Wikipedia:Independent sources

This is an policies and guidelines. This page provides additional information about concepts in the page(s) it supplements. This page is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community.

Shortcuts WP:IS WP:INDY WP:INDEPENDENT

This page in a nutshell: Independent sources are distinguished by their lack of any direct influence with the subjects involved. Wikipedia encourages the use of independent sources because these sources are typically associated with reliability, a lack of bias, and factual accuracy.

Identifying and using independent sources (also called third-party sources) helps editors build non-promotional articles that fairly portray the subject, without

In determining the type of source, there are three separate, basic characteristics to identify:

• Is this source self-published or not? (For this question, see
  Wikipedia:Identifying and using self-published sources
  .)
• Is this source independent or third-party, or is it closely affiliated with the subject?
• Is this source primary or not? (For this question, see
  Wikipedia:Identifying and using primary and secondary sources
  .)

Every possible combination of these three traits has been seen in sources on Wikipedia. Any combination of these three traits can produce a source that is usable for some purpose in a Wikipedia article. Identifying these characteristics will help you determine how you can use these sources.

This page deals primarily with the second question: identifying and using independent and non-independent sources.

An independent source is a source that has no vested interest in a given Wikipedia topic and therefore is commonly expected to cover the topic from a disinterested perspective. Independent sources have editorial independence (advertisers do not dictate content) and no conflicts of interest (there is no potential for personal, financial, or political gain to be made from the existence of the publication).

Interest in a topic becomes vested when the source (the author, the publisher, etc.) develops any financial or legal relationship to the topic. An interest in this sense may be either positive or negative. An example of a positive interest is writing about yourself, your family, or a product that is made or sold by your company or employer; an example of a negative interest is owning or working for a company that represents a competing product's article. These conflicts of interest make Wikipedia editors suspect that sources from these people will give more importance to advancing their own interests (personal, financial, legal, etc.) in the topic than to advancing knowledge about the topic. Sources by involved family members, employees, and officers of organizations are not independent.

Independence does not imply even-handedness. An independent source may hold a strongly positive or negative view of a topic or an idea. For example, a scholar might write about literacy in developing countries, and they may personally strongly favor teaching all children how to read, regardless of gender or socioeconomic status. Yet if the author gains no personal benefit from the education of these children, then the publication is an independent source on the topic.

Material available from sources that are

Articles that don't reference independent sources should be tagged with {{

Wikipedia strives to be of the highest standard possible, and to avoid writing on topics from a

If Wikipedia is, as defined by the three key content policies, an encyclopaedia which summarises viewpoints rather than a repository for viewpoints, to achieve this goal, articles must demonstrate that the topic they are covering has been mentioned in reliable sources independent of the topic itself. These sources should be independent of both the topic and of Wikipedia, and should be of the standard described in

In the case of a Wikipedia article about a website, for example, independent sources would include an article in a newspaper which describes the site, but a reference to the site itself would lack independence (and would instead be considered a

These simple examples need to be interpreted with all the facts and circumstances in mind. For example, a newspaper that depends on advertising revenue might not be truly independent in their coverage of the local businesses that advertise in the paper. As well, a newspaper owned by person X might not be truly independent in its coverage of person X and their business activities.

Every article on Wikipedia must be

If multiple reliable publications have discussed a topic, or better still debated a topic, then that improves the topic's probability of being covered in Wikipedia. First, multiple sources that have debated a subject will reliably demonstrate that the subject is worthy of notice. Second, and equally important, these reliable sources will allow editors to verify certain facts about the subject that make it significant, and write an encyclopedic article that meets our policies and guidelines.

Non-independent sources may be used to source content for articles, but the connection of the source to the topic must be clearly identified. For example, "Organization X said 10,000 people showed up to protest" is OK when using material published by the organization, but "10,000 people showed up to protest" is not.

Non-independent sources should never be used to support claims of notability, but can with caution be used to fill in noncontroversial details.

A

There are companies that generate television segments and sell them to broadcasters – this is broadcast syndication. This also happens in printed media and across websites. A syndication company may offer the same story in multiple formats, such as a long and short news article, or the same story with an alternate lead, or a video and a written article. Whatever the length or format, they usually contain the same claims and are written or edited by the same person or team.

