Wikipedia comparable to regular encyclopedias

Wikipedia seems to be in news a lot these days. However, for all the wrong reasons. We just had a controversy surrounding some false information which inserted by an individual as a joke. This led to the organization blocking article creating ability to unregistered users. Now, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has even said that users should not use Wikipedia as a reference material for citing sources.

However, independent studies have now proved that the quality of information available on Wikipedia is comparable to popular encyclopedias available around. A team of expert reviewers has found that the science entries in the online collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia have about the same accuracy as those in the Encyclopedia Britannica.

The study was published in a Nature article yesterday. As per the report, of the 42 science-related entries analyzed in the study, Wikipedia averaged four inaccuracies, while Britannica averaged three. Reports have even claimed that high profile news agencies have specifically informed their reporters and writers to avoid using Wikipedia as a reference material for their research.

However, the regular web user continues to believe in the power of Wikipedia and their seems to be no effect to the popularity of the collaborative project.

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