Template:Irrelevant citation
Template documentationUsage
You may use either one of the following:
{{irrelevant citation|{{subst:DATE}}|reason=Optional BRIEF explanation of the problem; if over 1 sentence, use talk page.}}
or
{{irrelevant citation|date=January 2025|reason=Optional BRIEF explanation of the problem; if over 1 sentence, use talk page.}}
The tag is used inline in the prose immediately after the questionable reference citation (after </ref>).
This inline template is similar to {{failed verification}}, but indicates that a verifiability check of a cited source found that the source simply is not relevant to the material that cites it as a reference (i.e., it is off-topic and fails to aid verifiability or to help establish notability), rather than blatantly falsified. A common case is when the article says one thing and the cited source says something superficially similar-seeming (and thus confusable) but actually quite different, e.g. the article says that an event caused a major public outcry in Canada, but the Canadian-published source actually reports on public outcry in Ireland, and a mild level of political commentary in Canada. Another common case is when the article say something about one narrow topic, and cites a source that says the same thing, but about another topic, e.g. the source says that hip dysplasia, common to some cat breeds, can be so debilitating that veterinarians may recommend euthanasia, while the source says this about some dog breeds and never mentions cats at all.
Citation problems that trigger the need for this template are most often good-faith attempts to provide source citations, that fail because of less than careful processing of the information in the source or because of assumptions and improper correlation. If it appears systemic and willful, consider use a tag relating to original research instead, such as {{OR}} (inline) or {{Original research}} (banner). In particularly bad cases, mark the article {{Disputed}}.
This template categorizes tagged articles into Category:All articles lacking reliable references and (when dated) into the appropriate subcategory of Category:Articles lacking reliable references. This is a milder categorization than {{failed verification}}'s Category:All articles with unsourced statements.
See also
- Template:Failed verification, for cases where the source does not say what the article claims it does
- Template:Verify credibility, for cases where reliability of the source is an open question
- Template:Relevance-inline, for cases where the irrelevancy is in the prose, and not a sourcing issue
- Wikipedia:Citing sources, especially Unsourced material
- Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources
- Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup/Verifiability and sources
- Wikipedia:Template messages/Sources of articles
- Wikipedia:Verifiability
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Fact and Reference Check