Syndicated news pieces may be independent of the subject matter, but they are not independent of one another. When considering notability or

Any publication put out by an organization is clearly not independent of any topic that organization has an interest in promoting. In some cases, the conflict of interest is easy to see. For example, suppose Foo Petrochemicals Inc. wrote an article about a chemical spill caused by Foo Petrochemicals Inc.. This is not an independent source on the spill, nor on how green, nature-loving and environment-saving Foo is. If the source is written by a public relations firm hired by Foo, it's the same as if it were written by Foo, itself. Foo and the hired PR firm both have a conflict of interest between a) being accurate and b) favouring Foo.

However, less direct interests can be harder to see and more subjective to establish. Caution must be used in accepting sources as independent. Suppose a non-profit organization named "Grassroots Reach-out Accountability Sustainability ("GRASS") writes a press release calling Foo Petrochemicals "the No. 1 savior of the environment and the planet". Does GRASS have a conflict of interest? Well, the GRASS.com website says GRASS is 100% independent and community-based. However, closer research may reveal that GRASS was

The peer-review process does not guarantee independence of a source. Journal policies on conflicts of interest vary. Caution is needed on topics with large commercial interests at stake, where controversy may be manufactured, and genuinely controversial topics where there may be a great deal of honest debate and dissent. Much scientific research is funded by companies with an interest in the outcome of the experiments, and such research makes its way into peer-reviewed journals. For example, pharmaceutical companies may fund research on their new medication Pax-Luv. If you are a scientist doing research funded by the manufacturer of Pax-Luv, you may be tempted (or pressured) into downplaying adverse information about the drug. Resistance may cause you to lose your funding. Journals can also have conflicts of interest due to their funding sources. Some profit from

In sectors where conflicts of interests are rampant, it may be preferable to assume that a publication is affected by a conflict of interest unless proven otherwise. Stronger transparency and disclosure practices can provide confidence in a publication. For instance, ICMJE recommendations exists for required disclosures on medical journals, but nearly 90% of the biggest medical journals fail to report potential conflicts of interests of their editors, leading to scarce confidence on the correct handling of conflicts of interests in the contents they publish.^[2]

Independence alone is not a guarantee that the source is accurate or reliable for a given purpose. Independent sources may be outdated, self-published, mistaken, or not have a reputation for fact-checking.

• Outdated: A book from 1950 about how asbestos fibre insulation is 100% safe for your house's roof may be published by a source which is completely independent from the asbestos mining and asbestos insulation industries. However, as of 2022, this 1950 book is outdated.
• Self-published: A book by a self-proclaimed "International Insulation Expert", Foo Barkeley, may claim that asbestos fibre insulation is totally safe, and that we should all have fluffy heaps of asbestos fibre in our roofs and walls. Even if Foo Barkeley has paid the vanity press company "You Pay, We Print It!" to print 100,000 copies of his treatise praising asbestos, we don't know if Barkeley's views on asbestos are reliable.
• Mistaken: The world's most elite
  effect pedal experts, the International Guitar Pedal Institute, may declare in 1989 that the "Bippledorp 9000 pedal is the first pedal to use a fuzz bass
  effect"; however, in 2018, new research may show that fuzz bass effects were available in pedal formats in the 1970s.
• Not good reputation for fact-checking: A tabloid newspaper, the Daily Truth, may declare that a film celebrity, Fingel Stempleton, was kidnapped by space aliens and taken to their home planet for probing/surgery for the entire day of January 1, 2018. DT may make this claim based on an interview with a guest at Stempleton's mansion who witnessed the UFO's arrival in the gated Stempleton mansion/compound. However, a major newspaper with a reputation for fact-checking counters this claim with the release of 60 days of police video surveillance showing Stempleton was locked up for drunk driving from December 1, 2017 to January 30, 2018. (Hmmm, perhaps Stempleton used a Jedi astral travel trick to get out of lockup?)

Non-independent sources may not be used to establish

• If the article meets our criteria for speedy deletion, one can use a criterion-specific deletion tag listed on that page.
• Use the {{
  prod}} tag, for articles which do not meet the criteria for speedy deletion, but are uncontroversial deletion candidates. This allows the article to be deleted after seven days if nobody objects. For more information, see Wikipedia:Proposed deletion
  .
• For cases where you are unsure about deletion or believe others might object, nominate the article for the articles for deletion process, where the merits will be debated and deliberated for at least seven days.

