Wikipedia:Accuracy dispute

This page documents an English Wikipedia content guideline.

Editors should generally follow it, though exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on this guideline's talk page.

Shortcuts

Some articles on Wikipedia may contain significant factual inaccuracies, i.e. information that is verifiably wrong. Articles for which much of the factual accuracy is actively disputed should have a {{Disputed}} warning place at the top, and they are listed at Category:Accuracy disputes. Also see a recent list of disputed articles, and the current list of articles that link here.

Handling content that may be factually inaccurate

If you see an article that may be inaccurate, you should do the following:

Correct it yourself if you can. Add citations to reliable sources to verify the information.
If the neutrality of the content is in question, see Wikipedia:NPOV dispute for more details about how to handle it.
If only a few statements seem inaccurate, see Disputed statement.
If there are several dubious statements, or if a dispute arises:
- Begin a "Disputed" section on the talk page to describe the problem, alert other editors, and gain more opinions on whether the content is inaccurate and how to handle it.
- Paste {{Disputed}} at the beginning of the article to add a general warning.
- If only the accuracy of a section is disputed, add {{Disputed-section}} at the beginning of the section.

Handling factual inaccuracy warnings

If you see an article with a factual accuracy warning, please do the following:

Don't remove the warning simply because the material appears reasonable: please ensure that content is verifiable using reliable sources, that it is unbiased and that it contains no original research before removing the notice.
Visit the talk page to see what the issues are.
Correct it yourself if you can. Add citations to reliable sources to verify the information.
If you are sure that a statement is factually inaccurate then remove it, or move it to the talk page for further discussion. If you are familiar with the subject matter contained in the article but are not sure about the accuracy of a statement, then add "{{Citation needed}}" at the end of the statement. If you are not familiar with the subject matter contained in the article but wish to ask about the accuracy of a statement, then raise the issue on the article's talk page. Please see WP:BURDEN and WP:HANDLE for a more detailed explanation of how to handle potentially false or misleading information.

Resolving disputes

Check dispute resolution for ways to resolve it.
There are several noticeboards at which accuracy disputes may be listed to gain the views of other editors, particularly the reliable sources, no original research, neutral point-of-view, and biographies of living persons noticeboards (see {{Noticeboard links}} for a fuller list).
Once you have found the correct information, edit the page to correct it, remove the warnings, and put something like the following in your edit summary:

Verified article – removed accuracy dispute

Handling content that may be factually inaccurate

Handling factual inaccuracy warnings

Resolving disputes

See also