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57-543: The 17-volume Macropædia is the third part of the Encyclopædia Britannica ; the other two parts are the 12-volume Micropædia and the one-volume Propædia . The name Macropædia is a neologism coined by Mortimer J. Adler from the ancient Greek words for 'large' and 'instruction'. Adler's intention was that the Macropædia serve students who wish to learn a field in depth; for comparison,
114-570: A hierarchical outline of knowledge. The Micropædia was meant for quick fact-checking and as a guide to the Macropædia ; readers are advised to study the Propædia outline to understand a subject's context and to find more detailed articles. Over 70 years, the size of the Britannica has remained steady, with about 40 million words on half a million topics. Though published in
171-711: A "Britannica Checked" stamp, to distinguish it from the user-generated content. On 14 September 2010, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. announced a partnership with mobile phone development company Concentric Sky to launch a series of iPhone products aimed at the K–12 market. On 20 July 2011, Encyclopædia Britannica, Incorporated announced that Concentric Sky had ported the Britannica Kids product line to Intel's Intel Atom -based Netbooks and on 26 October 2011 that it had launched its encyclopaedia as an iPad app . In 2010, Britannica released Britannica ImageQuest,
228-425: A database of images. In March 2012, it was announced that the company would cease printing the encyclopaedia set, and that it would focus on its online version. On 7 June 2018, Britannica released a Google Chrome extension , "Britannica Insights", which shows snippets of information from Britannica Online whenever the user performs a Google Search , in a box to the right of Google's results. Britannica Insights
285-476: A different article of the 1991 edition. Encyclop%C3%A6dia Britannica The Encyclopædia Britannica ( Latin for 'British Encyclopaedia') is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia . It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The encyclopaedia is maintained by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 contributors. The 2010 version of
342-594: A partnership with YouTube in which verified Britannica content appeared on the site as an antidote to user-generated video content that could be false or misleading. Krishnan, an educator at New York University 's Stern School of Business , believes in the "transformative power of education" and set steering the company toward solidifying its place among leaders in educational technology and supplemental curriculum. Krishnan aimed at providing more useful and relevant solutions to customer needs, extending and renewing Britannica's historical emphasis on "utility", which had been
399-627: A single article; however, 64 contributed to three articles, 23 contributed to four articles, 10 contributed to five articles, and 8 contributed to more than five articles. An exceptionally prolific contributor is Christine Sutton of the University of Oxford , who contributed 24 articles on particle physics . While Britannica 's authors have included writers such as Albert Einstein , Marie Curie , and Leon Trotsky , as well as notable independent encyclopaedists such as Isaac Asimov , some have been criticized for lack of expertise. In 1911,
456-405: A study guide, as it puts subjects in their proper perspective and suggests a series of Britannica articles for the student wishing to learn a topic in depth. However, libraries have found that it is scarcely used for this purpose, and reviewers have recommended that it be dropped from the encyclopaedia. The Propædia contains color transparencies of human anatomy and several appendices listing
513-661: Is a website with more than 120,000 articles and is updated regularly. It has daily features, updates and links to news reports from The New York Times and the BBC . As of 2009 , roughly 60% of Encyclopædia Britannica's revenue came from online operations, of which around 15% came from subscriptions to the consumer version of the websites. As of 2006 , subscriptions were available on a yearly, monthly or weekly basis. Special subscription plans are offered to schools, colleges and libraries; such institutional subscribers constitute an important part of Britannica's business. Beginning in early 2007,
570-462: Is for children aged three to six (issued 1974 to 1991). There have been, and are, several abridged Britannica encyclopaedias. The single-volume Britannica Concise Encyclopædia has 28,000 short articles condensing the larger 32-volume Britannica ; there are authorized translations in languages such as Chinese created by Encyclopedia of China Publishing House and Vietnamese . Compton's by Britannica , first published in 2007, incorporating
627-556: Is on the subject of the United States, and it resulted from merging separate articles on the individual US states . A 2013 "Global Edition" of Britannica contained approximately 40,000 articles. Information can be found in the Britannica by following the cross-references in the Micropædia and Macropædia ; these are sparse, however, averaging one cross-reference per page. Readers are instead recommended to consult
