Online Journalism News

Wikipedia vs Brittanica is a close call, research finds

Posted: 15/12/05 By: Jemima Kiss

Email this story | Comments

Further endorsement for Wikipedia's credibility: a study by the science journal Nature found the online encyclopaedia to be close to Encyclopædia Brittanica in its accuracy.

Nature asked a team of experts to review 42 entries and were not told which encyclopaedia the information came from.

The researchers found eight serious mistakes - four in each encyclopaedia. There were many more minor errors, including omissions and misleading statements: 162 in Wikipedia and 123 in Brittanica.

Researchers did criticise some Wikipedia entries for being poorly structured. But the results will not be good news for Brittanica which has faced increasing pressure from free, easily-updated, web-based resources.

More news from journalism.co.uk:
Clash of the titans: old vs new media
Wikipedia prankster confesses to false posting
Journalism stalwart condemns 'flawed' Wikipedia
Switching on to democratic citizen media
The darker side of citizen journalism
Wikinews supercharged by London bombings coverage
Wikinews trumpets online revolution

Tags (click tag to find related articles; click icon for feed):
wikipedia | brittanica | encycolpaedia |

Got a story? Email our news team: Laura Oliver; Judith Townend or telephone +44 (0)1273 384290. You can also follow us on Twitter: @journalismnews / @LauraOliver / @JTownend.