# BeaverCheck Audit Report — https://europepmc.org **Date:** April 21, 2026 **URL:** https://europepmc.org **Overall Grade:** D (67/100) **Report:** https://beavercheck.com/results/f5f478f3-fcd9-419f-af3e-2419850476aa ## Top Findings 1. **[CRITICAL]** Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * with credentials — critical misconfiguration — Security > CORS Configuration 2. **[CRITICAL]** Content-Security-Policy header is missing — Security > Security Headers 3. **[CRITICAL]** Cookie 'JSESSIONID' is missing the Secure flag — Security > Cookie Security 4. **[CRITICAL]** Cookie 'User-UUID' is missing the Secure flag — Security > Cookie Security 5. **[CRITICAL]** HSTS header is missing — Security > Security Headers --- ## Lighthouse Scores | Category | Score | |----------|-------| | Performance | 52 | | Accessibility | 80 | | Best Practices | 77 | | SEO | 92 | --- ## Security ### Security Headers (F — 35/100) *4 of 10 headers properly configured* - **[CRITICAL]** HSTS header is missing — Strict-Transport-Security forces browsers to use HTTPS, preventing downgrade attacks. Add the header with a max-age of at least 1 year. - **[PASS]** X-Content-Type-Options is properly configured - **[PASS]** X-Frame-Options is properly configured - **[WARNING]** Referrer-Policy header is missing — Controls how much referrer information is sent with requests. Set to 'strict-origin-when-cross-origin' or stricter. - **[WARNING]** Permissions-Policy header is missing — Controls which browser features (camera, microphone, geolocation) are allowed. Set it to restrict unused features. - **[CRITICAL]** Content-Security-Policy header is missing — CSP is the most important header for preventing XSS attacks. See the CSP section for detailed analysis. - **[PASS]** Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy is properly configured - **[WARNING]** Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy header is missing — COEP prevents loading cross-origin resources without explicit permission. Required for SharedArrayBuffer and high-resolution timers. - **[PASS]** X-Powered-By header is not present - **[WARNING]** Server header reveals version information — The Server header discloses the software version, aiding attackers in targeting known vulnerabilities. Remove the version number. ### Content Security Policy (F — 0/100) *No enforcing CSP policy found* - **[CRITICAL]** No Content-Security-Policy header found — CSP is the most effective defense against XSS attacks. Add a Content-Security-Policy header to restrict resource loading. ### TLS & Certificates (A+ — 100/100) *TLS 1.3, 7 checks passed* - **[PASS]** TLS 1.3 is used - **[PASS]** Strong cipher suite is used - **[INFO]** HTTP/2 is not negotiated — HTTP/2 provides multiplexing and header compression for better performance. - **[PASS]** Certificate is valid (expires in 75 days) - **[PASS]** Certificate chain has 2 certificates - **[PASS]** Certificate uses modern signature algorithm - **[PASS]** Certificate covers 6 domain(s) - **[PASS]** Certificate is issued by a trusted CA ### Cookie Security (C — 55/100) *2 cookies analyzed, 1 checks passed* - **[CRITICAL]** Cookie 'JSESSIONID' is missing the Secure flag — Without the Secure flag, this cookie can be sent over unencrypted HTTP, exposing it to interception. - **[PASS]** Cookie 'JSESSIONID' has the HttpOnly flag - **[WARNING]** Cookie 'JSESSIONID' has no SameSite attribute — Without an explicit SameSite attribute, browser default behavior varies. Set SameSite=Lax or Strict. - **[CRITICAL]** Cookie 'User-UUID' is missing the Secure flag — Without the Secure flag, this cookie can be sent over unencrypted HTTP, exposing it to interception. - **[WARNING]** Cookie 'User-UUID' is missing the HttpOnly flag — Without HttpOnly, this cookie can be accessed by JavaScript, making it vulnerable to XSS-based theft. - **[WARNING]** Cookie 'User-UUID' has no SameSite attribute — Without an explicit SameSite attribute, browser default behavior varies. Set SameSite=Lax or Strict. --- ## Advanced Security ### Subresource Integrity (F — 20/100) *0 of 1 external resources have SRI* - **[WARNING]** External script from script.crazyegg.com lacks integrity attribute — Without SRI, if this CDN is compromised, attackers could inject malicious code. ### JS Library Vulnerabilities (A+ — 100/100) *No known vulnerabilities* - **[PASS]** No known JavaScript library vulnerabilities detected ### Information Leakage (A+ — 100/100) *No exposures* - **[INFO]** No security.txt found — Consider adding a security.txt at /.well-known/security.txt. - **[PASS]** No sensitive files exposed ### Email Security (F — 30/100) *No DMARC* - **[WARNING]** No DMARC record found — Without DMARC, email receivers have no policy for handling authentication failures. ### Permissions-Policy (D — 40/100) *No header set* - **[WARNING]** No Permissions-Policy header — Consider adding a Permissions-Policy header to restrict browser feature access from embedded content. ### CORS Configuration (F — 10/100) *Origin: ** - **[CRITICAL]** Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * with credentials — critical misconfiguration — Browsers block this, but it signals a server-side misconfiguration that may be exploitable. - **[INFO]** Origin reflection not testable with a single request — Some servers reflect the request Origin header. This requires manual testing with a crafted Origin header. --- ## Performance ### Page Weight Budget (F — 15/100) *3.4 MB transferred, 179 requests* - **[WARNING]** Page weighs 11.4 MB (3.4 MB transferred) - **[WARNING]** JavaScript is 2.0 MB — consider code splitting or lazy loading — Large JavaScript bundles delay interactivity. Split code by route or defer non-critical scripts. - **[INFO]** Fonts are 650 KB — consider subsetting or using system fonts — Subset fonts to include only used characters, or switch to system font stacks. - **[INFO]** CSS is 263 KB — consider purging unused styles — Remove unused CSS rules with tools like PurgeCSS to reduce stylesheet size. - **[WARNING]** 179 HTTP requests — consider bundling or reducing — Each request adds latency. Bundle small files, use sprites, or eliminate unnecessary requests. - **[INFO]** Estimated 0.72 g CO2 per page load ### Third-Party Impact (B — 70/100) *53% third-party, 0 ms blocking* - **[WARNING]** Third-party code accounts for 53% of page weight (1.8 MiB of 3.4 MiB) - **[PASS]** Third-party blocking time is low (0 ms) ### Text Compression (A+ — 100/100) *All text resources are compressed* - **[PASS]** All text resources are compressed ### Image Optimization (C — 60/100) *15 images, 0 KB saveable* - **[WARNING]** https://europepmc.org/img/trusted-partnerships.a5a... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS. - **[WARNING]** data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAEkA... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS. - **[WARNING]** data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAGwA... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS. - **[WARNING]** https://europepmc.org/img/innovative-features.b45d... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS. - **[WARNING]** https://europepmc.org/img/comprehensive-search.0e8... is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS. - **[WARNING]** https://europepmc.org/img/gbc-footer.86def661.png is missing width/height — may cause layout shift — Set explicit width and height to prevent CLS. ### JS Execution Cost (D — 40/100) *2345ms total JS execution* - **[WARNING]** Unattributable: 613ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** https://europepmc.org/: 455ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** https://europepmc.org/js/app.a19c91e2.js: 435ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** https://script.crazyegg.com/pages/versioned/common...: 354ms CPU time - **[INFO]** https://script.crazyegg.com/scripts/addons/1.0.146...: 92ms CPU time - **[WARNING]** Third-party scripts: 1200ms (51% of total) ### Font Loading (A+ — 100/100) *7 fonts (650 KB)* - **[INFO]** 7 font(s) use font-display: swap (FOUT risk but functional) ### JS Bundles (D — 40/100) *79 scripts, 369 KB unused* - **[WARNING]** https://europepmc.org/js/chunk-vendors.6544f1b1.js: 143 KB unused (69%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code. - **[WARNING]** https://script.crazyegg.com/scripts/addons/1.0.146...: 74 KB unused (77%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code. - **[WARNING]** https://europepmc.org/js/app.a19c91e2.js: 70 KB unused (50%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code. - **[WARNING]** https://europepmc.org/plugins/jquery-ui-1.10.4.cus...: 53 KB unused (90%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code. - **[WARNING]** https://script.crazyegg.com/pages/versioned/common...: 28 KB unused (51%) — Consider code splitting or tree shaking to reduce unused code. - **[INFO]** Total unused JavaScript: 369 KB ### Resource Caching (A+ — 100/100) *All resources properly cached* - **[PASS]** No caching issues found ### Critical Rendering Path (A+ — 100/100) *No render-blocking resources* - **[PASS]** No render-blocking resources detected ### Resource Hints (A+ — 100/100) *89 hints, 0 missing preconnects* - **[PASS]** Page uses 89 resource hint(s) ### Page Weight Inventory (D — 40/100) *179 resources · 3.4 MB · 369 KB savings available* - **[WARNING]** Page