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#1732764939262684-414: The Britannica 's Board of Directors. In 2003, former management consultant Jorge Aguilar-Cauz was appointed President of Encyclopædia Britannica, Incorporated. Cauz is the senior executive and reports directly to the Britannica 's Board of Directors. Cauz has been pursuing alliances with other companies and extending the Britannica brand to new educational and reference products, continuing
741-590: The Britannica has been revised on a regular schedule, with at least 10% of the articles considered for revision each year. According to one Britannica website, 46% of the articles in the 2007 edition were revised over the preceding three years; however, according to another Britannica website, only 35% of the articles were revised over the same period. The alphabetization of articles in the Micropædia and Macropædia follows strict rules. Diacritical marks and non-English letters are ignored, while numerical entries such as " 1812, War of " are alphabetized as if
798-425: The Britannica included five Senior Editors and nine Associate Editors, supervised by Dale Hoiberg and four others. The editorial staff helped to write the articles of the Micropædia and some sections of the Macropædia . As of 2012, Britannica had an editorial board of advisors, which included a number of distinguished figures, primarily scholars from a variety of disciplines. Past and present members of
855-479: The Britannica made articles freely available if they are hyperlinked from an external site. Non-subscribers are served pop-ups and advertising. On 20 February 2007, Encyclopædia Britannica, Incorporated announced that it was working with mobile phone search company AskMeNow to launch a mobile encyclopaedia. Users will be able to send a question via text message, and AskMeNow will search Britannica 's 28,000-article concise encyclopaedia to return an answer to
912-493: The Britannica turned to focus more on its online edition. The Encyclopædia Britannica has been compared with other print encyclopaedias, both qualitatively and quantitatively. A well-known comparison is that of Kenneth Kister , who gave a qualitative and quantitative comparison of the 1993 Britannica with two comparable encyclopaedias, Collier's Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia Americana . For
969-688: The Royal Society of Edinburgh , and cultural anthropologist Michael Wesch . The Propædia and its Outline of Knowledge were produced by dozens of editorial advisors under the direction of Mortimer J. Adler . Roughly half of these advisors have since died, including some of the Outline's chief architects – Rene Dubos (d. 1982), Loren Eiseley (d. 1977), Harold D. Lasswell (d. 1978), Mark Van Doren (d. 1972), Peter Ritchie Calder (d. 1982) and Mortimer J. Adler (d. 2001). The Propædia also lists just under 4,000 advisors who were consulted for
1026-555: The United States , resulted from the merging of the 50 articles on each state . The articles of the Macropædia are generally written by named contributors and have references, in contrast to the roughly 65,000 articles of the Micropædia that have no named contributor and no references. However, some parts of the Macropædia were written by the editorial staff of the Britannica ; such editorial articles are identified by
1083-555: The ancient Greek words for 'large' and 'instruction'. Adler's intention was that the Macropædia serve students who wish to learn a field in depth; for comparison, the short articles of the Micropædia are intended for quick fact-checking . The Macropædia was introduced in the 15th edition (1974) with 19 volumes having 4,207 articles. In the drastic reorganization of that edition in 1985, these articles were combined and condensed into 17 volumes with roughly 700 articles, ranging in length from 2 to 310 pages. The longest article, on
1140-540: The 15th edition, which spans 32 volumes and 32,640 pages, was the last printed edition. Since 2016, it has been published exclusively as an online encyclopaedia . Printed for 244 years, the Britannica was the longest-running in-print encyclopaedia in the English language. It was first published between 1768 and 1771 in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh , in three volumes. The encyclopaedia grew in size;
1197-500: The 2007 Micropædia has roughly 65,000 articles, the vast majority (about 97%) of which contain fewer than 750 words, no references, and no named contributors. The Micropædia articles are intended for quick fact-checking and to help in finding more thorough information in the Macropædia . The Macropædia articles are meant as authoritative, well-written commentaries on their subjects, as well as storehouses of information not covered elsewhere. The longest article (310 pages)
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#17327649392621254-483: The 20th century, successful competitors included Collier's Encyclopedia , the Encyclopedia Americana , and the World Book Encyclopedia . Nevertheless, from the 9th edition onwards, the Britannica was widely considered to have the greatest authority of any general English-language encyclopaedia, especially because of its broad coverage and eminent authors. The print version of the Britannica
1311-579: The Google Chrome browser that served up edited, fact-checked Britannica information with queries on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Its purpose, the company said, was to "provide trusted, verified information" in conjunction with search results that were thought to be increasingly unreliable in the era of misinformation and "fake news." The product was quickly followed by Britannica School Insights, which provided similar content for subscribers to Britannica's online classroom solutions, and
