(Source: Wikimedia Commons)A new study has found that Irish judges are using Wikipedia as a source for their rulings.
Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Maynooth University created 154 articles on Irish Supreme Court decisions, half of which were uploaded to Wikipedia.
The experiment subsequently found the uploaded cases were 20 percent more likely to be cited than similar cases which weren't uploaded.
Fine Gael Senator and barrister Barry Ward doesn't believe this means judges are directly citing the Wikipedia articles:
"Clearly they are reading Wikipedia articles about certain decisions but it's also very important to note that Brian Flanagan, the Maynooth researcher who was involved in this, has said they're NOT using them as 'cut & paste'."
"So you have to assume the judges are maybe sourcing particular decisions but they're reading the decisions".
