Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/Resources
Guidelines
[edit]- Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and has a distinct style that may take some time getting used to.
- It is important that articles use the best sources and content is given due weight. Different from scientific papers, Wikipedia medical and health content is preferably sourced to secondary sources over primary sources. Citing a review article is preferred over an original trial.
- To get you started and to explain why this is important here are a number of guides and guidelines:
Reliable Sources (medicine) Manual of Style (medicine-related articles) Conflicts of Interest How to edit
- Our guides complement Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines and take great care to explain why they are relevant.
Article Alerts
[edit]
Did you know
- 23 Jun 2025 – Abortion in Ivory Coast (talk · edit · hist) was nominated for DYK by Vigilantcosmicpenguin (t · c); see discussion
- 15 Jun 2025 – Abortion in Morocco (talk · edit · hist) was nominated for DYK by Vigilantcosmicpenguin (t · c); see discussion
- 14 Jun 2025 – Skraban–Deardorff syndrome (talk · edit · hist) was nominated for DYK by Strange Orange (t · c); see discussion
- 09 Jun 2025 – James Edwin Thompson (talk · edit · hist) was nominated for DYK by Sailing427alt (t · c); see discussion
- 07 Jun 2025 – Abortion in Libya (talk · edit · hist) was nominated for DYK by Vigilantcosmicpenguin (t · c); see discussion
- 05 Jun 2025 – Abortion in Tunisia (talk · edit · hist) was nominated for DYK by Vigilantcosmicpenguin (t · c); see discussion
- 04 Jun 2025 – Diagnostic overshadowing in autism (talk · edit · hist) was nominated for DYK by PulsarPen (t · c); see discussion
- 01 Jun 2025 – Stuart Stanton (surgeon) (talk · edit · hist) was nominated for DYK by Andrew Davidson (t · c); see discussion
Articles for deletion
- 23 Jun 2025 – Prashant Madanmohan Leander (talk · edit · hist) was AfDed by CycloneYoris (t · c); see discussion (3 participants)
- 21 Jun 2025 – Mehmet Kâmil Berk (talk · edit · hist) was AfDed by Royal Autumn Crest (t · c); see discussion (2 participants)
- 14 Jun 2025 – Mucoprotective (talk · edit · hist) was AfDed by Weirdguyz (t · c); see discussion (4 participants; relisted)
- 13 Jun 2025 – Sheraz Daya (talk · edit · hist) was AfDed by Onel5969 (t · c); see discussion (8 participants; relisted)
- 13 Jun 2025 – Scott Russell Surasky (talk · edit · hist) was AfDed by Yuvaank (t · c); see discussion (7 participants; relisted)
- 12 Jun 2025 – Lawley Pharmaceuticals (talk · edit · hist) was AfDed by Altenmann (t · c); see discussion (5 participants; relisted)
- 12 Jun 2025 – Truemeds (talk · edit · hist) was AfDed by CNMall41 (t · c); see discussion (6 participants; relisted)
- 09 Jun 2025 – Rasheed Ayobami Aranmolate (talk · edit · hist) was AfDed by Alpha3031 (t · c); see discussion (10 participants; relisted)
- 09 Jun 2025 – List of hospitals in the United Arab Emirates (talk · edit · hist) was AfDed by Fifteen thousand two hundred twenty four (t · c); see discussion (5 participants; relisted)
- 05 Jun 2025 – Junie Yu (talk · edit · hist) was AfDed by Timtrent (t · c); see discussion (13 participants; relisted)
- (31 more...)
