Academics are now embracing Wikipedia.

USA Today reports.

West Virginia University to hire ‘Wikipedian in residence’

West Virginia University will aim to close Wikipedia’s gender gap during the upcoming fall semester by hiring a “Wikipedian in residence.”

The one-year position — made possible by a $27,100 grant from the Wikimedia Foundation to the WVU libraries — is designed to increase the number of Wikipedia articles about West Virginia women and gender studies by 25%, according to a press release issued by the university.

According to the university, the Wikipedian will work to recruit volunteer writers and editors and offer training on how to edit the site. The person will also “establish assessment measures to evaluate each writer’s contributions.”

Since Wikipedia’s founding in 2001, the free and openly editable encyclopedia has attracted more than 25 million registered users and more than 1,000 editors. But, according to a 2011 survey conducted by Wikipedia, only 8.5% percent of these editors are women.

The ubiquity of Wikipedia use makes this gender disparity an issue of quality control.