Archive:Tutorial:Creating a statistical article
This Statistics Explained article is outdated and has been archived - the tutorial on the same topic can be found here.
This tutorial provides an easy step-by-step overview of actions to create a new statistical article or update an existing one. It also mentions, in the appropriate place, the standards to follow and recommends best practices.
Statistical articles make up the main part of Statistics Explained, presenting statistical data on a specific topic in an easily understandable way. Their main purpose is to explain what statistical data mean and thus increase understanding, but they also provide numerous links to the most recent data on the Eurostat website and to ever deeper levels of metadata, offering a convenient entry portal even for specialists.
The tutorial contains two types of text:
|
| Your audience
Statistics Explained content is not intended for statisticians and database specialists, but targets a wide range of users, including the general public! So while writing, keep in mind a person lacking prior knowledge but not intelligence. Use simple non-specialist language, avoid abbreviations and do not assume terms and concepts are familiar or even known (which does not mean you have to abandon precision or cannot use any technical term). Keep sentences short and simple. Every non-obvious concept can and should be explained by linking it to a glossary page (e.g. NUTS). If no glossary page exists, create it, using the model page and taking content from your set of definitions or from glossaries already published or available in Coded (see Creating a glossary page). Statistics Explained allows anyone in Eurostat to contribute by writing new articles or correcting and updating existing ones (some outsiders, for instance contractors or NSIs, can also edit under well-controlled conditions). Changes become publicly visible after a light and rapid validation by the Dissemination Unit and, if content was changed, by the Unit responsible for a statistical topic. New articles have to be approved also by the director and chief editor. |
| Just do it!
If you think something needs to be told or explained, just write it! It can be done very easily and rapidly. By inserting existing material into the model page, someone familiar with editing can even create a statistical article in less than one hour! If you have a question or a problem, ask a colleague who already worked in Statistics Explained; or contact someone from the Statistics Explained editorial team (ESTAT-STATISTICS-EXPLAINED@ec.europa.eu). Don't hesitate, most issues can be solved rapidly and easily! |
Preparing
What to write about
- Take a look at existing Statistics Explained articles, especially in the theme your article would fit in.
- Get a feeling of their common structure by checking out the model page for statistical articles, especially the table of contents. All statistical articles must have a web-oriented introduction and these sections: 'Main statistical findings', 'Data sources and availability', 'Context' and 'Further Eurostat information'. Further subdivisions are optional and other sections are recommended if content is available ('See also', 'External links', 'Notes').
- Every set of statistical data allows many different ways of looking at them, 'stories', depending on the aspect or comparison or chronology selected. Reflect on the message you want to communicate, the patterns or trends in the data you want to show your readers. Don't try to tell too much in one article (create several and interlink them if you have a lot to say); don't be too general and obvious, but don't try to cover absolutely every aspect either. A general overview should not have too much detail, a detailed analysis should cover only a limited area.
| Length and focus of statistical articles
Statistical articles have no strict minimum or maximum length, but 10-15 printed pages (including the sections with links to further information) is optimal. If articles get longer, they should be shortened or split up in two or more statistical articles - these can be easily interlinked or grouped via an online publication, entry page or category. A statistical article should be focused and coherent, it should not try to tell many stories in one article. Create different ones for each specific subject and interlink them if necessary. |
- Recycling of published and already validated content is a convenient way of getting subject matter. But update it if possible with the latest figures! Publications already containing 'stories' (i.e. some text and analysis) are most suitable; this approach has been used to insert Yearbook and Regional yearbook chapters, Statistics in focus articles, ... If an article is based upon published tables or figures only (as in Data in focus or Eurostatistics - Data for short-term economic analysis) you will need to find text elsewhere or create it yourself.
