Collaborate/Citation

Is your research visible on Wikipedia?

If not, there are steps you can take.

Open Access

Some, but by no means all, Wikipedia contributors work in institutions with access to paywalled research. Hiding research behind a paywall thus makes it much harder for it to be cited and verified by Wikipedia's authors. Open Access publishing thus greatly increased the chance of being cited in the largest ever encyclopaedia.

Even if you publish through a non-Open Access journal, it may be possible to make the last pre-publication draft available in a free repository ("Green open access"). Making the paper Open Access, under a free licence, also satisfies the requirements of the Research Councils UK Open Access policy.

Scope

Not all research is suitable for Wikipedia. Sources for academic subjects have to fully peer-reviewed, ruling out some conference presentations and other academic publications.

Even among peer-reviewed research in quality journals, freshly published primary research is often not suitable, although there are exceptions. Wikipedia waits until a piece of research is considered part of human knowledge by being citation in review papers, textbooks or other secondary works. The criteria for "knowledge" naturally depend partly on the academic subject.

Figures, video clips and digital media

If the licence of a paper allows it, uploading figures or media files to Wikimedia Commons will mean they can easily be used in other Wikimedia sites. You can add a description, author credits and citation of the source, in as much detail as you like. Already many tens of thousands of images and videos have been shared in this way.

Encouraging citations

You have a conflict of interest if you write about research in which you were directly involved, so it is strongly recommended not to edit the article directly but to propose changes and bring them to the attention of other contributors.

Every Wikipedia article has a Talk page. By posting a message there (Click "New topic" and type) you can advise contributors of sources. Be aware that Wikipedia editors are volunteers and are not obliged to respond straight away.

WikiProjects are groups of editors focused on improving specific Wikipedia topics, such as Medicine, Shakespeare, Economics, Linguistics and Education. These are often listed at the top of article Talk pages. Each Wikiproject has its own Talk page. A friendly post to a relevant Wikiproject is another way to draw attention to sources that will be genuinely useful in improving the encyclopaedia, and articles they could be used in.

Other uses

Could your research be used as the basis for educational materials? Wikibooks is a collection of open-content textbooks, allowing a less constrained style of text than Wikipedia. Just like Wikipedia, Wikibooks forbids original research: all content has to based on material that has already been published and peer-reviewed. Wikiversity is more liberal, allowing original research.

Next steps

• If you are in a Jisc-funded project, the Jisc Wikimedia Ambassador, Martin Poulter, can advise (martin.poulterwikimedia.org.uk).
• Wikipedia itself has a Help desk where you can ask about any aspect of contributing.

This page has been created as part of the 2013-14 partnership between Jisc and Wikimedia UK