1368-798: The Life and Works of the Bard (Wiley, 2006). The Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2012 DVD contains over 100,000 articles. This includes regular Britannica articles, as well as others drawn from the Britannica Student Encyclopædia , and the Britannica Elementary Encyclopædia. The package includes a range of supplementary content including maps, videos, sound clips, animations and web links. It also offers study tools and dictionary and thesaurus entries from Merriam-Webster . Britannica Online
1425-585: The North American market. In 1933, the Britannica became the first encyclopaedia to adopt "continuous revision", in which the encyclopaedia is continually reprinted, with every article updated on a schedule. In the 21st century, the Britannica suffered first from competition with the digital multimedia encyclopaedia Microsoft Encarta , and later with the online peer-produced encyclopaedia Misplaced Pages . In March 2012, it announced it would no longer publish printed editions and would focus instead on
1482-502: The President of Encyclopædia Britannica announced that after 244 years, the encyclopaedia would cease print production and all future editions would be entirely digital. Macrop%C3%A6dia The 17-volume Macropædia is the third part of the Encyclopædia Britannica ; the other two parts are the 12-volume Micropædia and the one-volume Propædia . The name Macropædia is a neologism coined by Mortimer J. Adler from
1539-632: The United States since 1901, the Britannica has for the most part maintained British English spelling . From 1985, the Britannica consisted of four parts: the Micropædia , the Macropædia , the Propædia , and a two-volume index. The Britannica 's articles are contained in the Micro- and Macropædia , which encompass 12 and 17 volumes, respectively, each volume having roughly one thousand pages. The 2007 Macropædia has 699 in-depth articles, ranging in length from two pages to 310 pages, with references and named contributors. In contrast,
1596-401: The abbreviation "Ed." Since its reorganization, the Macropædia has not remained constant. New articles are constantly being added, whereas older articles are sometimes split, absorbed into other articles or drastically shortened or even deleted. An example of the latter is the 1989 article " Adhesives ", which had its own article of seven pages in the 1989 Macropædia but was merely a page in
1653-401: The abbreviation "Ed." Since its reorganization, the Macropædia has not remained constant. New articles are constantly being added, whereas older articles are sometimes split, absorbed into other articles or drastically shortened or even deleted. An example of the latter is the 1989 article " Adhesives ", which had its own article of seven pages in the 1989 Macropædia but was merely a page in
1710-427: The alphabetical index or the Propædia , which organizes the Britannica 's contents by topic. The core of the Propædia is its "Outline of Knowledge", which aims to provide a logical framework for all human knowledge. Accordingly, the Outline is consulted by the Britannica 's editors to decide which articles should be included in the Micro- and Macropædia . The Outline can also be used as
1767-518: The board have included: non-fiction author Nicholas Carr , religion scholar Wendy Doniger , political economist Benjamin M. Friedman , Council on Foreign Relations President Emeritus Leslie H. Gelb , computer scientist David Gelernter , Physics Nobel laureate Murray Gell-Mann , Carnegie Corporation of New York President Vartan Gregorian , philosopher Thomas Nagel , cognitive scientist Donald Norman , musicologist Don Michael Randel , Stewart Sutherland, Baron Sutherland of Houndwood , President of
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1824-444: The company announced that the 2010 edition would be the last printed version. This was part of a move by the company to adapt to the times and focus on its future using digital distribution. The peak year for the printed encyclopaedia was 1990, when 120,000 sets were sold, but sales had dropped to 40,000 per annum by 1996. There were 12,000 sets of the 2010 edition printed, of which 8,000 had been sold by March 2012. By late April 2012,
1881-420: The company would be accepting edits and additions to the online Britannica website from the public. The published edition of the encyclopaedia will not be affected by the changes. Individuals wishing to edit the Britannica website will have to register under their real name and address prior to editing or submitting their content. All edits submitted will be reviewed and checked and will have to be approved by
1938-417: The encyclopaedia's professional staff. Contributions from non-academic users will sit in a separate section from the expert-generated Britannica content, as will content submitted by non- Britannica scholars. Articles written by users, if vetted and approved, will also only be available in a special section of the website, separate from the professional articles. Official Britannica material would carry
