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Cite
M Justin Byron, John R Hughes, Wikipedia and Nicotine and Tobacco: Meeting People Where They Are, Nicotine & Tobacco Research, Volume 23, Issue 11, November 2021, Pages 1977–1979, https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntab087
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Extract
Dissemination of nicotine and tobacco science is one of the key goals of the Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco (SRNT). This includes dissemination not only to fellow scientists but also to the lay public. Wikipedia is the sixth most popular English-language website in the world,1 with 15 billion views per month.2 It is the most used website for health and science information globally.3 Like it or not, much of the public learn about nicotine and tobacco from this publicly edited website. Professionals also use the site: upwards of 70% of physicians and 90% of medical students use Wikipedia for health information.4,5 Acknowledging the importance of this resource, we started the Wikipedia Update Project in 2014 with the support of SRNT’s board. We aim to improve the quality of the Wikipedia entries on topics related to nicotine and tobacco. To do this, we have built a network of subject matter experts and other volunteers to review, revise, and update the material in the relevant Wikipedia entries. The entries the group has created or revised are now viewed over 8 million times per year (Table 1). Here we describe what has been accomplished, what the ongoing challenges and new areas of growth are, and why we humbly suggest SRNT members should participate in the public dissemination of research using platforms such as Wikipedia.
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