- You can also write an entirely new story which you think should be told! Explore your data and select what is interesting or surprising or astonishing about them. This might be an evolution over time, a comparison between countries or regions, an overview of a statistical (sub)theme, … This type of deep once-only analysis is typical for a Statistics in focus article (see tutorial).
| Covering a theme
In order to 'cover' a theme or subtheme (such as 'Health', 'Labour market' or 'Transport') in a comprehensive and coherent way, it is recommended to organise articles at three levels:
|
Organising the material
- Draft a brief outline of the statistical story you want to tell. This will be the content of the chapter, 'Main statistical findings', the most important one.
- Structure it into introduction (optional), all necessary subdivisions, conclusion (optional). If 'Main statistical findings' is long, subdivisions are highly recommended.
- Collect additional information on 'Data sources and availability', 'Context', 'Further Eurostat information' (subdivisions for which no content is available can be removed) and 'External links' (optional but recommended).
| The content of chapters
* Introduction: because the overwhelming majority of users will arrive directly via a Google search on your page, the introduction should tell them what the article is about and what items of interest it has to offer; but the introduction should be short enough to still show part of the table of contents. * Main statistical findings: contains the 'statistics explained' and as such is the most important and largest part of the article; it can be structured in any way that is required by the subject; subtitles will appear in the table of contents. * Data sources and availability: briefly describes where the data were obtained (e.g. a particular survey) and the problems, if any, in obtaining them or in converting them for European use, to make them comparable. * Context: discusses the policy and other reasons behind the data collection and the uses for the data: the legal basis, the policy context, why society as a whole or particular groups (business, policy makers, ...) need them. * See also: links to similar articles in Statistics Explained potentially of interest to the reader of this one. * Further Eurostat information: links to the most recent and much more detailed information available on the Eurostat web site; it is subdivided in five possible sections, not all of which have to be present in all articles:
* External links: to trustworthy (semi-)official instances (e.g. ECB, OECD, UN, WHO), specific to the subject treated and leading directly to additional information (not just to a home page!); include some is important, because of the precious added value to users and the increase in 'linkedness' which affects the ranking of the article in search engine results.
|
| Definitions of terms and concepts
As a rule, definitions should not be in a statistical article: not in the text itself, not in a separate 'definition box' and not as part of 'Data sources and availability'. A definition should be in a separate glossary page, for several reasons: *definitions in a text interrupt its flow and make it longer and more difficult to read (also annoying readers already familiar with it); *a separate glossary items can be reused and linked to from any other statistical article mentioning the term, thus eliminating duplication and avoiding minor or major differences in definitions. *by adding the glossary item to the category 'Glossary' and other subglossaries it is automatically added to an alphabetical list of similar glossary items. See also: Tutorial:Creating a glossary page. |
Go to the Main Page (URL: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained, or type 'Statistics Explained' in Google). At the bottom right of the 'Welcome' box two overviews can be accessed (they are also in the 'navigation' box on the top left of every page):
- the theme tree or Statistical themes page presents a clickable overview of the statistical themes and subthemes (the nomenclature of statistical products and product groupings for dissemination purposes);
- the Categories page lists the ad hoc categories into which statistical articles and other pages have been grouped, showing also the number of articles and/or subcategories in each category. Categories include the statistical themes and subthemes, but in addition new categories can be created ad hoc whenever they might help users in finding similar pages (see below, Assigning an article to a category).
The 'Special pages' item of the 'toolbox' on the bottom left provides additional access to other overviews: All pages, Popular pages, Recent changes, …
View a specific article by clicking on a page name or, if you know the exact title, by typing it in the 'Search' box on the left top and by clicking 'Go' (if the dropdown list covers the 'Go' button, click ESC to remove it and make 'Go' visible again).
Logging in and entering 'edit' mode
In order to edit pages, you have to log in:
- click 'Log in' on the top right;
- you will be redirected to the European Commission's Secure Authentication Service (ECAS): insert your ECAS 'Username' and 'Password' and click 'Login';
- at the bottom of the page additional buttons are now visible, providing views reserved for Eurostat staff and selected others (when logged out only 'Page' is accessible).
