An example of thecitation needed template as seen in an article about themushroom on theEnglish Wikipedia. As of the revision at 14:07, 19 June 2023, this can no longer be seen at the part pictured above.
The tag "[citation needed]" (stylized as "[citation needed]") is added byWikipedia editors to unsourced statements in articles requestingcitations to be added.[1] The phrase is reflective of the policies of verifiability and original research onWikipedia and has become a generalInternet meme.[2]
The tag was first used on Wikipedia in 2006,[2] and its template created by user Ta bu shi da yu.[3] According to Wikipedia's policy, editors should addcitations for content, to ensure accuracy and neutrality, and to avoidoriginal research.[4] The citation needed tag is used to mark statements that lack such citations.[1] Wikipedia editors may use tools like Citation Hunt to address these uncited statements.[5] As of June 2025[update], there were more than 604,000 pages on Wikipedia (or roughly 1% of all pages) containing at least one instance of the tag.[1] Users who click the tag will be directed to pages about Wikipedia's verifiability policy and its application using the tag.[6]
A variant of the tag, [cetacean needed], is used for missing images on Wikipedia'slist of cetaceans page.[7]
Randall Munroe has frequently used "[citation needed]" tags for humorous commentary in his writings, including in his 2014 bookWhat If?.[10][11][12]
The podcast "Citations Needed" is aWebby nominated[13] media criticism podcast, hosted by journalists Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson to explore the intersection of media, PR, and power.[14]
YouTuberTom Scott and The Technical Difficulties used "[citation needed]" as the title for a Wikipedia-based gameshow that ran from 2014 to 2018.[15]
WikipedianMolly White publishes a newsletter covering the cryptocurrency and technology industries calledCitation Needed.[16][17]
^abMcDowell, Zachary J.; Vetter, Matthew A. (2022). "What Counts as Information: The Construction of Reliability and Verifability".Wikipedia and the Representation of Reality. Routledge, Taylor & Francis. p. 34.doi:10.4324/9781003094081.hdl:20.500.12657/50520.ISBN978-1-000-47427-5.
^栗岡 幹英 [Masahide Kurioka] (March 1, 2010)."インターネットは言論の公共圏たりうるか：ブログとウィキペディアの内容分析" [Can the Internet be the Public Sphere of Discourse? : Contents Analysis of Blog and Wikipedia].奈良女子大学社会学論集 [Nara Women's University Sociological Studies] (in Japanese) (17). 奈良女子大学社会学研究会 [Nara Women's University Sociological Study Group]:133–151.ISSN1340-4032.
^McDowell, Zachary; Vetter, Matthew (2022).Wikipedia and the Representation of Reality. New York: Routledge. p. 33-34.ISBN978-0-367-55571-9.
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The dictionary definition ofcitation needed at Wiktionary