Some articles do not belong on Wikipedia, but fit one of the Wikimedia sister projects. They may be copied there using transwiki functionality before considering their merger or deletion. If an article to be deleted is likely to be re-created under the same name, it may be turned into a soft redirect to a more appropriate sister project's article.

This concept is contrasted with the unrelated concept of a

, and primary does not mean non-independent or affiliated with the subject. Secondary sources are often third-party or independent sources, but not always.

Relationship to self-published sources

This concept is unrelated to

whether a source is self-published

. A self-published source is made available to the public ("published") by or at the direction of the person or entity that created it. Blog posts by consumers about their personal experiences with a product are completely independent, self-published sources. A peer-reviewed article in an reputable academic journal by researchers at a pharmaceutical company about one of their products is a non-independent, non-self-published source.

Biased sources

A source can be biased without compromising its independence. When a source strongly approves or disapproves of something, but it has no connection to the subject and does not stand to benefit directly from promoting that view, then the source is still independent.

In particular, many academic journals are sometimes said to be "biased", but the fact that education journals are in favor of education, pharmaceutical journals are in favor of pharmaceutical drugs, journals about specific regions write about the people and places in that region, etc., does not mean that these sources are non-independent, or even biased. What matters for independence is whether they stand to gain from it. For example, a drug company publishing about their own products in a pharmaceutical journal is a non-independent source. The same type of article, written by a government researcher, would be an independent source.

Third-party versus independent

There is technically

a small distinction between a third-party source and an independent one. An "independent" source is one that has no vested interest in the subject. For example, the independent source will not earn any extra money by convincing readers of its viewpoint. A "third-party" source is one that is not directly involved in any transaction related to the subject, but may still have a financial or other vested interest in the outcome. For example, if a lawsuit between two people may result in one person's insurance company paying a claim, then that insurance company is a third party

but is not financially independent.

However, most of Wikipedia's policies and guidelines use the terms interchangeably, and most published sources that are third-party also happen to be independent. Except when directly specified otherwise in the policy or guideline, it is sufficient for a source to be either independent or third-party, and it is ideal to rely on sources that are both.

Wikipedia's requirements

Policies and guidelines requiring third-party sources

The necessity of reliable, third-party sources is cemented in several of Wikipedia's policies and guidelines:

• Wikipedia's policy on What Wikipedia is not states that "All article topics must be verifiable with independent, third-party sources".
• Wikipedia's policies on both Verifiability and No original research state that "If no reliable, third-party sources can be found for an article topic, Wikipedia should not have an article on it."
• Wikipedia's guideline on Reliable sources states that "Articles should be based on reliable, independent, published sources with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy."
• Wikipedia's guideline on Notability states that "A topic is presumed to be suitable for a stand-alone article or list when it has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject."

How to meet the requirement

An article must be based upon reliable third-party sources, and meets this requirement if:

• Reliable: A third-party source is reliable if it has standards of peer review and fact-checking. In general, the more people engaged in checking facts, the more reliable the publication.
• Third-party: A third-party source is independent and unaffiliated with the subject, thus excluding first-party sources such as self-published material by the subject, autobiographies, and promotional materials.
• Sources: At least two third-party sources should cover the subject, to avoid idiosyncratic articles based upon a single perspective.
• Based upon: These reliable third-party sources should
  verify enough facts to write a non-stub
  article about the subject, including a statement explaining its significance.

Once an article meets this minimal standard, additional content can be

reliable source

.

See also

Look up third party in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Relevant encyclopedia articles

• Editorial independence: The ability of a journalist to accurately report news regardless of commercial considerations like pleasing advertisers
• Independent sources: Whether journalistic sources are repeating each other, or have separately come to the same conclusions

Related Wikipedia pages

• onesource
  }}.
• Wikipedia:Conflict of interest – a Wikipedia behavioral guideline regarding advancing outside interests
• Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources
  – a non-independent source is sometimes still reliable.
• Wikipedia:Party and person – "Secondary" does not mean "independent"; "third party" does not mean "secondary" (or "tertiary").

Relevant templates

• {{
  Third-party-inline
  }}, to mark sentences needing an independent or third-party source
• {{Third-party}}, to tag pages that contain zero independent or third-party sources

1. ^ Are you wondering what happened to the "second party"? That's a nearly archaic term for the defendant in a civil lawsuit. In sourcing terms, there's only first-party and third-party.
2. PMID 31340971
   .