- in order to start editing, click 'Edit' or 'Edit draft' at the bottom of the page (if not logged, you only get 'Page' there): this opens an editing window.
Starting a new Statistics Explained page
There are several ways to start a new page:
- On the Main Page or on any page: type the name of the page you want to create in the 'Search' box (left top), click 'GO' (you may have to click 'ESC' first to remove the dropdown menu). If a page with this exact name does not yet exist, you are sent to page with 'No page title matches' in red, with the possibility to click on 'create this page'. Before doing so, check out the 'Page text matches' below, however. A similar page might already exist, which you could update instead of creating a new statistical article. This list of 'Page text matches' also gives an overview of possible links which you might later on insert in those listed pages, leading towards your statistical article once it exists.
- If you create a new internal link in an existing page (see below, 7.1) towards a page which does not yet exist, the linked word(s) appear in red; clicking on the new link will lead you to 'No page title matches' in red, with the possibility to click on 'create this page'; the title of the page to be created is made up by the word(s) on which you put the internal link (See 7.1).
Choosing an article name
| An article name is NOT intended for journalists or the general public, but for search engines like Google! It is functional, repetitive if necessary and doesn't want to win the Nobel prize for literature.
The name (=url) has to ensure above all that the article gets picked up among the zillions of pages in the internet and ranked on top for anyone searching for this particular information. In the second place, it has to be distinctive in the Statistics Explained environment where similar pages from the Yearbook, Regional yearbook, pocketbooks, Statistic in focus, ... co-exist. Consequently, it must meet the following criteria:
Take a look at existing articles to see examples of article names. In some cases, however, a more journalist-oriented subtitle can be added (in bold), and in the PDF version of Statistics in focus articles this subtitle becomes the main title. For further, more detailed information, see: Tutorial on naming articles and publications |
Loading a model
As a first step in creating a new statistical article, you can load the model of a statistical article which already contains the predefined structure and all templates which might be used.
WARNING: loading a model from the boilerplate will overwrite all existing content! If you want to preserve already existing content, select and copy it, load the Model:Statistical article and then paste it back in the appropriate place. If you have overwritten existing text by accident, you can always go to 'history' and undo.
Please note: you have to be in 'edit' (or 'edit draft') to go through the steps below!
- Open the menu under 'Select boilerplate' in the box above (just below the title 'Edit: ...').
- Select 'Statistical article'.
- Click 'Load'.
- Click 'Save page' (bottom of the Edit page, left).
Creating a draft
Before you insert the content, you should contact the Statistics Explained team so that they create a cover page saying that the article is under construction. This will allow you to prepare your content in a draft mode, hidden from the public and accessible only to allowed editors.
WARNING: If you skip this step, your content will immediately be visible to the public!
Inserting content
You can of course write an entirely new 'statistical story' about a given data set, filling out the Model you imported.
But if you want to convert an existing publication or part of a publication into Statistics Explained format, you only need to copy the text to be inserted insert from the original publication (a Word document, pdf file, a web page, ...) and paste it in the appropriate place within the Model. All existing publications can be downloaded from the publications section of the Eurostat web site or from the EU Bookshop.
The text you have inserted normally needs no additional formatting, except maybe in a very basic way (bold, italic, indents, headings etc.). By clicking on the icons above the editing frame, selected text can be immediately converted into bold or italic, an internal or external link can be put on it (don't forget http:// prefix in an external link !) or a level 2 headline can be created.
See the summary page for the most common markup code.
Check if some slight rephrasing or re-orginazing of the text might not be advisable (replacing 'chapter' or 'publication' or 'Statistics in focus' with 'article', for instance).
Some comments on specific parts or chapters:
- Data from Month Year: replace 'Month Year' with the date at which the data used for the article were extracted from the database; publications usually mention an extraction data (at the bottom of the back page of a SIF, for instance).
- Introduction: there should always be a brief and simple introduction (see Box 'The content of chapters' in #Organising_the_material). Often the text you insert has no such introduction, because it is part of a larger publication or aimed at a different audience. In that case you have to write one yourself, even if it should only consist of two or three sentences.
