Bahaipedia:Verifiability

One of the key thresholds for inclusion in Bahaipedia is verifiability. "Verifiable" in this context means that any reader should be able to check that material added to Bahaipedia has been published by a reliable source. This policy prohibits editors from using this project to express personal opinions or share original research. This policy protects Bahaipedia from simply reflecting the ideas and positions of a small number of editors, and instead requires that all contributors rely on how information is presented in the available reliable sources. If you believe the available sources are incomplete or in error, you can not supplement it with your own ideas, instead it might be best to exclude the information all together.

Bahaipedia:Verifiability is one of Bahaipedia's core content policies. The others include Bahaipedia:Gateway not a destination and Bahaipedia:Bahá’í point of view. Jointly, these policies determine the type and quality of material that is acceptable in Bahaipedia articles. They should not be interpreted in isolation from one another, and editors should try to familiarize themselves with them.

Burden of evidence

For help writing citations, see Bahaipedia:Citing sources.

The burden of evidence lies with the editor who adds or restores material. Material that is challenged or likely to be challenged needs a reliable source, which should be cited in the article. Quotations should also be attributed. If an article topic has no reliable, third-party sources, Bahaipedia should not have an article on it.

Any edit lacking a source may be removed, but editors may object if you remove material without giving them a chance to provide references. If you want to request a source for an unsourced statement, consider moving it to the talk page. Alternatively, you may tag the sentence by adding the {{fact}} template, or tag the entire article by adding {{Refimprove}} for minor issues or {{Unreferenced}} which includes a disclaimer that the following information may not be reliable. If possible leave a note on the talk page, or in an edit summary explaining what you have done.

Biographies of living persons

Extra care must be taken when contributing to articles about individuals who are still alive. Practically this means that the acceptable sources for these articles are limited to books and periodicals produced by the Bahá’í institutions themselves, or other material provided it has gone through the Bahá’í review process and been approved for distribution.

Sources

Reliable published sources are a must for Bahaipedia articles.

All Bahaipedia articles must rely on reliable published sources. These include sources known to be reliable for Bahá’í topics—e.g. official Bahá'í websites and libraries, and reputable encyclopedias—and sources that are known for fact-checking and accuracy. Sources should be appropriate to the claims made: exceptional claims require exceptional sources.

Sources of questionable reliability

Do not include sources of questionable reliability in Bahaipedia. There are plenty of good sources for the type of information we are trying to cover. Examples of generally unacceptable sources include anonymous sources, unpublished private sources (i.e. ones which are not publicly available), obsolete sources, confidential sources, sources with no editorial oversight (e.g. extremist websites or publications, gossip columns, tabloids, and promotional materials).

In the spirit of Bahaipedia:Gateway not a destination, Bahaipedia itself, and wikis in general, should not be used as a source. Instead, editors should look at the sources cited in wiki articles of interest, and try to cite those sources directly (as long as those sources are reliable, of course).

Self-published sources

Anyone can create a website or pay to have a book published, then claim to be an expert in a certain field. For that reason, self-published books, personal websites, blogs, and social media posts are not acceptable as sources, with one exception:

• Self-published material may be acceptable when produced by a well-known, professional researcher (scholarly or non-scholarly) in a relevant field. To be acceptable, the researcher's work should have been previously reviewed or published by reliable third-party publications.

Self-published sources should never be used as third-party sources about living persons, even if the author is a well-known professional researcher or writer.

Sources in languages other than English

Because this is the English Bahaipedia, for the convenience of our readers, English-language sources should be used in preference to sources in other languages, assuming the availability of an English-language source of equal quality, so that readers can easily verify that the source material has been used correctly.

Keep in mind that translations are subject to error, whether performed here by an editor or a professional, published translator. In principle, readers should have the opportunity to verify for themselves what the original material actually said, that it was published by a credible source, and that it was translated correctly.

Of course, sources in other languages than English may be used freely on Bahaipedias in those languages (see Bahaipedia:WikiProject Translation).