Readers will have the option of seeing the article before the changes were made.

In a small percentage of cases, edited articles will have to be reviewed before they are posted, Wikipedia said. The rule will apply to articles at high risk of vandalism, such as biographies of controversial living people.

'It's a very thoughtful proposal that attempts to balance the desire for higher quality, and more systematic assessment thereof, with the immediacy of Wikipedia as it exists today, and was supported by a large majority of interested Wikipedia editors,' Erik Moeller, deputy director of the Wikimedia Foundation, said in the blog.

More conservative review policies are in place in other versions of Wikipedia. For example, any edit on German Wikipedia by a new or unregistered user must be reviewed before it is visible to readers.

The new changes are expected to be fully implemented within two to three months, following testing.