Template:Citation needed lead

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This template is specifically intended to challenge a fact in the lead section of an already well-sourced article, where that lead is clearly intended to function as a summary of the content, but the fact tagged does not appear in the body.

Usage

More specifically, many articles, including the bulk of featured articles, do not contain any citations in the lead, because the lead section in them is used to summarize the content in the body of the article, which already contains citations for the summarized content. Thus, this template should only be used:

• In articles which already have substantial sourcing; and
• The lead is clearly written as a summary of the content; but
• One of the facts in the lead is not verified in the article's body and you seek verification of that fact.

By the same token, this template should not be used in poorly sourced articles, or articles whose leads are not clearly written as attempts to summarize the content. In such articles, {{citation needed}} may be more appropriate, or more generally, depending on context, {{unreferenced}}, {{unreferenced section}} or {{refimprove}}. Note that any place you would want to use many instances of this tag (or of {{citation needed}}), that almost always means you should use one of the general tags above just once, rather than peppering the lead.

BLPs

Unsourced or poorly sourced contentious material about living persons should be removed immediately. Do not tag it: immediately remove it. See this section of the Biography of Living Persons policy.

Parameters

You may append a date to the template in the following format:

{{Citation needed lead|date=December 2024}}

• Do not substitute this template.
• While it will not break the template if omitted, it is a good idea to include the date parameter.
• The date parameter consists of the name of the current month and the year only (no day). The names of the months are capitalised in English.
  Any deviation from these two rules will result in an "invalid date parameter" error.

Adding this template to an article places the article into Category:Articles with unsourced statements or a dated subcategory thereof.

Please remove the template when a proper citation for the statement (whether in the lead or the body) has been added.

TemplateData

An inline message intended to challenge a fact in the lead section of an already well-sourced article, where that lead is clearly intended to function as a summary of the content, but the fact tagged does not appear in the body.

Template parameters

This template prefers inline formatting of parameters.

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Date	date	Month and year when the template was added to the article Example April 2017 Auto value {{SUBST:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{SUBST:CURRENTYEAR}}	String	required

Redirects

• {{Citation needed (lead)}}
• {{Cnl}}
• {{Fact lead}}
• {{Not in body}}
• {{Not verified in body}}

• This template is a self-reference.
• This template should not be substituted.