Science journal supports accuracy of Wikipedia

16 Dec 2005

Wikipedia, the encyclopedia that relies on volunteers to pen nearly 4m articles, is almost as accurate on scientific topics as the Encyclopedia Britannica, the journal Nature said.

The journal compared articles covering a range of sciences just as Wikipedia is under fire over over the accuracy of entries, including a long-running one falsely claiming a prominent journalist was a suspect in the Kennedy assassinations.

Such errors appear to be the exception rather than the rule, Nature said. The average scientific entry in Wikipedia had four errors or omissions, Britannica had three.

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