Wikipedia:Tiers of reliability

This is an essay on the accepted levels of evidence on Wikipedia. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

Shortcut WP:TIERS

Peer-reviewed publications

• Peer-reviewed articles in academic journals, e.g. Science [1] or Nature [2]
• Literature reviews, systematic reviews, and other review articles
• Peer-reviewed conference papers
• Examples:
  • Malawey, Victoria (2014). "'Find out what it means to me': Aretha Franklin's gendered re-authoring of Otis Redding's 'Respect'". Popular Music. 33 (2): 185–207. doi:10.1017/S0261143014000270. S2CID 161360928.
  • Lordi, Emily J. (2016). "Souls intact: The soul performances of Audre Lorde, Aretha Franklin, and Nina Simone". Women & Performance. 26 (1): 55–71. doi:10.1080/0740770X.2016.1183981. S2CID 194498055.

Academic books

• Books published by university presses, e.g. Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press
• Specialist encyclopedias, e.g. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia
• Examples:
  • David W. Stowe (2011). No Sympathy for the Devil: Christian Pop Music and the Transformation of American Evangelicalism. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807878002.
  • Linda Solomon (2019). The Queen Next Door: Aretha Franklin, An Intimate Portrait. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 9780814347294

Non-peer-reviewed academic publications

• Non-peer-reviewed articles in academic journals, e.g. Science [3] or Nature [4]
• Book reviews in academic journals
• Non-peer-reviewed conference papers
• Example: Fink, Robert; Weisbard, Eric; Dibbell, Carola; Christgau, Georgia; Tate, Greg; Denise, Dj Lynnée (2019). "Remembering Aretha Franklin". Journal of Popular Music Studies. 31 (1): 3–14. doi:10.1525/jpms.2019.311002. S2CID 150034745.

Mass-market books

• "Big Five (publishers): Hachette, Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster
• Example: Craig Werner (2007). Higher Ground Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, and the Rise and Fall of American Soul. Crown Publishing Group. ISBN 9780307420879.

Highly-reputable international journalism

• BBC
• The New York Times
• The Wall Street Journal
• The Washington Post
• Los Angeles Times
• The Economist
• Foreign Affairs
• International wire services: Associated Press (AP), Reuters, Agence France-Presse (AFP)
• Example: "Obituary: Aretha Franklin" (August 16, 2018). BBC News.

Tertiary sources

• General reference works, e.g. Encyclopædia Britannica, Oxford English Dictionary
• Example: "Aretha Franklin" (March 21, 2021). Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Other generally reliable news sources

• National and international journalism that is less than top-rated
• Regional and local news ("Channel 5 news", local newspapers)
• Trade publications
• Any source listed as green at WP:RSP would be at least in this tier
• Example: Brian McCollum (August 16, 2018). "Aretha Franklin dies at 76: Detroit star transformed American music". Detroit Free Press.

Expert self-published

• Snow Lion Publications [5]
• Example: Charles Kronengold, interviewed by Robin Wander (August 29, 2018). "Stanford musicologist reflects on 'multimusical' Aretha Franklin". Stanford University.

Non-expert self-published

• Official websites, brochures and other promotional materials
• Opinion/editorial (see WP:RSOPINION)
• vanity press
• predatory publishing
• churnalism
• government propaganda
• Theses
• Examples:
  • Aretha Franklin Official Website
  • Michael Eric Dyson (August 16, 2018). "The Church of Aretha Franklin: How the Queen of Soul preached to us all" (op-ed). The New York Times.
  • Pamela J. Greene (December 1995). "Aretha Franklin: The Emergence of Soul and Black Women's Consciousness in the Late 1960s and 1970s"] (PhD dissertation). Graduate College, Bowling Green State University.

Questionable sources

• Sources listed as yellow at WP:RSP
• Example: Samatha Schnurr (August 16, 2018). "Aretha Franklin, "Queen of Soul," Dead at 76". E! News.

Primary sources

Policies

• Verifiability (WP:V)
• No original research (WP:NOR)

Guidelines

• Reliable sources (WP:RS)
• Citing sources (WP:CITE)

Explanatory supplements

• Independent sources (WP:INDY)

General essays

• Reliable sources checklist (WP:RSVETTING)
• Cherrypicking (WP:CHERRYPICK)
• Potentially unreliable sources (WP:PUS)
• Reliable source examples (WP:RSE)

Topic-specific essays

• Identifying reliable sources (history) (WP:HISTRS)
• Identifying reliable sources (law) (WP:RSLAW)
• Identifying reliable sources (science) (WP:SCIRS)
• Identifying reliable sources (medicine) (WP:MEDRS)
• Identifying and using style guides (WP:STYLEGUIDES)
• Using maps and similar sources in Wikipedia articles (WP:MAPCITE)

Other

• Reliable sources/Noticeboard (WP:RSN)
• Reliable sources/Perennial sources (WP:RSP)
• Common knowledge (WP:CK)
• How to mine a source (WP:MINE)