- Data sources and availability: the material for this chapter can usually be found in methodological notes discussing where and how data were obtained, possible problems with availability (countries or years missing, for example) or comparability issues (e.g. different definitions or data collection methods in different countries). Definitions should not be in this part, but in a separate Glossary page (which in most cases probably exists already, see [[Category:Glossary|Glossary]] and the list of [[Category:Abbreviations|abbreviations]]) see box 'Definitions of terms and concepts in #Organising_the_content.
- Context: Information on the legal basis, reasons for the data collection and uses of the data can usually be retrieved from the original introduction or the conclusion of a statistical publication or chapter; sometimes they are in the methodological notes.
- If no content is available for External links, See also or some subdivisions of Futher Eurostat information, those headings must be removed. Main statistical findings (obviously!), Data sources and availability and Context should always have some content.
Inserting links in text
Inserting links is a way to connect your statistical article internally (within Statistics Explained) to other articles or to the Glossary, but also to interesting external information, on the Eurostat site or elsewhere.
Inserting an internal link
A link is 'internal' if it connects to another page within Statistics Explained. The most common case is a link in a statistical article leading to a page in the background area, usually a Glossary item, briefly and simply explaining an indicator, concept, survey or nomenclature. To insert an internal link:
- Go into 'edit'.
- Select the word or words in the text you want to put a link on.
- Click on the 'Internal link' icon Ab, third one in the icon list above the edit frame (as a result the selected words are put inside of [[ ]]; it is possible, of course, to do this manually).
- Click 'Save page', bottom left of the page.
If the selected words correspond to an existing page, the link is immediately operational. If this is not the case, they appear in red in 'page' view and now several possibilities exist:
- You can rewrite the linked words in such a way they do refer to an existing page (e.g. 'EU-27' instead of 'EU 27' or 'Life expectancy' instead of 'Life Expectancy' - except for the first one, words in a link are case-sensitive!).
- You can create a new Glossary page, if you think the concept needs explaining.
- You can redirect from the linked words to an existing page which is synonymous, by creating a 'redirect page'; redirect pages have as only content: #redirect [[Glossary:name of the destination page|]]. The page 'EU', for instance, contains as only content: #redirect [European Union (EU)].
- And finally, the most flexible solution is to link to an existing page while showing in 'page' view a different text, by using [[Glossary:Page name|Text to be shown]]. E.g. the Union instead of European Union.
- However, an internal link to a 'special' page (such as Model, Tutorial, Category, ...) containing free text should include ':' at the beginning: [[:Tutorial:Governance rules|Governance rules]] returning Governance rules.
Inserting an external link
A link is 'external' if it refers to a web page outside of Statistics Explained, either on the Eurostat web site or on other 'external' ones.
To insert an external link:
- Go into 'edit'.
- Select the word or words in the text you want to put a link on.
- Click on the 'External link' icon (with globe), fourth one in the icon list above the edit frame (the selected words are put inside of [ ]; it is possible, of course, to do this manually as well).
- add the url you want to connect to, at the beginning and separated by a space from the selected words: [http://xxx selected words]; do not forget to include http:// ! The selected words should be a user-friendly label of the target page of the URL, as specifically as possible.
- Click 'Save page', bottom left of the page.
Example: [http://www.who.int World Health Organization (WHO)] returns World Health Organization (WHO).
Inserting and displaying images
Images in the form of tables, figures or maps are used mainly in statistical and background articles, but also in some glossary pages and on the Main page. As a rule no pictures (photographs or drawings) are inserted, except in the rare cases when these provide additional information - pictures are not used just for illustration.
The procedure to insert image files (tables, figures, maps or pictures) in Statistics Explained and to display them properly in an article, consists of three distinct steps:
- create image file, normally png, of sufficient size (in pixels), usually from an Excel source or, alternatively, from Word, PDF, web page ...;
- upload this file in Statistics Explained;
- insert image link in the article specifying where and how the image file is to be displayed there.
