Enhancing the Visibility of Francophone Scholarly Journals on Wiki (Wikidata and Wikipedia)
This project aims to strengthen the visibility, structuring, and discoverability of Francophone scholarly journals within the open digital knowledge ecosystem through the creation and improvement of content across projects of the Wikimedia Foundation. It combines the promotion of Francophone scholarship with hands-on training in digital scholarly editing practices.
The project is conducted as part of the course ELD717 — Francophone Scholarly Editing, offered in the Winter term within the Microprogram and the DESS in Publishing at the Université de Sherbrooke. Students are guided in creating and editing both Wikidata and Wikipedia entries related to Francophone scholarly journals. The project is running in Winter 2026 and will be repeated in Winter 2027.
Issues
The project is based on the following observations:
Pages on Wikipedia contribute directly to the discoverability of scholarly journals.
Entries on Wikidata support the organization and interoperability of data related to scholarly journals.
French-language content, and content related to Francophone subjects, remains underrepresented across Wikimedia projects, especially in comparison with English-language and Anglophone-focused content.
Editorial work conducted within Wikimedia environments — along with the theoretical frameworks associated with editorial practice — contributes to the training of future editors by helping them understand the specific challenges of Francophone scholarly publishing.
Working in teams, students will create a new Wikipedia page dedicated to a Francophone scholarly publishing structure. Each page will be developed through a rigorous editorial workflow aligned with community standards and guidelines, including encyclopedic entry models and notability criteria. Prior to writing, students will conduct research and compile reliable secondary sources to identify Francophone scholarly journals eligible for inclusion in the wiki ecosystem.
Technical challenges
Mastery of Wikipedia templates and encyclopedic models
Standardized structuring of metadata in Wikidata
Consistency of properties and identifiers
Harmonization of a reference infobox model for Francophone scholarly journals
Collaborative editing in an open environment
Research activities
The activity includes a structured selection phase focused on one specific Francophone scholarly journal (notably drawing on the List of Francophone scientific journals), as well as a collective reflection on the development of a reference Wikipedia template for Francophone scholarly journals. This modeling work is carried out in connection with ongoing efforts within the Réseau Circé partnership.
This editorial work runs in parallel with training in the foundations of digital scholarly publishing, including processes and tools for the production, structuring, validation, and dissemination of knowledge in Francophone contexts.
Deliverables
Creation of four new Wikipedia pages, each dedicated to a Francophone scholarly journal or publishing body
Creation of a shared template page for the standardized description of Francophone scholarly journals on Wikipedia
Creation of three new Wikidata entries for Francophone scholarly journals (Azimuts, Graphies francophones, Travioles)
