Template:Medical citation needed span/doc

This is a documentation subpage for Template:Medical citation needed span.
It may contain usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page.

Usage

The {{medical citation needed span}} template may be used when there is unsourced text that should be attributed to a medical citation. Unlike the template {{medical citation needed}}, this template attaches explicitly to a portion of text, for example one or more specific sentences, by surrounding the text with the template. This is especially useful for flagging a block of multiple facts or multiple sentences as needing citation, and for singling out a specific fact that is unsourced among many sourced ones.

Avoid use for multiple paragraphs or around a list without closing and opening each template around each paragraph or list item. This kind of use causes linting errors and may disrupt the page display. An alternative with multiple paragraphs is {{Medical citations needed|section}}.

Once a citation is added, please remove this template from the surrounded text.

{{medical citation needed span|date=December 2024|text=Passage(s) to be sourced to medical citations}}

The date is optional, so the minimal syntax is:

{{medical citation needed span|text=Passage(s) to be sourced}}

Example of usage:

Sourced material. {{medical citation needed span|date=December 2024|text=Passage to be sourced. Another passage to be sourced.}} More sourced material.

Sourced material. Passage to be sourced. Another passage to be sourced.^{[medical citation needed]} More sourced material.

Compare usage of {{Medical citation needed}}:

Sourced material. Passage to be sourced.{{Medical citation needed}} Another passage to be sourced.{{Medical citation needed}} More sourced material.

Sourced material. Passage to be sourced.^{[medical citation needed]} Another passage to be sourced.^{[medical citation needed]} More sourced material.

Parameters

There are three parameters to the template:

|text=: The unreferenced content that needs a citation.
|date=: The date in the form December 2024. ~~If omitted, AnomieBOT will add it if there are no new edits for a few minutes.~~
|reason=: The reason for the citation request. If omitted, "This claim needs references to reliable medical sources." will be used. This text is shown as a tooltip.

TemplateData

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

TemplateData for Medical citation needed span

Marks a specific piece of text as needing a citation.

Template parameters
This template prefers inline formatting of parameters.
Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Text	`text` `1`	The biomedical claim needing a citation Auto value	Content	required
Date	`date`	Month and year the tag was added Example June 2015 Auto value `{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}`	Date	suggested
Reason?	`reason`	Reason the text needs a citation; shown in a tooltip Default This claim needs references to reliable medical sources.	String	suggested

Categorization of articles

Adding this template to an article places the article into Category:All articles with unsourced statements, Category:Articles with unsourced statements, and/or dated subcategories thereof.

{{Medical citation needed}} – equivalent which does not precisely identify the problematic text
{{Medical citations needed}} – for entire sections requiring verifiable medical references
{{Unreliable medical source}} – adds: ^{[unreliable medical source?]}
{{Reliable medical sources please}} – a note for user talk pages with links to WP:MEDRS

Policies, guidelines, essays, and WikiProjects

Medicine-specific

Vickers, Tim and Eubulides (30 June 2008). "Dispatches: Sources in biology and medicine"". The Wikipedia Signpost.
Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources (medicine)
- Wikipedia:Biomedical information
Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources (science)
Wikipedia:Reliable source examples § Physical sciences and medicine
Wikipedia:Current science and technology sources
Wikipedia:Conflicts of interest (medicine)
Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Medicine-related articles
Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Medicine/Resources, external resources useful for writing medicine related content

General

v t e Citation and verifiability article maintenance templates
Sourcing	{{Circular}} {{Dubious}} {{Excessive citations}} {{Further reading cleanup}} {{More citations needed}} {{More citations needed section}} {{More footnotes needed}} {{No footnotes}} {{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}} {{Third-party}} {{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