weight 2.4 MB over 1MB target - **[INFO]** ~369 KB of savings available - **[WARNING]** 44 third-party resources (53% of weight) - **[INFO]** 3 resources over 200KB ### Render-Blocking Resources (A+ — 100/100) *No render-blocking resources detected* - **[PASS]** No render-blocking resources detected in ### Third-Party Resources (A+ — 100/100) *No third-party resources detected* --- ## Content Quality ### Links (B — 85/100) *175 links checked, 172 healthy, 3 broken* - **[WARNING]** 172 of 175 links are healthy - **[WARNING]** Broken link: https://europepmc.org/Funders/RSS/MostViewedArticles.xml — Found in . Returns HTTP 500. - **[WARNING]** Broken link: https://europepmc.org/Funders/RSS/AllFunders.xml — Found in . Returns HTTP 500. - **[WARNING]** Broken link: https://europepmc.org/Funders/rss/NewJournals.xml — Found in . Returns HTTP 500. ### Mixed Content (A+ — 100/100) *No mixed content detected — all resources use HTTPS.* - **[PASS]** No mixed content detected — all resources use HTTPS ### Open Graph (F — 0/100) *No Open Graph tags found — social sharing previews will be generic.* - **[WARNING]** No Open Graph meta tags found — Without og:title, og:description, and og:image, social media platforms will generate a generic preview when your page is shared. ### Structured Data (C — 40/100) *No structured data (JSON-LD) found.* - **[INFO]** No structured data (JSON-LD) found — Adding structured data helps search engines understand your content and can enable rich results. --- ## Infrastructure ### DNS Records (A+ — 95/100) *1 A records, 28 ms lookup* - **[PASS]** Resolves to 1 IPv4 address(es) - **[INFO]** Single A record — no DNS redundancy — Multiple A records provide failover if one server goes down. - **[INFO]** No IPv6 (AAAA) records - **[PASS]** 4 nameserver(s) configured - **[PASS]** 2 mail exchanger(s) configured - **[INFO]** CAA records not checked — CAA record lookup requires a specialized DNS resolver. This check will be available in a future update. - **[PASS]** SPF record present in TXT - **[PASS]** DNS resolution time: 28 ms ### Redirect Chain (A+ — 100/100) *No redirects — direct access* - **[PASS]** No redirects — direct access ### IPv6 Readiness (C — 60/100) *No IPv6 support* - **[INFO]** No IPv6 (AAAA) records found — IPv6 support is increasingly important for global accessibility. About 40% of internet users have IPv6 connectivity. ### Crawlability (C — 60/100) *robots.txt present, sitemap with 962 URLs* - **[PASS]** robots.txt is present - **[CRITICAL]** robots.txt blocks all crawlers — Disallow: / for all user-agents prevents search engines from indexing any page. This will remove the site from search results. - **[PASS]** sitemap.xml is present - **[PASS]** sitemap.xml is valid XML - **[PASS]** sitemap.xml contains 962 entries - **[PASS]** Sitemap index with 962 child sitemaps - **[PASS]** robots.txt references sitemap ### URL Variants (A+ — 100/100) *www/non-www, trailing slash, HTTP→HTTPS* - **[PASS]** www/non-www redirect configured correctly (preferred: non-www) - **[PASS]** HTTP correctly 301-redirects to HTTPS ### Domain Intelligence *Domain intelligence data not available* --- ## Compliance ### WCAG Compliance (A+ — 100/100) *No testable criteria* ### Cookie Consent & Privacy (B — 80/100) *No consent signals detected* - **[WARNING]** No privacy policy link detected — A privacy policy page is recommended for transparency and may be legally required. - **[INFO]** No terms of service link detected - **[INFO]** No cookie consent banner detected - **[PASS]** 2 cookie(s) set on initial load (functional) - **[INFO]** This is an automated check, not legal advice — BeaverCheck detects technical indicators of consent management. This does not constitute a legal compliance assessment. Consult a privacy professional for GDPR/CCPA compliance. ### Language & i18n (A — 90/100) *Lang attribute present* - **[PASS]** attribute is present - **[PASS]** value is valid - **[INFO]** No Content-Language HTTP header - **[INFO]** Language signals are inconsistent — The attribute and Content-Language header should agree. ### Readability & Typography (A+ — 100/100) *Font sizes and tap targets checked* ### Viewport Configuration (A+ — 100/100) *Viewport properly configured* - **[PASS]** Viewport meta tag is present - **[PASS]** width=device-width is set - **[PASS]** User zooming is allowed ### Third-Party Trackers (C — 55/100) *1 trackers detected* - **[INFO]** 1 third-party trackers detected — Found 1 analytics, 0 advertising, 0 marketing, 0 tag manager trackers. - **[WARNING]** Trackers detected but no cookie policy found — This page loads 1 trackers but no cookie policy was detected. GDPR requires disclosure when using