The Science category: research, discovery and how filters treat it
From physics labs to planetariums, the Science category holds sites whose main subject is how the natural world works. Here is its scope, its borders and the policy questions it raises for schools, companies and filter vendors.
01What the Science category includes
The category covers the natural, physical, earth, space and formal sciences. A site belongs here when explaining, publishing or doing science is its main purpose.
Research institutes
National labs, independent institutes, observatories and university research groups with their own domains.
Scientific journals
Peer-reviewed journals, publisher platforms and article landing pages in the sciences.
Preprint servers
Open repositories where researchers post papers before formal publication.
Science news
Magazines, science desks and newsletters that cover discoveries for a general audience.
Museums and centres
Natural history museums, science centres, planetariums and their online exhibits.
Space and astronomy
Space agency mission pages, sky-watching guides, telescope imagery and astronomy clubs.
Citizen science
Projects where volunteers classify galaxies, count birds or report weather observations.
Learned societies
Professional bodies for chemists, physicists, geologists and biologists, with conferences and member resources.
Research data
Data repositories, sky surveys, genome browsers and climate data portals.
Earth and climate
Geology, oceanography, meteorology research and environmental monitoring sites.
Maths and statistics
Mathematical research, problem archives, statistics societies and formal logic resources.
Science outreach
Explainer sites, experiment guides and popular science channels with their own domain.
Note: the label describes the subject of a site. It does not judge whether the site's claims are correct, the same way a News/Media label does not judge editorial quality.
02Exclusions and neighbouring categories
Science touches more categories than almost any other topic. These borders decide most cases.
Science keeps
- Research in biology, chemistry, physics, earth and space sciences
- Science journalism and popular science magazines
- Museums and science centres whose collections are scientific
- Data and tools built for scientific research
- Academic science departments with their own research sites
Neighbours take
- Schools, courses, dictionaries and encyclopedias: Education/Reference
- Clinics, symptoms, drugs and patient advice: Health & Medicine
- Software, gadgets and IT: Computers & Technology
- General newsrooms: News/Media
- Pet care and animal adoption: Pets & Animals
- Lab equipment shops: Shopping or Business
Online courses about science go to Education/Reference or Webinars/E-learning, depending on whether the site is a reference work or a course platform. Science is for the research and the subject itself.
03Typical science site types
How strongly each type fits the category, with the labels it usually carries. Fit is shown as a bar: full means Science is almost always the first label.
| Site type | Fit with Science | Usual labels |
|---|---|---|
| Particle physics laboratory | Strong | Science |
| Preprint repository | Strong | ScienceEducation/Reference |
| Popular science magazine | Strong | ScienceNews/Media |
| Space agency | Strong | ScienceGovernment & Legal |
| Natural history museum | Good | ScienceArts & Entertainment |
| Biomedical research journal | Shared | Health & MedicineScience |
| Weather forecast portal | Partial | News/MediaScience |
| Botanical garden research site | Good | ScienceHome & Garden |
| Amateur rocketry club | Shared | ScienceSports & Recreation |
| Fossil and mineral dealer | Weak | ShoppingScience |
| School science worksheets | Weak | Education/Reference |
| Telescope retailer | Weak | ShoppingScience |
| Crypto project calling itself "science" | None | Cryptocurrency |
To see the labels on any domain you care about, run it through the web filter domain lookup. Every category on the domain is returned in ranked order.
04Sensitive science: where other categories take over
A small share of scientific content overlaps with categories that schools and parents restrict. The rule is that the most specific risk label is added on top, so policy can act on it without blocking science as a whole.
Sites that use "anatomy" as a cover for explicit material carry Adult and are treated as such.
Pages that give practical instructions for making explosives or drugs carry Weapons or Illegal Drugs, which schools block.
Faith-based perspectives on origins are labelled Religion & Spirituality. The data does not take sides; policy owners decide.
Sites that distribute copyrighted papers without permission carry File Sharing/P2P, which many institutions block.
Graphic hunting footage may carry Violence or Sports & Recreation, depending on the site.
05How a site earns the Science label
Domains are categorized from site content, then reviewed and validated. These are the kinds of evidence on a page that point to Science rather than a neighbour.
Methods and results
Pages describe experiments, observations, models or measurements and what they showed.
Citations
Articles cite papers, datasets or identifiers, and link research outputs to authors and institutions.
People and groups
Researcher profiles, lab members, principal investigators and funded projects.
Data and instruments
Downloads, observing logs, instrument pages and data documentation.
Audience
Content written for researchers or curious readers, not for patients, buyers or students doing homework.
Purpose
The site exists to do, publish or explain science, rather than to sell a product that mentions it.
A product site that borrows scientific words to sell supplements or gadgets does not earn the label from vocabulary alone. It is labelled by what it sells.
06Common filtering mistakes with science content
Science pages are a frequent source of overblocking complaints. Most of them come from rules that look at words instead of categories.
A category decision on the whole domain avoids this, because the site's purpose is clear.
Daily categorization of newly registered domains keeps this gap small.
A separate Science label keeps reports meaningful.
When a site's purpose is deception, it carries Malware / Phishing / Suspicious, whatever it looks like. Our phishing and malware domain feed page explains that side.
Store every ranked label; decide in policy which ranks to act on.
Multi-label data lets you allow forums that also carry Science.
