This study examines the degree to which Wikipedia entries cite or reference research and scholarship, and whether that research and scholarship is generally available to readers. Working on the assumption that where Wikipedia provides links to research and scholarship that readers can readily consult, it increases the authority, reliability, and educational quality of this popular encyclopedia, this study examines Wikipedia’s use of open access research and scholarship, that is, peer-reviewed journal articles that have been made freely available online… The results suggest that much more can be done to enrich and enhance this encyclopedia’s representation of the current state of knowledge. To assist in this process, the study provides a guide to help Wikipedia contributors locate and utilize open access research and scholarship in creating and editing encyclopedia entries.
from What Open Access Research Can Do for Wikipedia, First Monday, volume 12, number 3 (March 2007)
It’s slow reading, I know, but this study illustrates what I think might be the next stage of Wikipedia’s evolution: scientific respectability. Willinsky calls Wikiepeidia, “literacy’s ultimate democracy,” and makes a compelling case for finding ways of integrating open access science into the online encyclopedia. It seems to me a marriage made, uh, here on Earth somewhere. Here’s an introduction to open access science, by Peter Stuber.
