Template:Citation needed

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This template is used on 2,500+ pages and changes may be widely noticed. Test changes in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them.

{{Citation needed}} is a template used to identify claims in articles, particularly if questionable, that need a citation to a reliable source. This template produces the superscripted message ^[source?] and is installed with no spaces directly after punctuation.

Use

{{Citation needed|reason=Your explanation here|date=December 2024}}

Notes:

To automatically add the current date, you can use substitution: {{subst:Citation needed}}.
The |date= parameter need not be added by the editor: if not entered, a bot will soon add it. The date parameter consists of the full English name of the current month with initial capital, a space, and the year, not full dates; e.g., "January 2013", but not "jan13". Any deviation from these two rules will result in an "invalid date parameter" error.
The |reason= parameter is optional but often helpful. It is displayed as a tooltip in some browsers (hover the mouse here ^[source?] to check behaviour of your browser). For example, the following usage might be appropriate to the claim that "Humphrey Bogart has won several snooker world championships":
{{Citation needed|reason=This claim needs a reliable source; Bogart was a famous actor, and his major biographies don't mention snooker.|date=December 2024}}
- Use only plain text for the |reason= parameter. It does not support wiki markup like wikilinks, which can "mess up" the tooltip.
- Double quotation marks used within the |reason= parameter will likewise "mess up" the tooltip; use single quotes or the HTML code " instead.
Use of this template places the article into Category:All articles with unsourced statements and Category:Articles with unsourced statements from December 2024 (example; past months are listed in Category:Articles with unsourced statements).
This template should be installed directly after punctuation, such as a full stop (period) or a comma.
Remove the template when you add a citation for a statement.

Examples

Example 1

This sentence shows the template used at the end.{{Citation needed|reason=Reliable source needed for the whole sentence|date=December 2024}}

This wikitext will be rendered as follows:

This sentence shows the template used at the end.^[source?]

Example 2

[[Humphrey Bogart]] has won several [[snooker]] world championships.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

The template indicates that it may be that Humphrey Bogart played snooker at some point and it may be that he won some tournaments at some point but no reliable, published sources were given to verify it and the information is not considered common knowledge.

Humphrey Bogart has won several snooker world championships.^[source?]

Example 3

If it is considered that he might have won just one tournament, the template may be placed accordingly; and a reason for the need of a citation may be given, displayed when the mouse hovers on "citation needed":

[[Humphrey Bogart]] has won several{{Citation needed|date=December 2024|reason=Only aware he won one tournament. Sources for others please.}} snooker world championships.

Humphrey Bogart has won several^[source?] snooker world championships.

When not to use this template

Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced should be removed immediately. Do not tag it; immediately remove it. This includes material that is doubtful, harmful, or possibly libelous. For some policy about this, see the sections "Remove contentious material that is unsourced or poorly sourced" at Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons and "Burden of evidence" at Wikipedia:Verifiability.

The {{Citation needed}} template is intended for use when there is a general question of the verifiability of a statement, or when an editor believes that a reference verifying the statement should be provided. Other templates are available for other or more specific issues; see the list of inline templates. For example, claims that you think are incorrect should be tagged with {{Dubious}}, and those which represent a non-neutral view should be tagged with {{POV statement}}. Being specific about the nature of the problem will help other editors correct it.

Within a lead section that is clearly written as a summary of a substantially sourced article,

statements that are supported with citations within the body of the article should not be tagged,
statements that are not supported in the article body should be tagged with {{Citation needed lead}}.

If you have the time and ability to find an authoritative reference, please do so. Then add the citation yourself, or correct the article text. After all, the ultimate goal is not to merely identify problems, but to fix them.

While an editor may add this template to any uncited passage for any reason, many editors object to what they perceive as overuse of this tag, particularly in what is known as "drive-by" tagging, which is applying the tag without attempting to address the issues at all (hit-and-run). Consider whether adding this tag in an article is the best approach before using it, and use it judiciously. Wikipedia's verifiability policy does not require reliable sources for common well-known facts (e.g., "the Moon orbits the Earth"), neither that citations be repeated through every sentence in a paragraph. All direct quotations and facts whose accuracy might be challenged (e.g., statistics) require citations. See WP:MINREF for the list of material that is absolutely required to be followed by an inline citation, rather than a general reference or no citation at all. Also note that the burden of evidence lies with the editor who adds or restores material.

This template is intended for specific passages that need citation. For entire articles or sections that contain significant material lacking citations (rather than just specific short passages), there are other, more appropriate templates, such as {{Unreferenced}} and {{More citations needed}} (for whole articles) as well as {{Unreferenced section}} and {{Refimprove section}} (for sections of articles).

Do not use this template to tag policies or guidelines.

How to respond to this tag

The addition of this tag is a request for an inline citation to support the tagged statement. If you are able to provide a citation to support the claim, then please do so.

Except for contentious claims about living people, which should be immediately removed if not cited, there is no specific deadline for providing citations. Please do not delete information that you believe is correct solely because no one has provided a citation within an arbitrary time limit. If there is some uncertainty about its accuracy, most editors are willing to wait about a month to see whether a citation can be provided.

Template data

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:Citation needed in articles based on its TemplateData.

TemplateData for Citation needed

The template is used to identify claims in articles, particularly if questionable, that need a citation to a reliable source.

