How to contribute climate change information to Wikipedia

The document argues that Wikipedia is a critical tool for communicating climate change information to a wider audience than academic journals, noting that it is often the first port of call for the general public and policymakers. It highlights a 'systemic bias' in Wikipedia's contributor base, which tends to be male and from developed countries, resulting in a lack of content from the Global South, particularly Africa. To address this, the guide provides detailed technical instructions on creating accounts, adding citations, using the Visual and Source editors, and navigating Talk pages. It also outlines the 'five pillars' of Wikipedia editing, emphasizing a neutral point of view and the necessity of verifiable sources. Furthermore, the guide explains how to join WikiProjects, such as WikiProject Climate Change, and provides a step-by-step framework for organizing 'edit-a-thons' to collaboratively improve specific topic areas.

• Wikipedia serves as a high-impact communication channel for climate research because it is freely accessible and highly optimized for search engines, unlike academic journals which are often behind paywalls.
• There is a significant systemic bias in Wikipedia's editor demographics, with a predominance of male editors from developed countries; in 2015, only 20% of editors were from the Global South.
• Africa is particularly underrepresented on the platform, contributing only about 1.3% of the world's edits between October and December 2014.
• The use of Wikipedia varies by socio-economic status; readers from less developed countries are more likely to use the platform for in-depth learning and science-oriented topics compared to those in industrialized countries.
• Climate change content on Wikipedia is often under-developed; as of July 2020, only five climate-related articles held the highest 'feature article' (FA) quality rating, while the majority were classified as 'stub', 'start', or 'C-class'.
• Public interest in climate change topics on Wikipedia saw a significant increase in 2019, with views rising 80% from 5.5 million in January 2019 to nearly 9.5 million in January 2020.
• Researchers are encouraged to contribute to Wikipedia but must adapt their writing style from academic to plain language, avoiding technical jargon and maintaining a neutral point of view.
• Wikipedia's reliability is maintained through a community-driven review mechanism and a strict verifiability policy that requires all new edits to cite reliable, third-party sources.

APA

Climate and Development Knowledge Network (2020). How to contribute climate change information to Wikipedia. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Wikipedia-Guide-First-Edition-2020-v2.pdf

Chicago

Climate and Development Knowledge Network. How to contribute climate change information to Wikipedia. 2020. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Wikipedia-Guide-First-Edition-2020-v2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |title=How to contribute climate change information to Wikipedia |date=October 2020 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Wikipedia-Guide-First-Edition-2020-v2.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climateanddevelopmentknowledgenetwork2020how, author = {{Climate and Development Knowledge Network}}, title = {{How to contribute climate change information to Wikipedia}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2020}, month = oct, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Wikipedia-Guide-First-Edition-2020-v2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }