Wikipedia:Credential verification (proposal)

''This is an initial draft for how credentials will be verified on Wikipedia. Please feel free to edit and modify. Please discuss on the talk page.''

Verification of claimed credentials may occur in various circumstances. This policy outlines those situations and the process that will be used to verify those claims.

What are credentials?
Credentials include:


 * Academic degrees, and other formal qualifications based on higher education;
 * Licenses to practice a certain profession or trade;
 * Awards or prizes for achievement in a particular field;
 * Relevant positions of employment, for example as a professor in a particular field, or as a consultant or employee in a particular industry;
 * Published works;
 * Professional references from recognized experts.

Verification for positions of trust
Normally editors will not be asked to verify whatever credentials they list because editors are judged by the edits they make and not their credentials. However, editors who decide to disclose their credentials and have been selected, or are being considered for selection, as a Bureaucrat, CheckUser, Oversight member, or Arbitration Committee member should be absolutely honest about whatever credentials they make public via their user page. Individuals in those positions should be prepared to pass credential verification after they are promoted.

Any editor, at any level, will very likely be required to pass credential verification before they are asked to speak on behalf of Wikipedia.