Editing Encyclopædia Britannica (section)

=== Coverage of topics ===
Topics are chosen in part by reference to the {{lang|la|Propædia}} "Outline of Knowledge".<ref name="propedia_preface" /> The bulk of the 15th edition of the ''Britannica'' is devoted to geography (26% of the {{lang|la|Macropædia}}), biography (14%), biology and medicine (11%), literature (7%), physics and astronomy (6%), religion (5%), art (4%), Western philosophy (4%), and law (3%).<ref name="kister_1994" /> A complementary study of the {{lang|la|Micropædia}} found that geography accounted for 25% of articles, science 18%, social sciences 17%, biography 17%, and all other humanities 25%.<ref name="sader_1995" /> Writing in 1992, one reviewer judged that the "range, depth, and [[wikt:catholicity|catholicity]] of coverage [of the ''Britannica''] are unsurpassed by any other general Encyclopaedia."<ref>{{cite book |last=Lang |first=J. P. |title=Reference Sources for Small and Medium-Sized Libraries |publisher=American Library Association |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-8389-3406-7 |edition=5th |location=Chicago, Illinois |page=34 |language=en}}</ref>

The ''Britannica'' does not cover topics in equal detail; for example, the whole of [[Buddhism]] and most other religions is covered in a single {{lang|la|Macropædia}} article, whereas 14 articles are devoted to Christianity, comprising nearly half of all religion articles.<ref name="macropaedia_2007">{{Cite journal |last=Goetz |first=Philip W. |year=2007 |title=The New Encyclopædia Britannica |journal=Encyclopaedia Britannica Incorporated |edition=15th edition, {{lang|la|Macropædia}} |location=Chicago, Illinois |bibcode=1991neb..book.....G}}</ref> The ''Britannica'' covers 50,479 biographies, 5,999 of them about women, with 11.87% being British citizens and 25.51% US citizens.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gonzalez Larrañaga |first1=Galder |last2=Perez de Viñaspre Garralda |first2=Olatz |date=16 March 2023 |title=Nor da nor Lur Hiztegi Entziklopedikoan? Euskarazko lehenengo entziklopediaren demografia digital alderatua |url=http://www.uztaro.eus/artikulua/174/nor-da-nor-lur-hiztegi-entziklopedikoan-euskarazko-lehenengo-entziklopediaren-demografia-digital-alderatua/2161 |journal=Uztaro. Giza Eta Gizarte-zientzien Aldizkaria |issue=124 |pages=25–49 |doi=10.26876/uztaro.124.2023.2|s2cid=257423956 |doi-access=free }}</ref> However, the ''Britannica'' has been lauded as the ''least'' biased of general Encyclopaedias marketed to Western readers<ref name="kister_1994" /> and praised for its biographies of important women of all eras.<ref name="sader_1995" />

{{blockquote|It can be stated without fear of contradiction that the 15th edition of the ''Britannica'' accords non-Western cultural, social, and scientific developments more notice than any general English-language encyclopedia currently on the market.|[[Kenneth Kister]]|in ''Kister's Best Encyclopedias'' (1994)}}