not everyone is going to favor the features we favor.

But it allows us to narrow the number of picks we offer readers down to four or five. And it allows us, when we go to write the story up, to always clearly explain why we made the choices we did. That way, even if you don't like our picks, once you've read the story you should clearly understand how all the top products compare and then you can make your own choice. — Ian Salisbury Buy Side from WSJ Money Editor