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SCP Foundation

web-based collaborative fiction writing project

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 25, 2026
Entity authorityQ17439649 ↗
Source-derived summary

The SCP Foundation is a fictional secret organization and the premise of the SCP Wiki, a wiki-based collaborative fiction project launched in 2008. Within the project's shared world, the SCP (Special Containment Procedures) Foundation is responsible for capturing, containing, and studying paranormal, supernatural, and other mysterious phenomena (known as "anomalies" or "SCPs"), while also keeping their existence hidden from society.

The collaborative writing project includes elements of horror, science fiction, and urban fantasy. The majority of works on the SCP Wiki are "SCP files": mock confidential scientific reports that document various SCPs and associated containment procedures; the website also contains "Foundation Tales", short stories featuring various characters and settings in the SCP universe.

The site's literary works have been praised for their ability to convey horror through a quasi-scientific and academic writing style, as well as for their high standards of quality. The SCP universe has inspired adaptations in various media, including literature, short films, and video games.

Overview

The fictional setting of the SCP universe revolves around the findings and activities of the SCP Foundation, an international secret society, scientific research institution, and paramilitary force. The organization is generally portrayed as operating independently of any national government, answering only to its own mysterious, shadow government-like leadership body known as the O5 Council or Overseers. The Foundation captures and contains various unexplained paranormal phenomena (referred to as "anomalies", "SCP objects", "SCPs", or informally "skips") which display supernatural abilities or other extremely unusual properties that defy conventional scientific laws. These phenomena can include living beings, objects, places, abstract concepts, or incomprehensible entities.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “SCP Foundation” as web-based collaborative fiction writing project. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2008—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—2008, 2008-07-19—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. The account is most persuasive where Foundation, web-based and collaborative can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as web-based collaborative fiction writing project. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q17439649. 1 of 23 selected statements include explicit references; 16 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2008.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “SCP Foundation”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow SCP Foundation primary sources, SCP Foundation archive and Foundation research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “SCP Foundation”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “SCP Foundation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.