Template:COI/doc

When to use

Use this tag to alert readers that the article may be biased by a conflict of interest, and to request help from other editors with an article that is biased or has other serious problems as a direct result of editing by the subject of the article, or by a person with a close connection to the subject (e.g., public-relations employees or paid editors).

Do not use this tag unless there are substantial problems with the article's neutrality as a result of the contributor's involvement. Like the other {{POV}} tags, this tag is not meant to be a badge of shame or to "warn the reader" about the identities of the editors.

Do not use this tag if you can quickly solve the problem, e.g., by removing peacocking and puffery or by reverting the blanking of well-sourced criticism. If the article/ edit also has problems with neutrality, however, then use of the tag is likely appropriate.

This tag is not generally used to notify readers that an article appears to be partially or wholly autobiographical. If this is the case, please use the more-specific {{autobiography}} tag. An exception to using the autobiography tag is when such use would reveal the identity of a Wikipedia editor.

Like the other neutrality-related tags, if you place this tag, you should promptly start a discussion on the article's talk page to explain what is non-neutral about the article. If you do not start this discussion, then any editor without a conflict of interest is justified in removing the tag without warning. Be careful not to violate the policy against WP:OUTING users who have not publicly self-disclosed their identities on the English Wikipedia.

Note: COI is an abbreviation for Conflict Of Interest; see Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. Do not use the {{Conflict of interest}} template, which is a navigation box for encyclopedia articles.

When to remove

This tag may be removed by editors who do not have a conflict of interest after the problem is resolved, if the problem is not explained on the article's talk page, and/or if no current attempts to resolve the problem can be found.

How to use

{{COI|date=December 2024}}

To tag a section, use {{COI|section|date=December 2024}}

When placing this tag, please tag the article talk page with {{Connected contributor}}. If dealing with a paid editor, use {{Connected contributor (paid)}}.

To place a warning on the user talkpage of someone with a suspected conflict of interest, use {{uw-coi}}.

Notes

This template will categorise tagged articles into Category:Wikipedia articles with possible conflicts of interest, or a dated subcategory thereof.

This template is a self-reference.

This template is not useful for substitution.

TemplateData

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

TemplateData for COI

Use this tag to alert readers that the article may be biased by a conflict of interest.

Template parameters

This template prefers inline formatting of parameters.

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Type (section)	1	Something to replace the word "article", normally "section". Default article Example section Auto value	String	optional
Month and year	date	Provides the month and year of the citation request; e.g., 'January 2018', but not 'jan18' Auto value {{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}	String	suggested

Redirects

• {{Major contributor}}
• {{Close connection}}

See also

• {{Autobiography}}
• {{Uw-coi}} - user notice about COIs
• {{Connected contributor}} - to mark an article's talk page if a user with a COI has edited the corresponding article
• {{UserboxCOI}} - to make a standardized self-declaration of a conflict of interest on one's user page
• {{Undisclosed paid}}

Other common cleanup templates

• Wikipedia:Template index/Cleanup
• Template:All plot
• Template:Anachronism
• Template:Autobiography
• Template:Citation style
• Template:Cleanup list
• Template:Cleanup rewrite
• Template:COI
• Template:Confusing
• Template:Connected contributor
• Template:Context
• Template:Copy edit
• Template:Expert needed
• Template:Fiction
• Template:Globalize
• Template:Missing information
• Template:Manual
• Template:More citations needed
• Template:Notability
• Template:Primary sources
• Template:Promotional
• Template:Self-contradictory
• Template:Technical
• Template:Tone
• Template:Uncategorized
• Template:Unreferenced category
• Template:Underlinked
• Template:Undisclosed paid
• Template:Unfocused
• Template:Unreferenced