Proposed deletions
- 12 Jun 2025 – Irish Association of Physicists in Medicine (talk · edit · hist) PRODed by LibStar (t · c) was deleted
- 11 Jun 2025 – Saskatchewan College of Physical Therapists (talk · edit · hist) PRODed by LibStar (t · c) was deleted
- 11 Jun 2025 – World Federation of Medical Managers (talk · edit · hist) PRODed by LibStar (t · c) and endorsed by Bearian (t · c) on 12 Jun 2025 was deleted
- 11 Jun 2025 – Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology (talk · edit · hist) PRODed by LibStar (t · c) was deleted
Categories for discussion
- 19 Jun 2025 – Category:Taiwanese ophthalmologists (talk · edit · hist) was CfDed by LibStar (t · c); see discussion
- 19 Jun 2025 – Category:Saudi Arabian ophthalmologists (talk · edit · hist) was CfDed by LibStar (t · c); see discussion
- 19 Jun 2025 – Category:Paraguayan ophthalmologists (talk · edit · hist) was CfDed by LibStar (t · c); see discussion
- 19 Jun 2025 – Category:Nicaraguan ophthalmologists (talk · edit · hist) was CfDed by LibStar (t · c); see discussion
- 19 Jun 2025 – Category:Namibian ophthalmologists (talk · edit · hist) was CfDed by LibStar (t · c); see discussion
- 19 Jun 2025 – Category:Malaysian ophthalmologists (talk · edit · hist) was CfDed by LibStar (t · c); see discussion
- 19 Jun 2025 – Category:Luxembourgian ophthalmologists (talk · edit · hist) was CfDed by LibStar (t · c); see discussion
- 19 Jun 2025 – Category:Zimbabwean ophthalmologists (talk · edit · hist) was CfDed by LibStar (t · c); see discussion
- 19 Jun 2025 – Category:Jamaican ophthalmologists (talk · edit · hist) was CfDed by LibStar (t · c); see discussion
- 19 Jun 2025 – Category:Ghanaian ophthalmologists (talk · edit · hist) was CfDed by LibStar (t · c); see discussion
- (35 more...)
Redirects for discussion
- 19 Jun 2025 – Seggs (talk · edit · hist) →Sexual intercourse was RfDed by Someone-123-321 (t · c); see discussion
- 15 Jun 2025 – TA2 (talk · edit · hist) →Terminologia Anatomica was RfDed by Casablanca Rock (t · c); see discussion
Good article nominees
- 11 Jun 2025 – Air pollution (talk · edit · hist) was GA nominated by Femke (t · c); start discussion
- 08 May 2025 – Casey Means (talk · edit · hist) was GA nominated by ElijahPepe (t · c); see discussion
- 19 Mar 2025 – EviCore (talk · edit · hist) was GA nominated by Vigilantcosmicpenguin (t · c); start discussion
- 12 Mar 2025 – Insulin analogue (talk · edit · hist) was GA nominated by MallardTV (t · c); start discussion
- 07 Feb 2025 – Abortion in Madagascar (talk · edit · hist) was GA nominated by Vigilantcosmicpenguin (t · c); start discussion
- 29 Jan 2025 – Abortion in Malawi (talk · edit · hist) was GA nominated by Vigilantcosmicpenguin (t · c); start discussion
- 11 Jan 2025 – Hussein Kamel Bahaeddin (talk · edit · hist) was GA nominated by FuzzyMagma (t · c); see discussion
- 23 Dec 2024 – Doxycycline (talk · edit · hist) was GA nominated by Maxim Masiutin (t · c); see discussion
- 23 Dec 2024 – Drug-eluting stent (talk · edit · hist) was GA nominated by Maxim Masiutin (t · c); start discussion
- 23 Dec 2024 – Ketotifen (talk · edit · hist) was GA nominated by Maxim Masiutin (t · c); start discussion
- (2 more...)
