Over 1,200 writers and specialists contributed to the encyclopedia, one fifth of whom were foreign experts in Bangladesh or experts working abroad. They are mostly academics, as well as specialists in districts and upazilas for locality inputs and people from professions and occupations. District and upazila cartography has been processed at the Geographic information system (GIS) and cartographic laboratory set up for the Banglapedia. A gazetteer group was created to focus on districts and upazilas. The fact that around 400 local intellectuals were charged with writing about their respective zilas and upazilas was described as a unique approach to information gathering. In addition, 250 people worked in research management for seven years. A total of 2,000 scholars and technicians were involved. There were 270 full-time personnel on the project in all, with 35 to 40 people employed at any given time.