These are the cornerstone of evidence-based medicine, and often worth having at the back of your mind: it needs to be a strong association, which is consistent, and specific to the thing you are studying, where the putative cause comes before the supposed effect in time; ideally there should be a biological gradient, such as a dose-response effect; it should be consistent or at least not completely at odds with what is already known (because extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence); and it should be biologically plausible.