tracking cookies. - **[WARNING]** Trackers detected but no privacy policy found — Most data protection regulations require a privacy policy when collecting user data via trackers. ### Cookie & Tracker Inventory (A+ — 100/100) *2 cookies · 1 trackers · 0 pre-consent* - **[INFO]** 1 cookie(s) could not be classified - **[INFO]** 1 third-party tracker(s) detected on page --- ## Legal ### Legal Page Ecosystem (F — 35/100) *1 of 7 expected legal pages detected* - **[PASS]** Privacy Policy detected — Found at /PrivacyNotice, linked from footer. - **[WARNING]** Terms of Service not detected — No link matching common Terms of Service URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Terms of Service, especially those collecting user data. - **[INFO]** Cookie Policy not detected — No link matching common Cookie Policy URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Cookie Policy, especially those collecting user data. - **[INFO]** Accessibility Statement not detected — No link matching common Accessibility Statement URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Accessibility Statement, especially those collecting user data. - **[INFO]** DMCA / Copyright Notice not detected — No link matching common DMCA / Copyright Notice URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a DMCA / Copyright Notice, especially those collecting user data. - **[INFO]** Refund / Returns Policy not detected — No link matching common Refund / Returns Policy URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Refund / Returns Policy, especially those collecting user data. - **[INFO]** Acceptable Use Policy not detected — No link matching common Acceptable Use Policy URL patterns or link text was found. Most websites are expected to have a Acceptable Use Policy, especially those collecting user data. ### Copyright Notice (C — 55/100) *No copyright notice detected* - **[INFO]** No copyright notice detected — No copyright notice detected in the page content. While not legally required in most jurisdictions (copyright exists automatically), a notice is standard practice and signals site ownership. ### Regulatory Indicators *1 regulatory indicator(s) detected* - **[INFO]** This is a technical scan, not a legal assessment — BeaverCheck detects technical indicators that may suggest regulatory relevance. This is not a compliance audit and should not be relied upon for legal decisions. Consult qualified legal counsel for compliance assessments. - **[INFO]** GDPR indicators detected (moderate confidence) — Indicators suggesting GDPR may be relevant: Privacy policy page found. EU General Data Protection Regulation — governs collection and processing of personal data of EU residents. ### Third-Party Data Sharing *0 third-party service(s) detected* - **[INFO]** Data inventory for transparency purposes — This inventory identifies third-party services that receive data from your site visitors. Under regulations like GDPR (Article 30), maintaining records of data processing activities is commonly considered a best practice. This automated scan provides a starting point — it may not capture all data flows. - **[INFO]** No recognized third-party data-sharing services detected — This page does not appear to load external tracking, analytics, or advertising scripts. ### Compliance Badges (B — 70/100) *1 compliance badge(s) detected* - **[PASS]** TRUSTe / TrustArc badge detected — Found via image alt text: 'trusted partnerships'. Note: the presence of a badge does not verify the certification is current or valid. --- ## Availability ### CDN & Delivery (D — 50/100) *No CDN detected* - **[WARNING]** No CDN detected — A CDN can significantly improve load times for users around the world by caching content at edge nodes closer to them. ### HTTP Caching (D — 40/100) *no-store (uncacheable)* - **[INFO]** Cache-Control: no-store prevents all caching — Intentional for dynamic content, but increases server load for every page view. - **[INFO]** No ETag or Last-Modified header — Conditional requests (304 Not Modified) are not possible without validators. ### Transport Security (B — 75/100) *HTTP/3, HSTS, and TLS version analysis* - **[INFO]** HTTP/3 (QUIC) not advertised — HTTP/3 eliminates head-of-line blocking. If your CDN supports it, consider enabling it. - **[WARNING]** Missing Strict-Transport-Security header — HSTS tells browsers to only use HTTPS, preventing SSL stripping attacks. - **[PASS]** TLS 1.3 in use (fastest handshake, 1-RTT) --- ## Accessibility ### Landmark Structure (C — 55/100) *2 landmarks* - **[CRITICAL]** No
landmark found — Screen reader users cannot quickly navigate to the primary content. Wrap your main content in
. - **[PASS]** 1