Good article reassessments
- 17 Jun 2025 – Ovulatory shift hypothesis (talk · edit · hist) was nominated for GA reassessment by Z1720 (t · c); see discussion
Requests for comments
- 16 Jun 2025 – Circumcision (talk · edit · hist) has an RfC by Chaptagai (t · c); see discussion
- 13 Jun 2025 – James Barry (surgeon) (talk · edit · hist) has an RfC by Tanline666 (t · c); see discussion
Peer reviews
- 11 Jun 2025 – Florence Nightingale (talk · edit · hist) has been put up for PR by Thelifeofan413 (t · c); see discussion
Requested moves
- 20 Jun 2025 – William James Moore (surgeon) (talk · edit · hist) is requested to be moved to William James Moore by Heart of Destruction (t · c); see discussion
- 31 May 2025 – 2025 Southwest United States measles outbreak (talk · edit · hist) is requested to be moved to 2025 United States measles outbreak by Des Vallee (t · c); see discussion
Articles to be merged
- 19 Jun 2025 – Cardiopulmonary exercise test (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for merging to Cardiac stress test by Timtrent (t · c); see discussion
- 18 Jun 2025 – Edward Jenner Institute for Vaccine Research (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for merging to Jenner Institute by LibStar (t · c); see discussion
- 10 Jun 2025 – Hess test (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for merging to Tourniquet test by Treetear (t · c); see discussion
- 08 Jun 2025 – Euthanasia in Nazi Germany (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for merging to Nazi eugenics by ClaudineChionh (t · c); see discussion
- 19 May 2025 – Health benefits of quitting alcohol (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for merging to Health effects of alcohol by Klbrain (t · c); see discussion
- 17 May 2025 – ARCT-154 (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for merging to Zapomeran by 87.97.26.61 (t · c); see discussion
- 13 May 2025 – Post-rationalist cognitive therapy (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for merging to Vittorio Guidano#Guidano's post-rationalist cognitive therapy by Klbrain (t · c); see discussion
- 09 May 2025 – Self-imposed pressure (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for merging to Psychological stress by Klbrain (t · c); see discussion
- 07 May 2025 – Athetoid cerebral palsy (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for merging to Dyskinetic cerebral palsy by Aeffenberger (t · c); see discussion
- 12 Apr 2025 – Factitious diarrhea (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for merging to Factitious disorder imposed on self by EllieDellie (t · c); see discussion
- (11 more...)
Articles to be split
- 06 Jun 2025 – Maltodextrin (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for splitting by Artoria2e5 (t · c); see discussion
- 18 Apr 2025 – Addiction (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for splitting by Cognsci (t · c); see discussion
- 05 Apr 2025 – Mark Geier (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for splitting by Mvolz (t · c); see discussion
- 11 Mar 2025 – Embryology (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for splitting by Klbrain (t · c); see discussion
- 04 Dec 2024 – Fluticasone furoate (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for splitting by Tikmok (t · c); see discussion
- 22 Apr 2024 – State health agency (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for splitting by GobsPint (t · c); see discussion
- 20 Apr 2024 – Health department (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for splitting by GobsPint (t · c); see discussion
- 28 Mar 2024 – United Network for Organ Sharing (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for splitting by 45.26.61.142 (t · c); see discussion
- 03 Jan 2024 – Anisakis (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for splitting by Artoria2e5 (t · c); see discussion
- 08 Dec 2023 – 1957–1958 influenza pandemic (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for splitting by Buidhe (t · c); see discussion
- (8 more...)