Template parameters[Edit template data]
Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Month and year	`date`	Provides the month and year of the citation request; e.g., 'January 2013', but not 'jan13' Auto value `{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}`	String	suggested
Reason for citation	`reason`	A reason as to why, or for what content, the citation is needed; use single quotes, if any	String	optional

Tracking categories

Category:Pages containing citation needed template with deprecated parameters (0) – a hidden maintenance/tracking category which is added to pages using this template with unnamed parameter {{{1}}}
Category:All articles with unsourced statements (2,970)

Redirects

Template:Fact (redirect page) (← links | change)
Template:Prove (redirect page) (← links | change)
Template:Needs proving (redirect page) (← links | change)
Template:Proof (redirect page) (← links | change)
Template:Cn (redirect page) (← links | change)
Template:Needs proof (redirect page) (← links | change)
Template:Np (redirect page) (← links | change)
Template:Proveit (redirect page) (← links | change)
Template:Citationneeded (redirect page) (← links | change)
Template:CN (redirect page) (← links | change)
Template:Citation-needed (redirect page) (← links | change)

Template:Citation needed lead, a similar template specifically for the lead of articles
Template:Medical citation needed
Wikipedia:Citing sources, especially Unsourced material
Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources
Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup#Verifiability and sources
Wikipedia:Template messages/Sources of articles
Wikipedia:Verifiability

Inline templates

{{Additional citation needed}}^{[additional citation(s) needed]}: request addition of more sources.
{{Quote without source}}Template:Quote without source: request source for quotations.
{{Clarify}}^{[clarification needed]}: request clarification of wording or interpretation.
{{Example needed}}^{[example needed]}: request examples for clarification.
{{Nonspecific}}^{[not specific enough to verify]}: flag a general, yet factual statement as needing to be made more specific before it can be verified.
{{Page needed}}^{[page needed]}: request a page number for an existing citation.

Highlighting some text that needs a citation

{{Citation needed span}}: similar, except that the text needing the citation is changed to a dark slate-gray color while being encapsulated in an off-white box with a pale pink outline. For example:

Beetles constitute by far^{[citation needed]} the largest order of insects, with 350,000–400,000 species in four suborders.^{[citation needed]}

Incomplete citations

{{Deep link needed}}Template:Deep link needed: inline request for the exact web page. Use when a web site is referenced but the exact web page is not given.
{{Full citation needed}}^{[full citation needed]}: inline request for full citation, for example when only author, year are given.
{{Incomplete short citation}}Template:Incomplete short citation: inline warning and request for enough information to allow the short citation to uniquely identify a long citation.
{{Page needed}}^{[page needed]}: inline request for the page number(s) in a work that support a citation.
{{Time needed}}Template:Time needed: inline request for the specific time in a recording that supports the citation; see: |minutes= or |time= in {{Cite AV media}}.
{{Season needed}}Template:Season needed, similar to {{page needed}}: for missing TV season and episode number.
{{Volume needed}}^{[volume & issue needed]}, similar to {{page needed}}: for missing journal, newspaper, comic, volume and issue numbers, etc.

Verification

{{Better source}}:^{[better source needed]} flags a statement as requiring a better source.
{{Dead link}}^{[dead link]}: tag a ref or an external link as dead.
{{Failed verification}}^{[not in the source given]}: source was checked, and did not contain the cited material.
{{Request quotation}}^{[need quotation to verify]}: request a direct quote from an inaccessible source, for verification purposes.
{{Self-published inline}}^{[self-published source]} or {{Self-published source}} ^{[self-published source]}: flag a source that cites the author.
{{Unreliable source}}^{[unreliable source?]}: flag a source as possibly being unreliable or unverifiable.
{{Verify source}}^{[verification needed]}: request that someone verify the cited source backs up the material in the passage.

Content

{{According to whom}}^{[according to whom?]}: flag a vague, unreferenced, third-party claim with no specific, identifiable individuals or groups named who could verify the claim.
{{By whom}}^{[by whom?]}: flag a statement that has a claim by a third party who is not well identified and/or well sourced
{{Chronology citation needed}}/Template:Chronology citation needed: request a source confirming or providing the chronology or timeline of a statement
{{Definition}}{{{1}}}: flag a definition as being ambiguous or confusing
{{Dubious}}^{[dubious – discuss]}: flag something as suspected of being incorrect; explain why on the talk page and briefly in the |reason= parameter
{{Original research inline}}^{[original research?]}: flag a statement as possibly containing original research
{{Peacock term}}Template:Peacock term: flag a statement that contains peacock terms
{{POV statement}}Template:POV statement: flag something as possibly not having a neutral point of view
{{How many}}^{[How many? or How much?]}: flag a statement as being vague regarding the amount of something
{{Technical statement}}Template:Technical statement: flag a word or phrase that is both technical and not understandable
{{Undue weight inline}}^{[undue weight? – discuss]}: flag a statement that does not ascribe appropriate weight to its sources, according to their levels of prominence
{{Vague}}^{[clarification needed]}: flag a statement that is too vague to be unambiguously verifiable
{{Weasel inline}}^{[weasel words]}: flag a statement that contains weasel words
{{When}}^[when?]: flag a statement that has a time period that's vague or ambiguous
{{Who}}^[who?]: flag a statement that needs a description or identification of a person or group of persons

Timeliness

{{Update after}}^{[needs update]}: a template that only shows itself after a specified time, indicating an exceptional statement that will date quickly.

Article message box templates

{{Cite check}}, article / section may have inappropriate or misinterpreted citations.
{{More citations needed}}, article / section has weak or incomplete sources / references / citations.
{{Unreferenced}}, article / section has no sources / references / citations given at all.
Citation method and style
- {{Citation style}}
- {{No footnotes}}

The documentation on top is transcluded from Template:Citation needed/doc.
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox and testcases pages.
Add categories to the /doc subpage. Subpages of this template.