English Wikipedia is hosted alongside other language editions by the Wikimedia Foundation, an American nonprofit organization.

Its content, written independently of other editions by volunteer editors known as Wikipedians,[1] is in various varieties of English while aiming to stay consistent within articles.

[6][7] While its reliability was frequently criticized in the 2000s, it has improved over time, receiving greater praise in the late 2010s and early 2020s,[8][6][9][c] having become an important fact-checking site.

[10][11] English Wikipedia has been characterized as having less cultural bias than other language editions due to its broader editor base.

[25] On 1 March 2014, The Economist, in an article titled "The Future of Wikipedia", cited a trend analysis concerning data published by the Wikimedia Foundation stating that "[t]he number of editors for the English-language version has fallen by a third in seven years.

The number of active editors in English Wikipedia, by "sharp" comparison, was cited as peaking in 2007 at approximately 50,000 and dropping to 30,000 by the start of 2014.

[27] It was created by Jimmy Wales on 4 December 2003 as an extension of the decision-making power he had formerly held as owner of the site.

Critics have questioned its factual reliability, the readability and organization of its articles, the lack of methodical fact-checking, and its political bias.

"[34] A 2013 study from Oxford University found that the most disputed articles on the English Wikipedia tend to address broader, global issues.

The study identified the most disputed entries on the English Wikipedia as George W. Bush, anarchism, Muhammad, list of WWE personnel, global warming, circumcision, United States, Jesus, race and intelligence, and Christianity.

[42] In 2007, in preparation for producing a print version, the English Wikipedia introduced an assessment scale of the quality of articles.

Researcher Giacomo Poderi found that articles tend to reach featured status via the intensive work of a few editors.