1995-459: The encyclopaedias had an article on sexual harassment in 1994. In the accuracy category, the Britannica received one "D" and seven "A"s, Encyclopedia Americana received eight "A"s, and Collier's received one "D" and seven "A"s; thus, Britannica received an average score of 92% for accuracy to Americana 's 95% and Collier's 92%. In the timeliness category, Britannica averaged an 86% to Americana' s 90% and Collier's 85%. In 2013,
2052-607: The former Compton's Encyclopedia , is aimed at 10- to 17-year-olds and consists of 26 volumes and 11,000 pages. Since 1938, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. has published annually a Book of the Year covering the past year's events. A given edition of the Book of the Year is named in terms of the year of its publication, though the edition actually covers the events of the previous year. The company also publishes several specialized reference works, such as Shakespeare: The Essential Guide to
2109-427: The historian George L. Burr wrote: With a temerity almost appalling, [the Britannica contributor, Mr. Philips] ranges over nearly the whole field of European history, political, social, ecclesiastical... The grievance is that [this work] lacks authority. This, too—this reliance on editorial energy instead of on ripe special learning—may, alas, be also counted an "Americanizing": for certainly nothing has so cheapened
2166-400: The merging of the 50 articles on each state . The articles of the Macropædia are generally written by named contributors and have references, in contrast to the roughly 65,000 articles of the Micropædia that have no named contributor and no references. However, some parts of the Macropædia were written by the editorial staff of the Britannica ; such editorial articles are identified by
2223-637: The number had been written out ("Eighteen-twelve, War of"). Articles with identical names are ordered first by persons, then by places, then by things. Rulers with identical names are organized first alphabetically by country and then by chronology; thus, Charles III of France precedes Charles I of England , listed in Britannica as the ruler of Great Britain and Ireland. (That is, they are alphabetized as if their titles were "Charles, France, 3" and "Charles, Great Britain and Ireland, 1".) Similarly, places that share names are organized alphabetically by country, then by ever-smaller political divisions. In March 2012,
2280-430: The online version. Britannica has been assessed as being more politically centrist compared to Misplaced Pages, which is considered to have a more left-leaning orientation. The 15th edition (1974–2010) has a three-part structure: a 12-volume Micropædia of short articles (generally fewer than 750 words), a 17-volume Macropædia of long articles (two to 310 pages), and a single Propædia volume to give
2337-570: The open PubMed Central library of the National Library of Medicine . The Internet tends to provide more current coverage than print media, due to the ease with which material on the Internet can be updated. In rapidly changing fields such as science, technology, politics, culture and modern history, the Britannica has struggled to stay up to date, a problem first analysed systematically by its former editor Walter Yust. Eventually,
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2394-451: The quantitative analysis, ten articles were selected at random— circumcision , Charles Drew , Galileo , Philip Glass , heart disease , IQ , panda bear , sexual harassment , Shroud of Turin and Uzbekistan —and letter grades of A–D or F were awarded in four categories: coverage, accuracy, clarity, and recency. In all four categories and for all three encyclopaedias, the four average grades fell between B− and B+ , chiefly because none of
2451-586: The query. Daily topical features sent directly to users' mobile phones were also planned. On 3 June 2008, an initiative to facilitate collaboration between online expert and amateur scholarly contributors for Britannica's online content (in the spirit of a wiki ), with editorial oversight from Britannica staff, was announced. Approved contributions would be credited, though contributing automatically grants Encyclopædia Britannica, Incorporated perpetual, irrevocable license to those contributions. On 22 January 2009, Britannica's president, Jorge Cauz , announced that
2508-450: The remaining copies of the 2010 edition had sold out at Britannica's online store. As of 2016 , a replica of Britannica's 1768 first edition is available via the online store. Britannica Junior was first published in 1934 as 12 volumes. It was expanded to 15 volumes in 1947, and renamed Britannica Junior Encyclopædia in 1963. It was taken off the market after the 1984 printing. A British Children's Britannica edited by John Armitage
2565-642: The scholarship of our American encyclopaedias. As of 2007 in the 15th edition of Britannica , Dale Hoiberg , a sinologist , was listed as Britannica 's Senior Vice President and editor-in-chief. Among his predecessors as editors-in-chief were Hugh Chisholm (1902–1924), James Louis Garvin (1926–1932), Franklin Henry Hooper (1932–1938), Walter Yust (1938–1960), Harry Ashmore (1960–1963), Warren E. Preece (1964–1968, 1969–1975), Sir William Haley (1968–1969), Philip W. Goetz (1979–1991), and Robert McHenry (1992–1997). As of 2007 Anita Wolff
2622-455: The second edition was 10 volumes, and by its fourth edition (1801–1810), it had expanded to 20 volumes. Its rising stature as a scholarly work helped recruit eminent contributors, and the 9th (1875–1889) and 11th editions (1911) are landmark encyclopaedias for scholarship and literary style. Starting with the 11th edition and following its acquisition by an American firm, the Britannica shortened and simplified articles to broaden its appeal to