Articles for creation
- 23 Jun 2025 – Draft:Oswald Vander Veken Prize (talk · edit · hist) has been submitted for AfC by Pancras Hogendoorn (t · c)
- 18 Jun 2025 – Draft:Ogawa Shosen (talk · edit · hist) has been submitted for AfC by 88.98.15.50 (t · c)
- 17 Jun 2025 – Draft:Lemnian Earth (talk · edit · hist) has been submitted for AfC by PolycrystalLine (t · c)
- 16 Jun 2025 – Draft:Martin Picard (talk · edit · hist) has been submitted for AfC by Qwerfjkl (bot) (t · c)
- 16 Jun 2025 – Draft:NAKO Health Study (talk · edit · hist) has been submitted for AfC by Rasmus Cloes (t · c)
- 04 Jun 2025 – Draft:Christopher A. Sarkiss (talk · edit · hist) has been submitted for AfC by Atlantic234 (t · c)
- undated – Draft:Michael Armour (talk · edit · hist) has been submitted for AfC
- 22 Jun 2025 – Draft:Ahizechukwu Eke (talk · edit · hist) submitted for AfC by Makingstrides2000 (t · c) was accepted to Ahizechukwu Eke (talk · edit · hist) by JacobTheRox (t · c) on 23 Jun 2025
- 18 Jun 2025 – Draft:Perithiaden (talk · edit · hist) submitted for AfC by 92.31.192.97 (t · c) was declined by Mgp28 (t · c) on 22 Jun 2025
- 18 Jun 2025 – Draft:Rukmini Rednam (talk · edit · hist) submitted for AfC by Sprednam (t · c) was declined by Moritoriko (t · c) on 18 Jun 2025
- (5 more...)
Recent changes
[edit]- Articles and their talk pages
Tasks
[edit]Maintenance tasks
[edit]Assess for quality
Not tagged by the WikiProject
-
Category:Peripheral nervous system disorders (talk)
Predicted class: Category -
Category:Health disasters in Germany (talk)
Predicted class: Category -
Category:Anatomists by nationality (talk)
Predicted class: Category
Other tasks
[edit]- Clean up articles – gigantic sorted list of articles with tags
- Write new articles
- Ideas for technical projects
- Check for retracted papers. See Category:Articles citing retracted publications for articles that may wrongly cite retracted publications.
- Remove inappropriate external links. Some medicine-related articles attract inappropriate links, such as internet chat boards and advertisements. You can review the external links in any article, or you can use Special:Linksearch to find articles containing a specific link, such as *.clinicaltrials.gov or *.groups.yahoo.com. Details available in the full guidelines for all of Wikipedia and also the specific guidelines for medicine-related articles.
- Help evaluate articles nominated for deletion. Help identify deletion discussions that relate to medicine.
- Sort stubs. See the list of specific stub templates. Replacing {{stub}} or {{med-stub}} with a more specific template is helpful.
- Assess quality and importance of articles. Use the Rater-tool and assess the article according to our assessment scale. A bot-generated list of new articles that might be medicine-related is here.
- 'Help with completion of translation into French and Chinese'. Help is needed to review and help the article that is practically ready https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89couter_sans_risque. https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:GWei13/%E5%AE%89%E5%85%A8%E8%81%86%E5%90%AC
- Improve categorization of articles. Several popular Wikipedia categories like Medicine and Category:Diseases and disorders need people to sort articles into more specific subcategories. Tools like HotCat may make this easier.
Requests
[edit]Templates
[edit]Article-related
[edit]Category:Medicine templates contains all templates used on medicine-related articles.
{{WPMED|class=|importance=}}
- Placed on talk pages of medicine-related articles and used to assess articles.{{reqphoto|medical subjects}}
- Used on talk pages to request that photographs be added to the article.{{med-stub}}
- Used on stub articles (here is the complete list){{Medref}}
- Used to indicate an article in need of adequate references.{{Medref|section|{{subst:DATE}}}}
- Used to indicate an section in need of adequate references.
