New Preprint: “Wikipedia as a Gateway to Biomedical Research: The Relative Distribution and Use of Citations in the English Wikipedia”

The following preprint was posted on BioRxiv earlier today.
Title
Wikipedia as a Gateway to Biomedical Research: The Relative Distribution and Use of Citations in the English Wikipedia
Authors
Lauren A Maggio
Uniformed Services University
John Willinsky
Stanford University
Ryan Steinberg
Stanford University
Daniel Mietchen
University of Virginia
Joe Wass
Crossref
Ting Dong
Uniformed Services University
Source
via bioRxiv
July 18, 2017
doi: doi.org/10.1101/165159
Abstract

Wikipedia is a gateway to knowledge. However, the extent to which this gateway ends at Wikipedia or continues via supporting citations is unknown. Wikipedia’s gateway functionality has implications for information design and education, notably in medicine. This study aims to establish benchmarks for the relative distribution and referral (click) rate of citations, as indicated by presence of a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), from Wikipedia, with a focus on medical citations. DOIs referred from the English Wikipedia in August 2016 were obtained from Crossref.org. Next, based on a DOI presence on a WikiProject Medicine page, all DOIs in Wikipedia were categorized as medical (WP:MED) or non-medical (non-WP:MED). Using this categorization, referred DOIs were classified as WP:MED, non-WP:MED, or BOTH, meaning the DOI may have been referred from either category. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Out of 5.2 million Wikipedia pages, 4.42% (n=229,857) included at least one DOI. 68,870 were identified as WP:MED, with 22.14% (n=15,250) featuring one or more DOIs. WP:MED pages featured on average 8.88 DOI citations per page, whereas non-WP:MED pages had on average 4.28 DOI citations. For DOIs only on WP:MED pages, a DOI was referred every 2,283 pageviews and for non-WP-MED pages every 2,467 pageviews. DOIs from both pages accounted for 12% (n=58,475) of referrals, making determining a referral rate for both impossible. While these results cannot provide evidence of greater citation referral from WP:MED than non-WP:MED, they do provide benchmarks to assess strategies for changing referral patterns. These changes might include editors adopting new methods for designing and presenting citations or the introduction of teaching strategies that address the value of consulting citations as a tool for extending learning.

Direct to Full Text Article (Preprint)
18 pages; PDF.

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