accessdate

Accessdate, in citation practice, is the date on which a reader accessed an online source. It is recorded because web content can change, be updated, or disappear, making the cited material possibly different from when it was consulted. The access date helps readers assess the timeliness and reliability of the source.

In wiki projects and other digital citation systems, the access date is commonly stored as a parameter in templates such as cite web. The parameter is typically written as accessdate and may appear with the value in formats like YYYY-MM-DD. Depending on the template and style rules, the rendered citation may display as “Accessed 10 June 2024” or similar wording, sometimes with minor regional formatting differences. Some templates also accept an alternative parameter name, such as access-date, but the underlying purpose remains the same.

Format considerations generally favor an unambiguous date, often in ISO 8601 form (year-month-day). Using a numeric format helps avoid confusion across locales. For example, accessdate=2024-06-10 clearly communicates June 10, 2024. If a page is time-sensitive or subject to frequent updates, including the access date is especially important. If a publisher provides an explicit publication date, both the publication date and the access date can be included to give readers context.

Archiving and stability practices are related: when possible, users may cite archived versions or provide an archived URL to preserve the referenced content. Some citation styles also suggest indicating the retrieval method or source type to complement the access date.