Stub Articles: What They Are and Why They Matter on Wikipedia

When you see a short Wikipedia page with just a few sentences and a stub article, a minimal Wikipedia entry that signals the topic needs expansion. Also known as content stub, it's not a finished article—it's a placeholder that says, "This matters, but we need more." Stub articles are everywhere. They cover obscure towns, forgotten scientists, local laws, and niche hobbies. They’re not errors. They’re the foundation.

Every WikiProject, a volunteer group that coordinates improvements to Wikipedia’s content on specific topics uses stubs to track gaps. Want to improve coverage of African history? There’s a WikiProject for that—and it starts by turning stubs into full articles. The same goes for women in STEM, Indigenous languages, or small-town infrastructure. Content gaps, areas where Wikipedia lacks depth due to lack of contributors or sources don’t fix themselves. Stubs make them visible. Editors use tools like the stub template to flag these pages, so others know where to jump in. Some stubs are just one line. Others are 200 words with a citation or two. Either way, they’re the first step toward something bigger.

Stubs aren’t just for editors. They help readers too. If you search for a topic and land on a stub, you know Wikipedia has started working on it. You can click the talk page, see who’s editing, or even add a source yourself. That’s how Wikipedia grows—not from top-down assignments, but from thousands of small contributions. The article quality, a system used by Wikipedia editors to rate how complete and reliable an article is scale starts at "stub" and climbs to "featured article." It’s not about perfection. It’s about progress. And that’s why stubs matter. Below, you’ll find real examples of how communities turn these bare-bones entries into rich, well-sourced content—and how you can help, too.