AEA Data Editor

AEA Data Editor

The AEA Data Editor's mission is to design and oversee the AEA journals' strategy for archiving and curating research data and promoting reproducible research.

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A list of all the posts and pages found on the site. For you robots out there is an XML version available for digesting as well.

Pages

Posts

Follow-up to Fireside Chat

10 minute read

Published:

In this post, I’ll pick up questions that have been asked over Twitter or during the 2021-01-19 Fireside chat, in long form (Twitter is not always the best medium). Over time, you might see some of these questions and answers be migrated to FAQ and/or best practices documents. Read more

projects

Project2

Published:

Since July 16, 2019, the American Economic Association has used the AEA Data and Code Repository as the default archive for its supplements. The AEA also announced that it would migrate the historical supplements, hitherto stored as ZIP files on the AEA website, into the AEA Data and Code Repository. Between Oct 11 and Oct 13, 2019, openICPSR ingested 2,552 historical supplements. Additional supplements were ingested in December 2019.

Read more

Project1

Published:

Improvement of metadata on migrated packages, those deposited before July 2019.

Read more

Project3

Published:

Together with other economics data editors, we developed a standardized README DOI. Read more

publications

surveys

Improving Metadata

Published:

Emails sent

Authors of articles may have received the following email:
Dear Dr. So-and-so, Since July 16, 2019, the American Economic Association has used the AEA Data and Code Repository at openICPSR as the default archive for its supplements. The migration increases the findability of your data through a variety of federated search interfaces such as Google Dataset Search, the openICPSR search interface, and the general ICPSR search interface. [more details] For articles with more than one author, each co-author is receiving an identical email with an individualized link. Thank you for your effort!
These emails are legitimate.

Background

As the email states, the AEA announced on July 16, 2019 that it would start using the AEA Data and Code Repository for new replication package deposits. In October and December of 2019, several thousand supplements from previously published articles were migrated to the AEA Data and Code Repository.

Metadata

While immediately making these replication packages findable through Google Dataset Search and ICPSR search interfaces, the metadata for these deposits is limited to title, authorship, abstract, and JEL codes. Modern metadata standards allow for a much richer description of the materials, such as geographic context, statistical coverage or sampling techniques, etc.

Request to Authors

Authors have the best knowledge of the data they used. We are thus asking authors to enter additional metadata through an online form. Once the project is completed, all metadata provided will be integrated with the openICPSR database, and will henceforth become available publicly.

Frequently asked questions

Also see the Twitter thread on this topic.

FAQ 1

Deposit is not actually a data set, just code that simulates data
Answer: Still a deposit. Add “program source code” under “Data type.

FAQ 2

The replication package does not contain data (confidentiality). I cannot share the data from that paper.
Answer: You can still identify metadata like geographic area and time period covered by the replication package.

FAQ 3

I don’t know what you mean by providing additional metadata for a set of *.do files and README with no data.
Answer: See [FAQ 1], and add info about the data sources into the metadata (it’s not searchable if hidden in the README) Read more

talks

Implementing Increased Transparency and Reproducibility in Economics

Published:

Abstract

Replicability is at the core of the scientific enterprise. In the past 30 years, recurring concerns about the extent of replicability (or lack thereof) of the research in various disciplines have surfaced, including in economics. In this talk, I describe the context in which the current discussion in the social science is occurring: what are the definitions of replicability and reproducibility, what is failing, and to what extent. I discuss progess over the past 15 years. Finally, I discuss the concrete measures that have been implemented under my guidance at the American Economic Association, and the first preliminary outcomes from those measures. I conclude with some observations on how to integrate reproducibility into the scientific workflow in the social and statistical sciences. The solutions to these problems will change the way research will be taught and conducted, in economics in particular, and in the social sciences more broadly. The implications affect undergraduate and graduate teaching, research infrastructure, and habits. Read more

Implementing Increased Transparency and Reproducibility in Economics

Published:

(together with cascad)

Abstract

Replicability is at the core of the scientific enterprise. In the past 30 years, recurring concerns about the extent of replicability (or lack thereof) of the research in various disciplines have surfaced, including in economics. In this talk, I describe the context in which the current discussion in the social science is occurring: what are the definitions of replicability and reproducibility, what is failing, and to what extent. I discuss progess over the past 15 years. Finally, I discuss the concrete measures that have been implemented under my guidance at the American Economic Association, and the first preliminary outcomes from those measures. I conclude with some observations on how to integrate reproducibility into the scientific workflow in the social and statistical sciences. The solutions to these problems will change the way research will be taught and conducted, in economics in particular, and in the social sciences more broadly. The implications affect undergraduate and graduate teaching, research infrastructure, and habits. Read more

Implementing Increased Transparency and Reproducibility in Economics

Published:

(together with cascad)

Abstract

Replicability is at the core of the scientific enterprise. In the past 30 years, recurring concerns about the extent of replicability (or lack thereof) of the research in various disciplines have surfaced, including in economics. In this talk, I describe the context in which the current discussion in the social science is occurring: what are the definitions of replicability and reproducibility, what is failing, and to what extent. I discuss progess over the past 15 years. Finally, I discuss the concrete measures that have been implemented under my guidance at the American Economic Association, and the first preliminary outcomes from those measures. I conclude with some observations on how to integrate reproducibility into the scientific workflow in the social and statistical sciences. The solutions to these problems will change the way research will be taught and conducted, in economics in particular, and in the social sciences more broadly. The implications affect undergraduate and graduate teaching, research infrastructure, and habits. Read more

