Analysis of reference sources used in drug-related Wikipedia articles.

OBJECTIVE: References from drug-related Wikipedia articles and a drug information database were compared. METHODS: Drugs in Food and Drug Administration (FDA) MedWatch alerts from January-July 2013 were searched in Wikipedia and Lexicomp to compare reference types and to assess the time for drug safety information to be incorporated into Wikipedia articles. RESULTS: Wikipedia most commonly cited peer-reviewed journal articles (49.2%) and news articles (12.0%). MedWatch citations were incorporated into Wikipedia on average in 5.9 days. CONCLUSIONS: Wikipedia cited various sources but may not be a reliable, up-to-date resource for drug safety information.