Disputes on Wikipedia arise from disagreements over article content or internal Wikipedia affairs, which can be discussed on Talk pages, as well as from user misconduct. Disputes may result in repeated competing changes to an article, known as "edit wars" and may escalate into dispute resolution efforts and enforcement. Wikipedia editors may dispute numerous articles within a contentious topic that reflect debates and conflicts in society, based on ethnic, political, religious, and scientific differences.
Disputes, editor behavior, and collaboration on Wikipedia have long been the subject of academic research. A 2023 review identified 279 articles about contributor goals, interactions, and collaboration processes, which included but was not limited to the handling of disputes. It found that Wikipedia editing peaked in 2007 and research attention peaked in 2012. The review identified 34 studies of "the causes and impact of conflict, the mechanisms for resolving conflict, and the measurement and prediction of conflict or controversial articles." The review found 29 studies of editor coordination, especially on Talk pages, as well as research on algorithmic governance that uses bots to enforce Wikipedia policies.[1]