Google Version Of Wikipedia Launches, Medical Wiki To Follow

July 24, 2008 6:58 p.m. EST

Menlo Park, CA (AHN) - Google Inc. and four medical schools vie for a share of Wikipedia's patron base with the launch of their respective versions of the popular free online encyclopedia on Wednesday.

Unlike Wikipedia, the search engine company's Google Knol will have bylines and fees for authors as well as ads. Google will not edit entries and readers can rank the usefulness of articles, add comments, and ask questions.

Medpedia, a project of the Harvard Medical School, the Stanford School of Medicine, the University of Michigan Medical School and the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health, offers medical articles written by physicians or experts with Ph.D. degrees. Its launch is set before the year ends.

Wikipedia, which started in January 2001, has more than 8.2 million articles in more than 200 languages. Two million articles are in English.