How this can be done in practice, is explained in detail in a tutorial on inserting image files.
Important: image names!
PLEASE DO NOT:
For maximum efficiency while inserting images, optimal retrieval from >20,000 image files and minimal confusion of users clicking image link and arriving at target file with totally different and obscure name:
Example: Gross domestic product (GDP) per inhabitant, in purchasing power standard (PPS), EU-28, 2010 (% of the EU-27 average, EU-27 = 100).png Consult the tutorial on inserting image files for details on the most efficient way of naming images. |
Inserting an Excel file
Excel files can be used in two different ways in a statistical article, either linked to from the statistical article, or displayed directly as a table within the text.
Link to Excel file
For data displayed as images (.png files, see previous section) representing tables, graphs or maps, it is recommended to upload the Excel file(s) with source data in Statistics Explained as well and to link to the file(s) in the 'Further Eurostat information' section, under a (heading3) subsection 'Source data for tables and graphs (MS Excel)' following after 'Other information', with one sheet per table/graph/map on the page. For articles in the Yearbook category, this uploading and displaying of the source Excel files is obligatory.
linked to from the statistical article, after the Excel file has been uploaded in Statistics Explained;
Insert table from Excel sheet
- displayed directly as a table within the text (using the wikitext editing button 'Paste table' (button to be tested and written up).
For an explanation on how to do this in practice, see the 'Inserting Excel files' tutorial.
Adding links to other articles in Statistics Explained (See also)
Adding a link to another article is similar, of course, to inserting an internal link.
The Model you loaded from the Boilerplate already contains the formatted line (including bullet) * [[Glossary:Name of related article|]]
- Go into 'edit'.
- Replace 'Name of related article' with the name of the article you want to add a link to.
- Warning: The name has to be exactly right, including capital/small letters and special characters such as / _ etc.)
- You can of course type this manually too (or, alternatively, type or copy in the name of the article, select it and click the 'Internal link' icon Ab, third one in the icon list above the edit frame).
- Click 'Save page' (bottom of the Edit page, left).
If you want to link to more articles,
- copy & paste * [[Glossary:Name of related article|]], including bullet (*);
- replace 'Name of related statistical article' with the name of the other article.
It is recommended
|
Adding links to the latest data (Further Eurostat information)
There is no difference in markup code between linking to another part of the Eurostat web site and to an external web site. Procedures are identical, as a result, for 'Further Eurostat information' and 'External links'; links in 'See also', however, are internal links, within Statistics Explained. Whenever possible, templates are used, so that changes needed are minimal and usually consist of codes or short descriptors.
Data visualisation
The Model (in edit mode) contains the template (including bullet) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
Publications
The Model (in edit mode) contains the template (including bullet) *{{Template:Publication|code=KS-RA-07-002|title=Title of the publication}}.
- Replace 'KS-RA-07-002' with the publication code of the publication you want to link to; if you don't know the code, you can find a list of recent publications or search for it on the publications section of the Eurostat web site.
- replace 'Title of the publication' with the exact title of the publication;
- duplicate the line with copy/paste and change it accordingly for any further publications you want to add;
- save page.
e.g. * [http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/product?code=KS-SF-08-108 Acquisition of citizenship in the European Union – Statistics in focus 108/2008] returns Acquisition of citizenship in the European Union – Statistics in focus 108/2008.
| It is recommended not to have more than 10 links to publications. |
Main tables
The Model (in edit mode) already contains the template (including bullet)
*[{{Template:Main tables|dedicated_section=balance_of_payments}} Title of top Main tables folder], see: : Title(s) of second level folder (if any) :: Title(s) of third level folder (if any)
- replace 'balance_of_payments' with the appropriate dedicated section containing relevant main tables;
- WARNING: if the dedicated section has no main tables, this link will not function!
