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Improving Wikipedia's credibility: References and citations in a sample of history articles

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  • Brendan Luyt
  • Daniel Tan

Abstract

This study evaluates how well the authors of Wikipedia history articles adhere to the site's policy of assuring verifiability through citations. It does so by examining the references and citations of a subset of country histories. The findings paint a dismal picture. Not only are many claims not verified through citations, those that are suffer from the choice of references used. Many of these are from only a few US government Websites or news media and few are to academic journal material. Given these results, one response would be to declare Wikipedia unsuitable for serious reference work. But another option emerges when we jettison technological determinism and look at Wikipedia as a product of a wider social context. Key to this context is a world in which information is bottled up as commodities requiring payment for access. Equally important is the problematic assumption that texts are undifferentiated bearers of knowledge. Those involved in instructional programs can draw attention to the social nature of texts to counter these assumptions and by so doing create an awareness for a new generation of Wikipedians and Wikipedia users of the need to evaluate texts (and hence citations) in light of the social context of their production and use.

Suggested Citation

  • Brendan Luyt & Daniel Tan, 2010. "Improving Wikipedia's credibility: References and citations in a sample of history articles," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 61(4), pages 715-722, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jamist:v:61:y:2010:i:4:p:715-722
    DOI: 10.1002/asi.21304
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    Cited by:

    1. Jaehun Joo & Ismatilla Normatov, 2013. "Determinants of collective intelligence quality: comparison between Wiki and Q&A services in English and Korean users," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 7(4), pages 687-711, December.
    2. Aida Pooladian & Ángel Borrego, 2017. "Methodological issues in measuring citations in Wikipedia: a case study in Library and Information Science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 113(1), pages 455-464, October.
    3. Nicolas Jullien, 2012. "What We Know About Wikipedia: A Review of the Literature Analyzing the Project(s)," Post-Print hal-00857208, HAL.
    4. Amalia Mas-Bleda & Mike Thelwall, 2016. "Can alternative indicators overcome language biases in citation counts? A comparison of Spanish and UK research," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(3), pages 2007-2030, December.
    5. Antonio Eleazar Serrano-López & Peter Ingwersen & Elias Sanz-Casado, 2017. "Wind power research in Wikipedia: Does Wikipedia demonstrate direct influence of research publications and can it be used as adequate source in research evaluation?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 112(3), pages 1471-1488, September.

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