07Deployment patterns by product type
How different kinds of products typically wire the Science category into their policy engine.
| Product type | Typical handling | Data format used |
|---|---|---|
| Next-generation firewall | Science shown in the general interest group, allowed by default, reported | Local category file, lookup API for misses |
| DNS filter | Science never blocked in presets; available for custom policies | Domain list or DNS RPZ export |
| School filter | Science locked open in curriculum presets, with CIPA categories blocked | CSV or Parquet loaded into the policy service |
| Parental control app | Science used for positive "learn" profiles | JSON category file on the backend |
| Research network gateway | Science on an allow-list that bypasses inspection for large data transfers | Firewall external dynamic list |
08Policy table: schools, businesses, guest Wi-Fi, families
Science is one of the most widely allowed categories. The interesting decisions are in the exceptions.
| Environment | Default | Reasoning | Typical exception |
|---|---|---|---|
| K-12 schools (CIPA) | Allow | Core curriculum. CIPA requires blocking obscene and harmful visual content, which Science sites are not. | Keep Weapons, Illegal Drugs and Adult blocked so the rare risky science page is still caught |
| Universities and labs | Allow | Research depends on open access to journals and data. | Block pirate paper sites for licensing reasons; allow publisher domains |
| Businesses | Allow | R&D, engineering and pharma teams need it daily. | Few. Some regulated firms log access to research data portals |
| Guest Wi-Fi | Allow | No risk and no meaningful bandwidth load. | None common |
| Parental control | Allow | Parents generally want children to explore science. | Very young profiles may use an allow-list instead of categories |
Research network checklist
- Allow Science and Education/Reference at every rank
- Allow publisher and preprint domains even when inspection is strict
- Block pirate paper sites through File Sharing/P2P
- Keep Malware / Phishing / Suspicious blocked: fake journal sites exist
School preset checklist
- Science open for all year groups
- CIPA-relevant categories blocked, including Weapons and Illegal Drugs
- Forums carrying Science allowed for older students
- Review blocked-page reports each term for science false alarms
For school vendors: keeping Science open while restricting the CIPA-relevant categories is the pattern most districts expect. Our K-12 school web filtering page covers the full category set.
09Multi-category cases
Domains carry several categories, ranked by how much of the site each one describes. In science, the second label often carries the policy weight.
Science + Government & Legal
- Space agencies, geological surveys, weather services
- Allowed nearly everywhere; useful for public-sector reports
Health & Medicine + Science
- Biomedical journals, genetics research, epidemiology
- Health ranks first when patient advice dominates
Science + Streaming Media
- Video lecture archives, live telescope feeds
- Bandwidth rules can act on the second label
Science + Forums / Message Boards
- Q&A sites for physics, maths or astronomy
- Schools that block forums may want an exception
Science + AI / LLM Tools
- Research assistants and paper summarisers
- AI policies apply; see the AI tools category set
Science + Shopping
- Lab suppliers and educational kit stores
- Shopping usually ranks first for retailers
10How vendors use the Science category
Few products block Science. Many depend on it to stay out of the way of legitimate work and learning, and to explain to users why a page was allowed.
The category is also a quiet signal of trust in reporting: a spike in Science traffic from a lab subnet is expected, while the same spike from a kiosk network deserves a look.
Avoid overblocking
Edtech filters keep Science open so biology and chemistry lessons are not caught by keyword rules.
Research reporting
Firewalls and SWGs show R&D teams' research traffic as its own line in reports.
Context and ads
Ad platforms combine Science with IAB categories for science-friendly placements.
Positive lists
Parental control apps build "explore" profiles that open Science and Education for children.
For a vendor, the value is a clean, multi-label category that sits next to Education/Reference and Health & Medicine without overlap errors. The full web filtering database ships all 59 categories and the IAB taxonomy in one file, as CSV, Parquet or JSON.
Delivery: files run inside your own systems, on-premise or air-gapped. Newly registered domains arrive as daily deltas, re-checked after a week and a month; the rest refreshes monthly. A lookup API is included with licences.
11Science category FAQ
What is the Science category in web filtering?
It groups sites whose main subject is the natural, physical, earth, space and formal sciences: research institutions, journals, preprint servers, science news, museums and science societies.
Should schools block the Science category?
Almost never. Science is a core subject. CIPA focuses on obscene and harmful visual content, so schools keep Science open and rely on other categories to catch the rare harmful page.
Is a medical journal in Science or Health & Medicine?
Clinical and patient-facing content goes to Health & Medicine. Biomedical research publishers often carry both labels, ranked by which subject dominates the site.
Does the Science label mean a site is accurate?
No. Categories describe the subject and purpose of a site, not whether its claims are correct. The label is a description, not an endorsement.
Where do pirate research paper sites go?
Sites that distribute copyrighted papers without permission are labelled by what they do, so they carry File Sharing/P2P rather than Science alone.
Are university domains labelled Science?
A university's main domain is usually Education/Reference. Separate research centre or lab domains that focus on scientific work carry Science, often with Education/Reference second.
Do space agency and observatory sites count as Science or Government?
Both, usually. The research and mission content makes Science the first label on most of them, with Government & Legal second for publicly funded agencies.
Are science YouTube style channels on their own domains included?
Yes, when the domain belongs to the creator and science is its subject. Videos hosted on a large video platform take the platform's own category instead.
Is climate change content in Science or Political?
Research, data and science reporting on climate stay in Science. Campaign groups and advocacy sites carry Political, sometimes with Science second if they publish research.
Can I get Science together with IAB categories?
Yes. The 59 web filtering categories and the IAB Content Taxonomy, 703 categories in version 3, are delivered in the same file, so one lookup gives both views.
How is accuracy measured for this category?
Categories are validated manually on a regular schedule. Licence holders receive validation reports with measured accuracy, so they can judge the data on evidence.
License the Science category with the full database
120 million categorized domains in 59 categories plus the IAB taxonomy, for internal use or OEM embedding. Starter database tiers from $999; enterprise and OEM licences are quoted per deployment.
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