A few things you may not know about us but might like to
Britannica Behind the Scenes
How are Encyclopaedia Britannica articles created?
It’s not magic, but it does take the work of editors, expert contributors, and a host of other teams who make sure we get it right.
This infographic explains how we create the content that people rely on all over the world. (MORE)
People Trust Britannica
In a survey conducted recently by YouGov.co.uk, 87 percent of British respondents reported having a significant measure of faith in the truthfulness of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 20 percent more than for Wikipedia and the top British media outlets.
Britannica rated especially high with young people.
This is happy news for us, of course, but it’s also good news for anyone concerned about the state of knowledge and information today. It means that at a time when the Internet is awash in questionable content, people still know how to recognize a reliable source. (MORE)
Our Long Digital History
Printed encyclopedias? Sure, once upon a time. But we’re all digital now and have been for many years. Longer than just about anybody else, in fact. (MORE)
De-Natured
In a heroic contribution to the worldwide corpus of junk research, Wikipedia allies at the journal Nature produced a spurious study in 2005 that besmirched the accuracy of Britannica’s science articles.
How bad was it? This bad.
The so-called “study” had no validity, yet it found traction, unsurprisingly, in the fact-free ethers of social media, where to some extent it lives even today, almost ten years later.
Someone may cite it to you tomorrow. Beware: it’s Fatally Flawed.