{{Medicine}}
- The bottom navbox template to be used on articles about broad disciplines of medicine.{{medical advice}}
- placed around requests for medical advice on talk pages (box ends with{{cob}}
).{{Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/Navigation}}
- transcludes the navigation template shown to the right.{{Reliable sources for medical articles}}
- updated template providing links to recent reviews, for use on Talk pages
Inline with article text
[edit]{{medical citation needed}}
or{{medcn}}
- Used after text without a reliable medical source. Generates: Some text.[medical citation needed]{{medical citation needed span}}
or{{mcns}}
- Used after text without a reliable medical source. Generates: Some text.[medical citation needed]{{unreliable medical source}}
or{{ums}}
- Used after text with a questionable medical source. Generates: Some text.[unreliable medical source?]{{primary source-inline}}
or{{npsn}}
- Used after text that cites a primary source. Generates: Some text.[non-primary source needed]
Infoboxes
[edit]WP:Infoboxes have been created for a number of article types including:
- Template:Infobox medical condition for articles on diseases
- Template:Infobox medical intervention for articles pertaining to procedures
- Template:Infobox diagnostic for diagnostic test
- Template:Infobox drug for medications
- Template:Infobox drug class for classes of medication
User-related
[edit]For other editors
[edit]- Welcome messages (all of these should be substituted onto a user's talk page):
{{subst:WPMED welcome}} ~~~~
– Welcome message for new Wikipedians (with invitation to join us) – newish, with video{{subst:Welcome medical student}} ~~~~
– For welcoming new editors who appear to be students associated with a course{{subst:Student}}~~~~
– For welcoming new editors who appear to be students associated with a course, with more detailed advice
[[File:New medical editor.ogv|thumb|right|thumbtime=2:59|320px|Welcome to Wikipedia]]
A video that can be transcluded onto the pages of new users.{{subst:RSPlease}} ~~~~
– User Talk page request to use MEDRS sources
For WP:MED contributors
[edit]{{User WPMed}}
– Userbox for members of this WikiProject.{{WikiProject Medicine topicon}}
– For members of this WikiProject. Adds a topicon to your user page.{{User MedLat}}
– Userbox for those who understand Medical Latin (Babel-compatible; just add|MedLat
to your Babel template)
Wikipedia Library
[edit]
The Wikipedia Medical Library
The Wikipedia Library grants Wikipedians who have 500+ edits, account age 6+ months, and meet some other criteria free access to certain academic journals. As of February 2021, it provides instant access to 26 journals, and you can request individual access to journals such as the BMJ, Cochrane Library, and Science Direct (SD includes access to The Lancet).
- Found a source that you can't access? Check out the: Resource Exchange
Or try an Interlibrary loan - Need help finding sources?: Help:Find sources
- Need help finding your local library?: Wikipedia:Find your library
Finding images
[edit]Most images from the internet are copyrighted and should not be used in Wikipedia.
The NIH has an search engine for open images HERE. Use with care as many of the images are NC licensed and therefore not compatible with Wikipedia.
Community members interested in creating images
[edit]We also have a few people who are interested in creating images for Wikipedia including:
Requested images
[edit]- ...
Non-suitable images
[edit]- Medlineplus [1]: even though it is a US government source, it uses images that may be copyrighted by others.
- Other sources in the ".gov" domain may use images from istock photos, and such images may not be in the public domain.
Finding sources
[edit]Source | url | Comments |
---|---|---|
TRIP Database | http://www.tripdatabase.com/ | This resource is useful to find references suitable for Wikipedia as it breaks the literature down into secondary sources versus primary sources. It searches the Cochrane Library and many other databases containing systematic reviews, medical guidelines, and evidence-based synopses among others. TRIP Answers is a website related to the TRIP Database which aims to answer clinical questions directly. |
Pubmed | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ | A large collection that includes more than 22 million citations and abstracts and tens of thousands of links to the full-text articles. If desired by the user, search results can be limited to show only review articles, full-text articles freely available to the public, or studies from some 120 "Core Clinical" journals (they are all English-language journals). Results are also sortable by publication date. The PubMed identifiers (PMIDs) can be used with the "cite" button found at the top of the edit window. On the left side of a Pubmed abstract you will find filters for "Article types" and you can select "Reviews" there; you can also filter by "Text availability". Pubmed abstracts also have a field called "Publication Type" at the bottom, that shows how Pubmed has classified the study; check to see if the source is a review or not, before using it. |
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | http://www.cdc.gov/ | Reliable source for public-domain information, especially for infectious diseases. Also has a library of copyright-free images. |
NCBI bookshelf | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books | Free access to over 700 health-science textbooks |
Google Scholar | http://scholar.google.com/ | A Google search portal limited to scholarly work (including not only medicine, but also legal articles and patents). Allows easy access to many University and Institutional online collections (with proper affiliation). A useful feature of Google Scholar is "Cited by...", showing who else has cited a particular paper. |
Google Books | http://books.google.com/ | Makes available free, limited views of a number of medical textbooks. ISBNs are available, aiding referencing. |
DynaMed | http://dynamed.ebscohost.com | Subscription required. Provides evidence-based topic overviews and summaries, with plenty of links to the full text of key published clinical evidence, including international guidelines. It also includes live links to PubMed. Trial access may be obtained here. |
Emedicine | http://emedicine.medscape.com/ | Also known as Medscape Reference. Free, but registration is required. Not the best source of content, with concerns that advertising affects its reliability. |
Cochrane collaboration | http://www.cochrane.org/ | Perhaps the foremost evidence-based group. Complete access to their collections is available in many countries.
