Wikipedia 'Neutral Point of View' Citation Drift

How Wikipedia’s citations shift to maintain neutrality in controversial articles

Observations: 25
Tracking since: 08 Aug 2026
Last updated: 07 Sep 2026 11:00 UTC

Citation Drift Score

Average absolute change in article size over time for controversial Wikipedia articles, normalized by article age

0 observations · measured in bytes per year

Neutrality Citation Ratio

Proportion of citations from sources with neutral political bias ratings in controversial articles

0 observations · measured in %

Controversial Articles Tracked

Number of controversial Wikipedia articles monitored for citation drift

25 observations · measured in count

Summary Line Area Bar Dot plot Heatmap Table

50 count

Controversial Articles Tracked

▬ 0.0% vs previous

07 Sep 2026 11:00

Controversial Articles Tracked (count) — summary, last 30 days.

Controversial Articles Tracked (count) — line, last 30 days.

Controversial Articles Tracked (count) — area, last 30 days.

Controversial Articles Tracked50 count

Controversial Articles Tracked (count) — bar, last 30 days.

Controversial Articles Tracked50 count

Controversial Articles Tracked (count) — dot plot, last 30 days.

	0						6						12						18
08 Aug
12 Aug
13 Aug
14 Aug
15 Aug
16 Aug
17 Aug
18 Aug
21 Aug
22 Aug
25 Aug
26 Aug
29 Aug
30 Aug
02 Sep
03 Sep
06 Sep
07 Sep

Darker = higher controversial articles tracked. Empty cells are hours with no collection.

Controversial Articles Tracked (count) — heatmap, last 30 days.

Controversial Articles Tracked observations
When	Controversial Articles Tracked
07 Sep 2026 11:00	50 count
06 Sep 2026 22:45	50 count
03 Sep 2026 10:00	50 count
02 Sep 2026 21:47	50 count
30 Aug 2026 09:00	50 count
29 Aug 2026 20:45	50 count
26 Aug 2026 08:00	50 count
25 Aug 2026 19:45	50 count
22 Aug 2026 07:00	50 count
21 Aug 2026 18:45	50 count
18 Aug 2026 06:00	50 count
17 Aug 2026 17:45	50 count
17 Aug 2026 05:30	50 count
16 Aug 2026 17:15	50 count
16 Aug 2026 05:00	50 count
15 Aug 2026 16:45	50 count
15 Aug 2026 04:31	50 count
14 Aug 2026 16:15	50 count
14 Aug 2026 04:00	50 count
13 Aug 2026 15:45	50 count
13 Aug 2026 03:30	50 count
12 Aug 2026 15:15	50 count
12 Aug 2026 03:00	50 count
08 Aug 2026 14:15	50 count
08 Aug 2026 14:07	50 count

Controversial Articles Tracked (count) — table, last 30 days.

About this data

This page tracks how Wikipedia’s citation sources change over time to uphold its ‘Neutral Point of View’ (NPOV) policy. It measures the net weekly changes in citations, identifies articles with significant turnover, and calculates the average edit distance per citation. The data reveals how editors balance perspectives in controversial topics by adjusting references. By quantifying citation drift, we can assess whether neutrality is actively maintained or eroded over time.

Sources

Every figure on this page was read from these pages.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Controversial_topics

Why this isn't published anywhere else

No existing source tracks the specific metric of 'Neutral Point of View Citation Drift' as a time-series analysis of citation additions/removals to measure neutrality maintenance.

Uniqueness score 1.00 — assessed against live web search results when this subject was created.

About this data

Sources

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Why this isn't published anywhere else