- replace 'Title of top Main tables folder' with the exact name of the folder you have linked to;
- replace 'Title(s) of second level folder (if any)' and 'Title(s) of third level folder (if any)' with the appropriate folder name(s) if the data you want to link to are accessible only at a deeper level of the data tree;
- save page.
e.g. *[{{Template:Main tables|dedicated_section=labour_market/labour_costs}} Labour costs], see: :Labour cost index :Total wages and salaries :Social security paid by employer :Other labour costs :Hourly labour costs :Monthly labour costs] returns
- Labour costs, see:
- Labour cost index
- Total wages and salaries
- Social security paid by employer
- Other labour costs
- Hourly labour costs
- Monthly labour costs.
Database
The Model (in edit mode) already contains the template (including bullet)
* [{{Template:Database|dedicated_section=balance_of_payments}} Title of top Database folder], see: :Title(s) of second level folder (if any) ::Title(s) of third level folder (if any)
- replace 'balance_of_payments' with the appropriate dedicated section containing relevant main tables;
- WARNING: if the dedicated section has no Database items, this link will not function!
- replace 'Title of top Database folder' with the exact name of the folder you have linked to;
- replace 'Title(s) of second level folder (if any)' and 'Title(s) of third level folder (if any)' with the appropriate folder name(s) if the data you want to link to are accessible only at a deeper level of the data tree;
- save page.
e.g. *[{{Template:Database|dedicated_section=labour_market/labour_costs}} Labour costs], see: :Labour cost index :Labour costs annual data ::Labour cost surveys
- Labour costs, see:
- Labour cost index
- Labour costs annual data
- Labour cost surveys
Dedicated section
*[{{Template:Database|dedicated_section=balance_of_payments}} Title of top Database folder]
- replace 'balance_of_payments' with the appropriate dedicated section containing relevant main tables;
- WARNING: this link will only function if the dedicated section exists!
- replace 'Title of top Database folder' with the exact name of the folder you have linked to;
- replace 'Title(s) of second level folder (if any)' and 'Title(s) of third level folder (if any)' with the appropriate folder name(s) if the data you want to link to are accessible only at a deeper level of the data tree;
- Save page.
e.g. *[{{Template:Database|dedicated_section=labour_market/labour_costs}} Labour costs],
Normally only one dedicated section is mentioned in a statistical article, but if necessary the line in the template can be copied/pasted and adapted.
Methodology / Metadata
*{{Template:Esms|code=crim_esms|title=Crime and criminal justice}} (ESMS metadata file — crim_esms)
- replace 'crim_esms' with the appropriate data code;
- replace 'Crime and criminal justice' with the appropriate metadata file title;
- WARNING: this link will only function if the dedicated section exists!
- Save page.
Other information
In this section all information other than Publications, Main tables, Database and Dedicated section can be inserted. Examples are Regulations and other legal texts, communications from the Commission, administrative notes, Policy documents, manuals and instructions for respondents, ...
- Regulation 1737/2005 of dd Month yyyy concerning ....
- Directive 86/2003 of dd Month yyyy concerning ....
- Decision 86/2003 of dd Month yyyy concerning ....
For other documents such as Commission Proposals or Reports, see EUR-Lex search by natural number.
Adding links to other web sites (External links)
As an extra service to users (and to enhance the 'linkedness' and thus the google ranking) links can be provided to a limited number (not more than 10) of high-quality links to trustworthy (semi-)official external sites (e.g. WHO, ILO, FAO, ECB, UNECE, OECD or NSIs). The links should be as specific to the subject treated as possible and they should be deep links directly to the interesting information, not to the home page!
The Model you loaded from the Boilerplate already contains the formatted line (including bullet) * [http://xxx Name of organisation/web site/deep link]<nowiki/> *Replace 'http://xxx' with the URL of the deep link into the external web site. *Replace 'Name of organisation/web site/deep link' with a user-friendly label or description of the target page of the URL, accompanied by the name of the organisation between brackets (abbreviated if familiar). e.g. <nowiki>*[http://www.who.int/whosis/database/life_tables/life_tables.cfm Life expectancy: life tables (WHO)] returns Life expectancy: life tables (WHO)
If more external links are to be inserted:
- Copy & paste the line in the template, including bullet (*).
