Template:Duplicated citations
 | This article contains one or more duplicated citations. (October 2026) |
 | This template may have no transclusions. This is because it is substituted by a tool or script, it is used as part of a short-term or less active Wikipedia process, or for some other reason. |
Usage
Add the template with its |date= parameter ({{Duplicate citations |date=October 2026}}). This template should not be placed in the usual spot for cleanup tags (in the article lead) - instead, place it at the top of the references section.
Use this template for egregious cases, when you believe the state of the references is in such disarray readers should be informed. In trivial cases, such as when the only issue is the accidental duplication of the same reference, please consider simply fixing the issue and not placing this tag at all.
To add reasons on this template, use the |reason= parameter to specify the citations that need condensing.
Articles with this tag will appear in Category:Wikipedia references cleanup and Category:All articles with duplicate citations.
Alternatives
Since this template produces a visible message box, it is unsuited for cases of pure maintenance.
If you only wish to signal issues with references without needlessly alerting readers, simply add the two categories (Category:Wikipedia references cleanup and Category:All articles with duplicate citations) to the bottom of the article. This enables editors wishing to spend time fixing duplicate references to find your article without giving off any impression to readers there is anything wrong with the article (except insignificant minor issues related to maintenance).
Fixing duplicate citations
If an editor simply copies the source code of a reference or citation (for example, the <ref>...</ref> nested with the citation), the citation will become duplicated in the reference list in the footnotes. It needs to be fixed by using named references:
<ref name="name">content</ref>
Advanced editors can use AutoWikiBrowser and its DuplicateNamedReferences function as part of automatic fixes of common issues it runs on a page will automatically fix it.