Template:Dubious

Template documentation[view] [edit] [history] [purge]

This template is used on approximately 8,500 pages and changes may be widely noticed. Test changes in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them.

Shortcuts

{{odd}}
{{dub}}
{{debatable}}

Add {{Dubious}} after a specific statement or alleged fact that is sourced but that nevertheless seems dubious or unlikely. Most commonly, this involves uncertainty regarding the veracity or accuracy of the given source, or of an editor's interpretation of that source.

Purpose

The purposes of this template are:

to point out uncertainty over conflicting sources
to question the veracity, accuracy, or methodology employed by a given source
to express concerns that the source may have been misinterpreted
to alert editors that additional sources need to be found, to ascertain the statement's validity

Note: Refer to the Incorrect uses section below for examples of inappropriate uses, and suggested alternatives.

Usage

When using this template, it is strongly suggested to simultaneously discuss the dubious statement on the article's talk page – and to point this template to a specific talk page section (either new or existing) which contains that discussion. To do so, use the following syntax:

{{Dubious|Talk section name}}: Note, do not include Talk:PAGE#, just the section title.

Do not add this template to a page more than a reasonable number of times. Please consider using one of the other templates mentioned below instead.

Parameters

|1=Talk section name – the first field should point to the section name on the talk page which contains the discussion. Alias: |talk=.
- If the section name contains an equal sign, use the following syntax: {{Dubious|1=Does x = 5?}}.
- Other special characters used in section names (such as brackets, "[" and "]") may need to be encoded. For example, the markup:

{{Dubious|K%5BX%5D is NOT integral}}

would produce:

{{Dubious|K[X] is NOT integral}}.

|date= – the month and year when the template was added. Example: |date=April 2025.
|reason= – Because it may not be immediately apparent to other editors what about the tagged passage is questionable, it may be helpful to add a brief reason for the tag: {{Dubious|reason=What the problem is}} (this is preferable to using an HTML  after the tag, as it is tidier to keep all of the {{Dubious}}-related code inside the template). If the explanation would be lengthy, use the article's talk page. As well as being visible in the source code for editors' benefit, the reason parameter is, if provided, displayed as a tooltip when the mouse is hovered over the "dubious" part of the rendered text in the article.

Incorrect uses

This template is not to be used

to directly challenge a sourced statement as being incorrect (with sources to back up your claim). Use {{Disputed-inline}} instead.
to flag unsourced statements, unless you think they are incorrect. Use {{Citation needed}} instead.
to question the reliability / verifiability of a source. Use {{Unreliable source?}} instead.
to request verification whether the source in fact says as the statement claims. Use {{Verify source}} instead.
to request that a difficult-to-understand statement be re-written. Use {{Clarify}} instead.

If you believe that a statement is both unverifiable and probably wrong, then you should consider removing it from the article (and perhaps copying it to the talk page with an explanation) instead of tagging it.

TemplateData

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:Dubious in articles based on its TemplateData.

TemplateData for Dubious

Use this template to tag a specific statement or alleged fact that is sourced but which nevertheless seems dubious or unlikely to be correct.

Template parameters[Edit template data]
This template prefers inline formatting of parameters.
Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Section name on talk page	`1`	Section name on talk page where further information or discussion can be found	String	optional
Month and year	`date`	Month and year of tagging; e.g., 'January 2013', but not 'jan13' Example January 2013 Auto value `{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}`	String	suggested
reason	`reason`	A brief summary of the problem, to be displayed on hover	String	optional

v t e Citation and verifiability article maintenance templates
Sourcing	{{Circular}} {{Dubious}} {{Excessive citations}} {{Further reading cleanup}} {{Independent sources}} {{More citations needed}} {{More citations needed section}} {{More footnotes needed}} {{No footnotes}} {{No reliable sources}} {{No significant coverage}} {{One source}} {{One source section}} {{Only primary sources}} {{NRIS only}} {{Primary sources}} {{Primary sources section}} {{Religious text primary}} {{Self-published}} {{Self-reference cleanup}} {{Self-sourcing examples}} {{Refexample section}} {{Sources exist}} {{Text-source}} {{Unreferenced}} {{Unreferenced section}} {{Unreferenced category}} {{Unreliable sources}} {{Unreliable sources section}} {{User-generated}}
BLP-specific	{{BLP unreferenced}} {{BLP unreferenced section}} {{BLP primary sources}} {{BLP self-published}} {{BLP sources}} {{BLP sources section}} {{BLP IMDb-only refimprove}} {{BLP IMDb refimprove}} {{BLP no footnotes}} {{BLP more footnotes needed}} {{BLP one source}}
Topic specific	{{Localist}} {{Media IMDb refimprove}} {{More medical citations needed}} {{More science citations needed}} {{Neologism}} {{Science review}} {{Unreferenced law}} {{Unreferenced-law section}} {{Unreferenced medical section}}
Dispute-related	{{Cite check}} {{Cite check section}} {{Content}} {{Disputed}} {{Dispute about}} {{Disputed section}} {{Disputed chem}} {{Disputed list}} {{Disputed map}} {{Expert needed}} {{Hoax}} {{Original research}} {{Original research section}} {{Speculation}} {{Speculation section}} {{Synthesis}} {{Verifiability}} {{Verify sources}}
Citation improvements	{{Citation style}} {{Citations broken}} {{Cleanup bare URLs}} {{Format footnotes}} {{Full citations needed}} {{Ibid}} {{Page numbers improve}} {{Page numbers needed}} {{Shallow references}}
General advice	Citing sources Reliable sources Maintenance template removal Citation needed Find sources Combining sources Referencing styles

Template:Dubious

Purpose

Usage

Parameters

Incorrect uses

TemplateData

See also

Wikipedia project pages

Templates

Disputed factual accuracy

Both accuracy and POV

Disputed neutrality (POV)

Wiki