AWho's Who (orWho Is Who) is areference work consisting of biographical entries of notable people in a particular field.[1][2][3] The oldest and best-known is the annual publicationWho's Who, a reference work on contemporary prominent people in Britain published annually since 1849.
In addition to legitimate reference works, someWho's Who lists involve the selling of "memberships" in directories that are created online or through instant publishing services,[4] and have been described asscams.[5][6][7]
Marquis Who's Who, a series of books published since 1899 that formerly listed prominent Americans, but has become a vanity publisher that lists "relatively unaccomplished people who simply nominated themselves."[8]
Who's Who in New Zealand, twelve editions published at irregular intervals between 1908 and 1991
Who's Who in Switzerland, published from 1953 to 1996 and thenSwiss Who's Who, a listing of prominent Swiss or leading figures living inSwitzerland since 2015[9]
Who's Who Among American High School Students listing American high school and college students who it claimed "excelled in academics, extracurricular activities and community service." The publishing company closed in 2007.
Who's Who in the CIA, a book published inEast Berlin in 1968 with the assistance of theKGB and theHVA purporting to reveal the identities of thousands ofCIA officers.
The title "Who's Who" is in the public domain, and thousands ofWho's Who compilations of varying scope and quality (and similar publications without the words "Who's Who") have been published by various authors and publishers. Some publications have been described asscams; they list any people likely to buy the book or to pay for inclusion, with no criterion of genuine notability.[5] They may offervanity awards[13] or expensive trophies.[14]
One example is the defunctWho's Who Among American High School Students, which was criticized for questionable nomination practices, as well as whether the listing's entries are fact-checked and accurate.[15][16] According to Steve Bjork, an admissions vice president ofHamline University: "It's honestly something that an admissions officer typically wouldn't consider or wouldn't play into an admissions decision." He suggested thatWho's Who was "just trying to sell books".[16]
Who's Who publications are not all of questionable value, but publishers that select truly notable people and provide trustworthy information on them are hard to identify.A & C Black'sWho's Who is the canonical example of a legitimateWho's Who reference work, being the first to use the name and establish the approach in print, publishing annually since 1849. However, the longevity of a publication is not in itself a guarantee. In 1999,Tucker Carlson said inForbes magazine thatMarquis Who's Who, founded in 1898 but no longer an independent company, had adopted practices of address harvesting as a revenue stream, undermining its claim to legitimacy as a reference work listing people of merit.[8] A 2005New York Times article observed that the entries in Marquis Who's Who were "not uniformly fact-checked".[17] TheInternational Biographical Centre's "Who is Who" publications have also been cited as scams, being described as "Who’s Who of gullible people".[18]
^"Presidential Who's Who" at WA ScamNet, Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, Government of Western Australia. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
^abCarlson, Tucker (8 March 1999)."The Hall of Lame".Forbes.ISSN0015-6914.Archived from the original on 14 April 2009. Retrieved14 October 2019.Who's Who in America ... appears to contain a lot of relatively unaccomplished people who simply nominated themselves. To make the process of self-promotion easier, Reed Elsevier, the publication's parent company and the owner of Lexis-Nexis, now has a site on the Internet where would-be biographees can complete a 'biographical data form.'
