Use this template to "tag" dubious information or analysis which cites references produced by a fringe-theory or pseudo-science source, so that other editors can know to back up the statement with reliable citations or remove the claim, per Wikipedia:Verifiability.
It produces a superscripted notation like the following:
Articles tagged with this template will be categorized into Category:All articles lacking reliable references.
Place this template inline, ((Unreliable fringe source|date=June 2024))
following the questionable claim (and any punctuation attached to it). The template should be placed outside the reference (<ref> ... </ref>
), within the article's text:
<ref>some alleged source for this</ref>((Unreliable fringe source|date=June 2024))
Next sentence.This template should be used to express doubt about the credibility of a source for a claim that is or should be subject to scientific verification.
For improperly sourced medical claims, use the more specific ((Unreliable medical source))
instead.
This tag should not be used on unreliably sourced contentious statements about living persons; if the source is not reliable, the statement should be removed immediately.
For whole articles or article sections that rely on fringe sources, considering using just ((fringe theories))
or ((fringe theories|section))
, respectively, rather than individually tagging a large number of statements.
For sources unreliable for reasons other than promotion of fringe ideas, the more general template ((Unreliable source?))
can be used.
This tag should not be used to indicate that the sourced material could not be found within a given source. In that case, ((failed verification))
is a better template. For statements that have failed verification and have a questionable would-be source, consider removal of the source (and possibly the statement) over using both tags.
The template has the following optional parameters:
((Unreliable fringe source|date=June 2024))
((Unreliable fringe source|reason=Your WP:FRINGE-based reason here.|date=June 2024))
reason
parameter. Example: ((Unreliable fringe source|sure=y|reason=your WP:RS-based reason here.|date=June 2024))
((Better source))
, an alternative to ((Unreliable source|certain=y))
; especially useful for tagging sources that are low-quality but not necessarily wrong((Obsolete source))
, for when a source has been surpassed by more recent works((Unreliable medical source))
, for fringe medical sources in particular((Unreliable source?))
, for unreliable but non-fringe sources((Primary source inline))
, for misuse of primary source material((Dubious))
, for questionable claims that seem unlikely to be properly sourceable((Fringe theories))
, a banner template for flagging an entire article or section as relying on fringe sources((Refimprove))
, a banner template for flagging entire article or section as needing better sourcing generally