The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Britannica's editorial process

Editorial quality has been Encyclopaedia Britannica's top priority since the company was founded in 1768. Britannica’s methods for ensuring quality have changed over time, but their purpose has remained constant: to generate and validate content that represents the best, most up-to-date knowledge available. Readers today may find it amusing that Britannica's first edition, published in 1768, says about California that "[i]t is uncertain whether it be a peninsula or an island." But for the small group of men in Scotland who were responsible for that first edition, this claim was the result of the best research possible at that time with the resources accessible to them. Over the following two centuries, Britannica established its reputation for clarity, accuracy, objectivity, and fairness by drawing on the best authorities of every era, whether the latest published scholarship or the most respected Nobel Prize winners.

Britannica's editorial staff is responsible for developing and approving the content that appears in the company's products. Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on content in those areas or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and select, verify, and edit content received from contributors. Britannica's media editors produce and acquire images, maps, videos, and more for Britannica’s products. Britannica's World Data editors research and compile statistical information using a variety of authoritative sources. Britannica’s copy editors fact-check and copyedit both new and substantially updated older content, ensuring the veracity of hard facts, the clarity of prose, and the consistency of style.

But Britannica is not just its editorial staff. Britannica has long fostered vigorous interaction between its staff and its advisers, contributors, and audience. The feedback loop between these groups is today more active and beneficial than ever, and it guides all aspects of content development. Britannica's goal is to share the best, most up-to-date knowledge that its audience wants, and its editors use a variety of strategies to accomplish that goal: they may commission original encyclopedic articles from experts on topics never before described in Britannica, or they may produce videos that explain complex ideas simply, or they may acquire high-caliber content that has been published elsewhere. Regardless of its type or origin, all such content must meet Britannica's high editorial standards.

Once this content goes online, its life cycle is only just beginning. Interaction between readers, contributors, and editors produces revisions and updates that maintain Britannica’s standards. Changes to encyclopedic articles are displayed alongside those articles, so as to make the history of each article transparent and to give credit to those who have contributed to the creation and revision of articles. Britannica is committed to fairness and responsibility not only in its content but in the manner in which its content is revised; no revision to content can go online without careful review by Britannica's editors. Britannica's editors are also responsible for evaluating and responding to concerns raised about content. Editors, working closely with copy editors and other staff, approach revisions with the same meticulousness that they bring to their creation of new content: all of their effort is aimed at ensuring that Britannica's content is clear, accurate, objective, and fair.