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centuries of publishing tradition by contributing to the
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the other people who have contributed to this article.
Some guidelines for helping your submission to be
accepted:
Since 1768, the Encyclopædia Britannica name has
been synonymous with editorial quality. Over these many years,
Britannica has developed an editorial process that today is one of
the most rigorous in the reference publishing industry.
STANDARDS
All articles contributed to Britannica must meet
the very highest standards. These standards apply not only to the
text that constitutes an article but also to the subject of the
article itself. Any article must therefore be:
- factually accurate
- steadfastly objective
- at a level of detail sufficient to convey the essential
elements of the subject described
It is also necessary that the person who submits an
article affirm that he or she is the article’s original author and
that the article does not infringe on anyone’s copyright.
All submissions are vetted by Britannica’s research
and content editors as well as its extended network of advisors
and experts. Britannica reserves the right to reject well-written
submissions on subjects that it considers inappropriate for a
general reference encyclopaedia. If an author is unsure that a
subject meets this threshold, he or she should contact Britannica
prior to submission via the Comment button.
SOURCES
Any article submitted to Britannica must be
accompanied by a list of authoritative sources consulted during
the writing of the article. Such a list is essential for the
evaluation of any article: it is a key component to the review
undertaken by Britannica editors and experts, and it represents
the starting point for the fact-checking process to which every
article will be subjected. Any article submitted without a list of
sources will not be considered.
PROCESS
Only after a thorough preliminary review will any
article be identified for possible inclusion in Britannica.
Following such identification, an article will typically be
fact-checked by a research editor, edited and reviewed by a
content editor and supervisory editors, and scrutinized for style,
grammar, and consistency by copy editors. That article will then
be provided to its author for review, accompanied by any questions
raised during the editing process. Once returned to Britannica,
the article, with any changes supplied by the author, may again be
edited and reviewed by content and supervisory editors and by copy
editors. The article will then be published, and the author’s name
will be associated with it in the article’s history.
The aim of this rigorous editorial process is to
ensure the publication of articles that uphold Britannica’s
reputation for accuracy and objectivity. The thoroughness of this
process means that relatively few articles will meet Britannica’s
standards – and those that do will be the object of deliberate,
thoughtful, and engaged review by editors and, frequently, leading
experts. This process can demand as much involvement by the
article’s author as by the editors overseeing its publication.
STRUCTURE AND CONTENT
The articles of Encyclopædia Britannica describe a
wide range of subjects, from human anatomy to components of
computers to literary genres.
Biographies are among the most common types of
articles that appear in Britannica. All biographies should include
the following elements:
- Title: the personal name by which the subject is best known
- Alternate title(s): any other names or titles by which the
subject is known
- Birth and death information: the date and location,
identified as precisely as possible, of the subject’s birth and
death
- First sentence: a brief phrase identifying the person’s (1)
nationality, (2) occupation, and (3) significance, stated
succinctly
- Description of significant events and accomplishments in a
subject’s life, presented in chronological order
Many other types of articles also appear in
Britannica, among them articles on places, events, organisms,
peoples, geographic features, and terms unique to a field of
study. Each type has its own particular features, which are
determined largely by the nature of the subject being described.
These features can be best understood through the consultation of
already existing articles on subjects of the same or of a similar
type (e.g., Britannica’s article on Hurricane
Katrina may be taken as a guide for any article on a major
tropical cyclone).
OBJECTIVITY
The ideal of encyclopaedic objectivity means, at a
minimum, that an article clearly and fully explains each
significant viewpoint in neutral or nonprejudicial language and
that it discusses related topics in ways that do not unfairly
favour one viewpoint over another.
Encyclopaedic objectivity does not mean the
complete absence or transcendence of perspective. Rather, it has
to do with the way conflicting perspectives are treated: an
article is objective to the extent that it recognizes, and treats
with respect and fairness, all significant conflicting viewpoints
on major topics of disagreement within, or appropriately related
to, its subject matter.
TONE
The tone of a Britannica article is always
appropriate to the intellectual level of the discussion, and it is
always respectful of both the subject and the reader. Slang and
cliché should be avoided, and professional or technical jargon
should never be used without explanation, and even then it should
be used only sparingly. Care should be taken to ensure that tone
and text are compatible and that neither can be construed, even
remotely, as inconsistent with Britannica’s editorial standards
for accuracy, intellectual rigour, and objectivity.