- Change the new line accordingly.
| It is recommended never to have more than 10 external links - 5 is better! |
Assigning an article to a category
To allow users to find similar articles easily, each article must be put into one or several categories (see the list of current categories).
| Categories
Categories are user-oriented ad hoc groupings of similar articles. They serve as a navigation aid for users and make it possible to find other articles possibly of interest. Category pages have no text except a short description of their content and maybe some links, for instance: The category Structural business statistics alphabetically lists all statistical and background articles for the statistical theme 'structural business statistics'. For a more structured overview, use the structural business statistics entry page. Statistical articles can be put in three different types of category; the first two are mandatory, the third one is to be avoided if possible:
|
| Number and ordering of categories
Categories are always in alphabetical order. The number of categories has no limit in theory, but categories should only be added if they offer a real service to users for finding similar articles. |
[[Category:<Subtheme category name(s)>|Name of the statistical article]] [[Category:<Statistical article>|Name of the statistical article]]
Assigning an article to a category:
- remove, at the very end of the page, < > in [[Category:<Under construction>|Name of the statistical article]], thus putting the new article in the category 'Under construction'; When the article has been sighted and validated to a stable page, this category must be removed;
- remove < and >
- replace '<Category name(s)>' (do not forget to remove the comment markup < > as well!!!) in [[Category:<Category name(s)>|xxx]] with the name of the appropriate theme or subtheme (capital letter at the beginning!);
- if you want to put the article in additonal categories, copy and paste [[Category:<Category name(s)>|xxx]] after the first one, separated by a blank, and change it accordingly.
A category which does not yet exist, appears in red in 'page' view. To create it:
- click on it
- add a very brief description of one sentence only in the text frame;
- save it.
A category with only one article is not a problem if it is likely to contain more in the future.
Example for statistical article 'Transport infrastructure': [[Category:Regions|Transport infrastructure]] [[Category:Transport|Transport infrastructure]].
When saving an article the name of the article is automatically added at the end of the category link (if no text is yet present there, after the '|'), to be displayed on the category page; in this instance 'Transport infrastructure'.
Assigning an article to a Unit
All pages are assigned to a Unit, which is responsible for their content. This is done by placing every page into a topic category. Topic categories, starting with X_, are internal categories, hidden from outside users. They are only shown in edit mode. Each page must have exactly one topic category.
In order to assign your article to a Unit, replace <X_topic> with the appropriate topic in {{Unit|topic=<X_topic>}}; all topics are linked automatically to the responsible Unit (see list of all topics and their corresponding Unit), and will be re-allocated automatically in case of a reorgaisation.
Validating an article
Once the article is ready for publishing, it needs no go through a double validation procedure:
- content
- just consisting of update with new data or minor text update is validated (sighted) by the designated person from your unit (see list of persons with 'editor' rights);
- if you are not sure whether an update is 'minor', contact the Statistics Explained team!
- making up a new article (including Statistics in focus)) or a major update of the analysis needs the visa of the head of unit, the formal sighting by the director and, if needed for sensitive issues, the approval of the chief editor (these are put in the discussion page of the article);
- format, links and compliance with standards are validated by the Dissemination unit.
WARNING: All articles must be first proofread by a native speaker (within your unit if available) or sent for a proofreading to DGT via Poetry (the author is responsible for requesting the proofreading).
As checking and correcting is done in a wiki environment and directly in the article, the validation is usually quite rapid if no fundamental issues arise. If the validation is urgent or has a fixed target date, contact the Statistics Explained team beforehand (mail to ESTAT-STATISTICS-EXPLAINED).
For more details on validation, consult the Statistics Explained Governance rules .