Dictionary of World Biography, 9th Edition

The 2022 edition runs to nearly 1,000 pages in small print, about 9,000 entries and 930,000 words.

Four factors determined entry length: likelihood that the entries would be frequently consulted, availability of resource material, degree of influence that the subjects had on how we live (language, inventions, medicine, war, nutrition, religion, philosophy, exploration, education, communications, transport, economics, entertainment, the arts, architecture), and the extent of cross-referencing to other subjects in the DWB, indicated by *.

How tactful does an encyclopaedist have to be in writing about living subjects? Publishing serious entries on the living may inhibit discussion of sensitive issues such as sexuality, mental and physical health, addictions and obsessions, or financial links, and much primary source material will be inaccessible or embargoed. Postponing treatment of subjects still living, and presumably not eager to be eligible, gives future biographers space and time to reflect instead of rushing to judgment.