Wikipedia in the Health Sciences

While Wikipedia may at first seem like a bit of a Wild West of the internet where anyone can post anything, there are actually well-defined guidelines governing what type of content should be on Wikipedia and how articles should be written. Wikipedia has three Core Content Policies: Neutral Point of View, No Original Research, and Verifiability. 

All Wikipedia articles and other encylopedic content must be written from a neutral point of view, representing significant views fairly, proportionately, and without bias. 

This doesn’t mean that every viewpoint must or should be represented on Wikipedia – note that this guideline says significant views must be represented proportionately. For instance, if there’s valid academic disagreement about a topic, content about it should portray that accurately.

The No Original Research policy means that Wikipedia articles should not contain new analysis or synthesis of materials - if an editor wishes to describe or advance a particular position on Wikipedia, they must cite an appropriate source that has already made that argument.

Verifiability means that information must be attributed to a reliable published source. As you'll see soon, what constitutes an appropriate source varies somewhat depending on what type of information (e.g., biomedical information) is in question.