Wikipedia:Verifiability

WP:V redirects here. For vandalism, see Wikipedia:Vandalism (WP:VAND).

Wikipedia should only publish material that is verifiable. Wikipedia:Verifiability is one of Wikipedia's four content-guiding policy pages. The other three are No original research, Neutral point of view and What Wikipedia is not. These policies, which have mandatory application, are complementary and should not be interpreted in isolation.

The policy

1. Articles should contain only material that has been published by reputable sources. 2. Editors adding new information into an article should cite a reputable source for that information, otherwise it may be summarily removed by any editor. 3. The obligation to provide a reputable source is on editors wishing to include information, not on those seeking to remove it.

Citing sources

Further information: Wikipedia:Citing sources

The burden of evidence lies with the editors who have made the edit or wish the edit to remain. Editors should therefore provide references. If an article topic has no reputable sources, Wikipedia should not have an article on that topic. Any edit lacking a source may be removed, but do not remove large tracts of Wikipedia without first giving people a chance to provide references to support its inclusion. If you doubt the accuracy or origin of an unsourced statement that has been in an article for a long time, delete it or move it to the talk page. Alternatively, you may tag the article by adding the {{fact}}, {{not verified}} or {{unsourced}} templates. If the article has many unsourced statements that have been there a long time, you may request sources on the talk page before removing them, unless the article or information is about a living person, in which case remove the unsourced information. When removing information be very careful to do so politely and civilly.

For more information on citing sources including how best to cite sources, see Wikipedia:Citing sources.

Reputable sources

Further information: Wikipedia:Reliable sources

Just because information is sourced doesn't mean that it is acceptable to add it to Wikipedia. Certainly it has to be noteworthy and relevant, but those issues are outside the scope of this policy and so not discussed here. With regards to Verifiability, the source has to have a good reputation for accuracy for the sort of information it is being used to reference. If you are concerned as to whether any given source is reputable or not, first discuss it on the talk page. Also remember that for an encyclopaedia sources should be appropriate to the claims made: outlandish claims beg strong sources. See Wikipedia:Reliable sources for more information. If your concerns are still not resolved, or if the same source is used on a large number of articles, consider raising the issue on Wikipedia talk:Verifiability, Wikipedia:Requests for comment or the WikiEN-l mailing list.

Other comments

Just because some information is verifiable, doesn't mean that Wikipedia is the right place to publish it. See what Wikipedia is not. Another effect of this policy is that as original research will not be supported by reputable sources, it cannot be included. See Wikipedia:No original research.

See also

• WikiProject Fact and Reference Check
• Forum for Encyclopedic Standards
• Stable versions
• Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons