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. 2019 Dec 1;8(12):giz139.
doi: 10.1093/gigascience/giz139.

Wikipedia: Why is the common knowledge resource still neglected by academics?

Dariusz Jemielniak  1
Affiliations

Wikipedia: Why is the common knowledge resource still neglected by academics?

Dariusz Jemielniak. Gigascience. .

Abstract

Wikipedia is by far the largest online encyclopedia, and the number of errors it contains is on par with the professional sources even in specialized topics such as biology or medicine. Yet, the academic world is still treating it with great skepticism because of the types of inaccuracies present there, the widespread plagiarism from Wikipedia, and historic biases, as well as jealousy regarding the loss of the knowledge dissemination monopoly. This article argues that it is high time not only to acknowledge Wikipedia's quality but also to start actively promoting its use and development in academia.

Keywords: Wikipedia; academia; free knowledge; knowledge quality; online encyclopedia.

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References

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