Royal Society of Chemistry grants journals access to Wikipedia Editors

We are donating 100 "RSC Gold" accounts – the complete portfolio of Royal Society of Chemistry journals and databases – to be used by Wikipedia editors who write about chemistry. The partnership is part of a wider collaboration between our members, staff and the Wikimedia community, which aims to improve the coverage of chemistry-related topics on the online encyclopaedia and its sister projects.

The project recently saw the appointment of Andy Mabbett as the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Wikimedian in Residence. Andy said: "Royal Society of Chemistry journals are the first port of call for many scientists and Wikipedia is the first port of call for both students and lay people. It absolutely makes sense for the two to work together to share knowledge, freely, for the benefit of everyone".

Stephen Hawthorne, Deputy CEO of the Royal Society of Chemistry, explains that this sort of partnership is part of our vision for the future. He said: "By granting access to our journal content, we are looking to forge stronger links with the volunteers who build those projects and to encourage more chemists to edit Wikipedia.

"Around the world, we invest in educating future generations of scientists, partner with industry and academia and promote collaboration and innovation. And we promote the talent, information and ideas that lead to great advances in science".

The Wikipedia Library will arrange for donated subscription accounts to journals and online archives to be allocated to Wikipedia editors who have demonstrated a commitment to working on the projects, in relevant topic areas. It too is run by volunteers, supported by the US-based Wikimedia Foundation. In order to verify its content, Wikipedia requires all facts stated to be given citations from reliable sources.