Research evaluation
Research evaluation and citations are some of the aspects that determine the credibility of scholarly work and used to assess the value of published research. However, alternative data is required to offer evidence for other types of impact in the wider society and scientifically. Wikipedia being the general encyclopedia has an adverse array of topics and in some cases can be cited to support the claims. Although the information may be credible, the only disadvantage is that the academic work can be easily manipulated that make it not recommendable for evaluations affecting the stakeholders’ interests. Wikipedia has a vast coverage of high quality and accurate based representation of knowledge within the academic literature. However, it is argued that Wikipedia fails to cite high impact journals and sources, which are highly recommended in science. The fact that Wikipedia is among the highly visited cite by scientists indicates its potential to shape science. The ability to incorporate ideas into Wikipedia across thousands of articles allows other scholars to apply them in the scientific literature. Wikipedia influences the repositories of scientific knowledge through increased provision and accessibility that has made science advancement cost effective. Such development is equity moving and majorly benefiting individuals without traditional access to scientific information. Whereas the government finances public goods for science, academic, scientific journals are primarily financed by subscription fees that considerably restrict their access. Hence, Wikipedia has become one of the largest informational public good, especially among scientists. Wikipedia has over time grown regarding credibility following the development of Wikimedia, which provides the full history of all edits in Wikipedia. The Wikipedia website allows registered users to create their talk pages and personalized presence where editors can debate and discuss editing decisions and article content. Such activities have shaped the quality and quantity of content hosted by the media files in Wikipedia that has seen the inclusion of images, audios, videos, and many more that was not available traditionally. Wikipedia is dynamically progressing scientifically to incorporate modern technology where one can trace the article evolution with a timestamp and username of the editor and when the exact revision occurred. New articles in Wikipedia start small but gradually grow over time to contain comprehensive information. Various studies have confirmed the credibility and accuracy of health-specific articles in Wikipedia, which is increasingly beneficial to patients, nursing students, and medical personnel. Wikipedia has created an innovative way of providing free information access to people globally, and professionals from various fields are being encouraged to contribute to the site. The controversial nature of Wikipedia citing for academic and scientific research has elicited a fierce debate because of intentional vandalism and unintentional misinformation. However, the assumption is that following the wide accessibility of the articles, once an individual posts erroneous statement, there is a high probability that someone from the majority will identify and correct the error. Wikipedia is constantly growing and has created a preference page for logged-in users that offer a myriad of options for the users to customize their experiences. The information can be used both for small-scale and large-scale publications that have seen nations compare their outputs through the site. Wikipedia is accessed in learning institutions both by the students and academics to gain background information in their related courses. Apart from medical, scientific information, it is a prominent source of healthcare information and general medical care as the articles are in different languages. The majority of people cannot access expensive subscriptions to journals because they are expensive. Wikipedia has a tremendous impact on the diffusion of literature and scientific knowledge because of its open access to articles. The consumption habits of information are changing, and everyone is going tech, and Wikipedia is equally striving to offer knowledge as a service. Wikipedia is slowly becoming a social community, and hence, it is speculated that shortly, the website will incorporate videos and other multimedia in providing information. In an attempt to become scientifically viable, the browser has modified its primary interface to include their own gestural, voice and augmented reality. Such an interface has enabled various people with disabilities such as the blind access information. Wikipedia is gradually introducing the theme of augmentation that has advanced artificial intelligence through enhanced technology. To increase the credibility of information, Wikipedia applies automation that amplifies the editors’ work by helping them improve the coverage and quality to larger scales. Further, Wikipedia uses complex algorithms to detect plagiarism, toxic comments, and machine learning to evaluate the quality of the articles posted. The responsibility of the editors is ensuring that what they present on the site supports human creation, reduces bias, enhances learning and is transparent and legible to other users. Notably, Wikipedia through machine translation has enabled the spread of scientific knowledge to more languages that has created a broader research base for academicians globally. Wikipedia has contributed to the growth of the scientific field because of student and educators collaboration who can work on the same document from anywhere.