Citogenesis is a process of circular referencing, in which unattributed “facts” in platforms such as Wikipedia are used in other sources, and then citations to those sources are used to support the original uncited “facts”. It is a portmanteau word blended from citation and cytogenesis, the latter describing the process of growing cells from other cells. The first recorded use of the term citogenesis to describe this phenomenon occurred in 2011, when the American cartoonist Randall Munroe used it in an xkcd comic strip.[1]
One example of citogenesis at work was the DrugBank page for protamine sulfate, a medication often used in heart surgery. It included information taken from the medication’s Wikipedia page, but that page cited the medication’s DrugBank page.[2]
The Wikipedian Liam Wyatt has suggested that the underlying cause of such citogenesis problems is that Wikipedia policy requires only that information added to the site is verifiable, not that it is verified. That approach leads editors towards “eventualism, a focus on the long-term rather than the immediate value of the project”. Thus low-quality articles are tolerated in the expectation that they will be improved over time.[2]