Also produces the Cochrane Library. |
NICE | http://www.nice.org.uk/ | The guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in the UK. |
PLoS Journals | http://www.plos.org/ | A collection of open-source scientific journals, including PLoS Medicine |
SIGN | http://www.sign.ac.uk/ | The guidelines from the Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network in the UK. |
World Health Organization | http://www.who.int/mediacentre/ | Fact sheets from the WHO. |
EB medicine | https://www.ebmedicine.net | Excellent reviews of emergency-medicine topics. Issues more than 3 years old are freely available to the public. |
USPSTF | http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org | Thorough evidence-based evaluations of medical topics by the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) |
PTSDpub | https://search.proquest.com/ptsdpubs/index | Managed by the VA's National Center for PTSD on the Proquest platform, this robust search engine provides citations and abstracts to the peer-reviewed PTSD literature. Not limited to combat trauma. Previously known as "PILOTS". |
Other useful Search Engines include:
- NHS Evidence: Search portal for health and social care produced by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for NHS England. Includes a one-stop search engine covering a wide range of sources, including the Cochrane Library, British National Formulary, and UK and international guidelines. Much of the content of NHS Evidence is free to view, but access to certain sections (e.g. many full-text journals and the databases AMED, BNI, CINAHL, EMBASE, Health Business Elite, MEDLINE and PsycINFO) requires a NHS Athens username & password – see the NHS Athens eligibility criteria here
- Prodigy Knowledge http://prodigy.clarity.co.uk (previously known as Clinical Knowledge Summaries - CKS) is aimed at clinicians in primary care. It provides reliable evidence-based information and practical "know how" about the common conditions managed in primary care.
- EMBASE: A high-quality medical index that often generates better results than PubMed. It is proprietary and requires a paid subscription.
- CINAHL: A proprietary index focusing on nursing and allied health care. It requires a paid subscription.
Historical documents
[edit]Documents published before 1923 are, in most cases, not copyrighted. While many of these documents are outdated, they can still be of great utility in supplementing "History" sections of certain medical articles. Also, historical images can still depict symptoms of diseases, normal anatomy, and other features quite accurately.
Possible sources of useful images and text of historical interest include:
- Images from the History of Medicine (IHM) and, more generally, the digital collections maintained in the National Library of Medicine: Care must be taken in choosing materials here since most, but not all, content is in the public domain.
- The Pierre and Marie Curie University has an important digitalized collection of documents [2] useful for writing articles about the history of science (especially French). Its "Charcot collection" specializes in medicine (particularly neurology) and has many valuable images available.
- The Library of Congress U.S. Historical, Cultural Collections and the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog: Both of these sources contain medical and non-medical images and other potentially useful media files. Again, great care must be taken in choosing items to use since not all content is in the public domain.
- "Images of Surgery" [3] is a resource containing a number of historical images and depictions of surgical procedures across time.