| Screenshot | Encyclopedia.com homepage.png |
|---|---|
| Collapsible | yes |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | No |
| Language | English |
| Content license | Copyrighted |
| Owner | Gale |
| Creator | Infonautics |
| Launch date | March 1998 (age 28) |
| Revenue | Display advertising |
| Oclc | 405663034 |
| Current status | Online |
Encyclopedia.com[1] is an online encyclopedia. It aggregates information, images, and videos from other published dictionaries, encyclopedias, and reference works.
History
The website was launched by Infonautics in March 1998.[2] Infonautics was acquired by Tucows in August 2001.[3]
In August 2002, Patrick Spain bought Encyclopedia.com and its sister website eLibrary from Tucows and incorporated them into a new company called Alacritude, LLC (a combination of Alacrity and Attitude).[4] The business became known as HighBeam Research and was eventually sold to Gale.[5][6] For a time the website was operated by Chicago-based company Highbeam Research, a subsidiary of reference publisher Gale, which itself is a subsidiary of Cengage.[7][5]
Enycyclopedia.com saw its traffic decline by more than three quarters from approximately 4 million visits monthly in 2022, to under 1 million in 2025.[8]
Content
Encyclopedia.com allows users to access information on a subject that is derived from multiple encyclopedias and dictionary sources,[9] and it has nearly 200,000 entries and 50,000 topic summaries. It provides a collection of online encyclopedias and entries from various sources, including Oxford University Press, Columbia Encyclopedia, and Gale, its parent company.[10][11]
References
- ^ "Reference: Encyclopedias". Curlie.org. Archived May 27, 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 27 Sep 2024.
- ^ "Infonautics Launches Encyclopedia.Com". Information Today. Vol. 15, no. 3. March 1998. ISSN 8755-6286. Archived June 14, 2018 at the Wayback Machine. – via Questia
- ^ Magid, Larry (August 15, 2002). "BASICS; A Reference Library On Disc or Online". The New York Times. p. G7. ISSN 1553-8095. Archived August 10, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 27 Sep 2024.
- ^ Hane, Paula J. (August 26, 2002). "Tucows Sells Two Former Infonautics Services". Newsbreaks.infotoday.com. Information Today, Inc. Archived March 12, 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 27 Sep 2024.
- ^ Creguer, Tina (December 15, 2008). "Gale Acquires HighBeam Research, Inc.". Cengage. Archived from the original on April 22, 2021.
- ^ Gwen (December 16, 2008). "Internet News: Gale Acquired HighBeam Research". Websearchguide.ca. Archived March 5, 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Myers, Fort (July 27, 2011). "Partnership With HighBeam Research and Encyclopedia.com". Yippy, Inc.. Archived from the original on March 25, 2018.
- ^ "Digital 2025: exploring trends in Wikipedia traffic". DataReportal – Global Digital Insights. 2025-04-23. Retrieved 2026-01-11.
- ^ Gross, Melanie (May 21, 2012). "Wikipedia down? Try these alternatives". Ghacks.net. Archived March 27, 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 27 Sep 2024.
- ^ "About Encyclopedia.com". Encyclopedia.com. Archived March 9, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 27 Sep 2024.
- ^ "The World's #1 Online Encyclopedia". Encyclopedia.com. Archived July 13, 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 27 Sep 2024.