2679-421: The short articles of the Micropædia are intended for quick fact-checking . The Macropædia was introduced in the 15th edition (1974) with 19 volumes having 4,207 articles. In the drastic reorganization of that edition in 1985, these articles were combined and condensed into 17 volumes with roughly 700 articles, ranging in length from 2 to 310 pages. The longest article, on the United States , resulted from
2736-726: The staff members, advisors, and contributors to all three parts of the Britannica . Taken together, the Micropædia and Macropædia comprise roughly 40 million words and 24,000 images. The two-volume index has 2,350 pages, listing the 228,274 topics covered in the Britannica , together with 474,675 subentries under those topics. The Britannica generally prefers British spelling over American ; for example, it uses colour (not color ), centre (not center ), and encyclopaedia (not encyclopedia ). There are some exceptions to this rule, such as defense rather than defence . Common alternative spellings are provided with cross-references such as "Color: see Colour." Since 1936,
2793-569: The strategy pioneered by former CEO Elkan Harrison Powell in the mid-1930s. In the fall of 2017, Karthik Krishnan was appointed global chief executive officer of the Encyclopædia Britannica Group. Krishnan brought a varied perspective to the role based on several high-level positions in digital media, including RELX (formerly known as Reed Elsevier, and one of the constituents of the FTSE 100 Index) and Rodale, in which he
2850-467: The unsigned Micropædia articles. In January 1996, the Britannica was purchased from the Benton Foundation by billionaire Swiss financier Jacqui Safra , who serves as its current chair of the board. In 1997, Don Yannias, a long-time associate and investment advisor of Safra, became CEO of Encyclopædia Britannica, Incorporated. In 1999, a new company, Britannica.com Incorporated ,
2907-685: The watchword of its first edition in 1768. As the Britannica is a general encyclopaedia, it does not seek to compete with specialized encyclopaedias such as the Encyclopaedia of Mathematics or the Dictionary of the Middle Ages , which can devote much more space to their chosen topics. In its first years, the Britannica 's main competitor was the general encyclopaedia of Ephraim Chambers and, soon thereafter, Rees's Cyclopædia and Coleridge's Encyclopædia Metropolitana . In
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#17327649392622964-473: Was created to develop digital versions of the Britannica ; Yannias assumed the role of CEO in the new company, while his former position at the parent company remained vacant for two years. Yannias' tenure at Britannica.com Incorporated was marked by missteps, considerable lay-offs, and financial losses. In 2001, Yannias was replaced by Ilan Yeshua , who reunited the leadership of the two companies. Yannias later returned to investment management, but remains on
3021-500: Was also available as a Firefox extension but this was taken down due to a code review issue. The print version of the Britannica has 4,411 contributors, many eminent in their fields, such as Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman , astronomer Carl Sagan , and surgeon Michael DeBakey . Roughly a quarter of the contributors are deceased, some as long ago as 1947 ( Alfred North Whitehead ), while another quarter are retired or emeritus . Most (approximately 98%) contribute to only
3078-725: Was issued in London in 1960. Its contents were determined largely by the eleven-plus standardized tests given in Britain. Britannica introduced the Children's Britannica to the US market in 1988, aimed at ages seven to 14. In 1961, a 16-volume Young Children's Encyclopaedia was issued for children just learning to read. My First Britannica is aimed at children ages six to 12, and the Britannica Discovery Library
3135-518: Was listed as the Deputy Editor and Theodore Pappas as Executive Editor. Prior Executive Editors include John V. Dodge (1950–1964) and Philip W. Goetz. Paul T. Armstrong remains the longest working employee of Encyclopædia Britannica. He began his career there in 1934, eventually earning the positions of treasurer, vice president, and chief financial officer in his 58 years with the company, before retiring in 1992. The 2007 editorial staff of
3192-400: Was responsible for "driving business and cultural transformation and accelerating growth". Taking the reins of the company as it was preparing to mark its 250th anniversary and define the next phase of its digital strategy for consumers and K–12 schools, Krishnan launched a series of new initiatives in his first year. First was Britannica Insights, a free, downloadable software extension to
3249-466: Was significantly more expensive than its competitors. Since the early 1990s, the Britannica has faced new challenges from digital information sources. The Internet, facilitated by the development of search engines , has grown into a common source of information for many people, and provides easy access to reliable original sources and expert opinions, thanks in part to initiatives such as Google Books , MIT 's release of its educational materials and
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