Implementing Increased Transparency and Reproducibility in Economics

Published:

Abstract

Replicability is at the core of the scientific enterprise. In the past 30 years, recurring concerns about the extent of replicability (or lack thereof) of the research in various disciplines have surfaced, including in economics. In this talk, I describe the context in which the current discussion in the social science is occurring: what are the definitions of replicability and reproducibility, what is failing, and to what extent. I discuss progess over the past 15 years. Finally, I discuss the concrete measures that have been implemented under my guidance at the American Economic Association, and the first preliminary outcomes from those measures. I conclude with some observations on how to integrate reproducibility into the scientific workflow in the social and statistical sciences. The solutions to these problems will change the way research will be taught and conducted, in economics in particular, and in the social sciences more broadly. The implications affect undergraduate and graduate teaching, research infrastructure, and habits.

Video

Recording available at the TIER Spring 2020 Webcast site Read more

Implementing Increased Transparency and Reproducibility in Economics

Published:

(with BITSS)

Abstract

Replicability is at the core of the scientific enterprise. In the past 30 years, recurring concerns about the extent of replicability (or lack thereof) of the research in various disciplines have surfaced, including in economics. In this talk, I describe the context in which the current discussion in the social science is occurring: what are the definitions of replicability and reproducibility, what is failing, and to what extent. I discuss progess over the past 15 years. Finally, I discuss the concrete measures that have been implemented under my guidance at the American Economic Association, and the first preliminary outcomes from those measures. I conclude with some observations on how to integrate reproducibility into the scientific workflow in the social and statistical sciences. The solutions to these problems will change the way research will be taught and conducted, in economics in particular, and in the social sciences more broadly. The implications affect undergraduate and graduate teaching, research infrastructure, and habits.

Video

Youtube Video] Read more

Implementing Increased Transparency and Reproducibility in Economics

Published:

(together with BITSS)

Abstract

Replicability is at the core of the scientific enterprise. In the past 30 years, recurring concerns about the extent of replicability (or lack thereof) of the research in various disciplines have surfaced, including in economics. In this talk, I describe the context in which the current discussion in the social science is occurring: what are the definitions of replicability and reproducibility, what is failing, and to what extent. I discuss progess over the past 15 years. Finally, I discuss the concrete measures that have been implemented under my guidance at the American Economic Association, and the first preliminary outcomes from those measures. I conclude with some observations on how to integrate reproducibility into the scientific workflow in the social and statistical sciences. The solutions to these problems will change the way research will be taught and conducted, in economics in particular, and in the social sciences more broadly. The implications affect undergraduate and graduate teaching, research infrastructure, and habits.

Conference website

Read more

Practices for Data Transparency and Reproducibility

Published:

Abstract

Description: Reproducibility and replicability are critical elements of credible scientific research. Data provenance is an important, but often neglected piece of replicability. In particular when data cannot be published, but can be accessed by shared community, properly documenting provenance is essential, but difficult. I report on the experience gathered from nearly 1,000 reproducibility reports, and on the guidance we give to authors in order to provide good-enough data provenance.

Notes

  • RT2 2020 agenda (see also OSF) in Session “Day 4 Data Sharing”
  • Other materials connected to this session
    • See OSF storage
    • Dena Plemmons - Ethics
    • Jen Sturdy - Responsible Open Data
Read more

Practices for Data Transparency and Reproducibility

Published:

Abstract

Description: Reproducibility and replicability are critical elements of credible scientific research. Data provenance is an important, but often neglected piece of replicability. In particular when data cannot be published, but can be accessed by shared community, properly documenting provenance is essential, but difficult. I report on the experience gathered from nearly 1,000 reproducibility reports, and on the guidance we give to authors in order to provide good-enough data provenance.

Notes

  • Shorter Presentation.
Read more

Practices for Data Transparency and Reproducibility

Published:

Abstract

Description: Reproducibility and replicability are critical elements of credible scientific research. Data provenance is an important, but often neglected piece of replicability. In particular when data cannot be published, but can be accessed by shared community, properly documenting provenance is essential, but difficult. I report on the experience gathered from nearly 1,000 reproducibility reports, and on the guidance we give to authors in order to provide good-enough data provenance.

Notes

  • Focus on reproducibility in restricted-access data centers
  • See Data talks page
Read more

Practices for Data Transparency and Reproducibility

Published:

Abstract

Description: Reproducibility and replicability are critical elements of credible scientific research. Data provenance is an important, but often neglected piece of replicability. In particular when data cannot be published, but can be accessed by shared community, properly documenting provenance is essential, but difficult. I report on the experience gathered from nearly 1,000 reproducibility reports, and on the guidance we give to authors in order to provide good-enough data provenance. The Beyond the Numbers 2020 website Beyond 2020 logo has a video recording. Read more

Practices for Data Transparency and Reproducibility

Published:

Abstract

Description: Reproducibility and replicability are critical elements of credible scientific research. Data provenance is an important, but often neglected piece of replicability. In particular when data cannot be published, but can be accessed by shared community, properly documenting provenance is essential, but difficult. I report on the experience gathered from nearly 1,000 reproducibility reports, and on the guidance we give to authors in order to provide good-enough data provenance. Read more