Canadian
Journal of
Economics
 
Revue
canadienne
d'économique

Data Availability Policy

The CJE has now implemented the data availability policy first introduced by the American Economic Review in 2005, and since adopted by the top general interest journals in economics. This policy applies to all new submissions, effective January 1, 2008. We thank the AER for their leadership in this area, especially in establishing the main details and procedures of implementing such a policy. With the exception of our qualification concerning data from Statistics Canada, our policy exactly follows that of the AER.

It is CJE policy to publish papers only if the data used in the analysis are clearly and precisely documented, and are readily available to any researcher for purposes of replication. Authors of accepted papers that contain empirical work, simulations, or experimental work must provide to the CJE, prior to publication, the data, programs, and other details of the computations sufficient to permit replication. These will be posted on the CJE web site. The managing editor should be notified at the time of submission if the data used in a paper are proprietary or if, for some other reason, the requirements above cannot be met.

As soon as possible after acceptance, authors are expected to send their data, programs, and sufficient documentation to permit replication, in electronic form, to the CJE office. Please send the files via e-mail to Olivier Lebert (journals@economics.ca), indicating the manuscript number. Questions regarding any aspect of this policy should be forwarded to the managing editor.

For econometric and simulation papers, the minimum requirement is that the archive includes the data set(s) and programs used to run the final models, plus a description of how previous intermediate data sets and programs were employed to create the final data set(s). Authors are invited to submit these intermediate data files and programs as an option; if they are not provided, authors must fully cooperate with investigators seeking to conduct a replication who request them. The data files and programs can be provided in any format using any statistical package or software. Authors must provide a Readme PDF file listing all included files and documenting the purpose and format of each file provided, as well as instructing a user on how replication can be conducted.

If some or all of the data are proprietary (as is the case with Statistics Canada data not in the public domain), and an exemption from this requirement has been approved by the managing editor, authors must still provide a copy of the complete set of programs used to create the final results. We require this because the criterion for exemption from the data availability policy is that other investigators can, in principle, obtain the data independently. The programs and documentation need to be sufficiently complete that after a researcher obtains access to the data (e.g., at a Statistics Canada Research Data Center, or through the Stats Canada Data Liberation Initiative) the researcher can create the final set of results. These authors must also provide in their Readme PDF file details of how the proprietary data can be obtained by others.

For experimental papers, we have a more detailed policy, including requirements for submitted papers as well as accepted papers. We normally expect authors of experimental articles to supply the following supplementary materials (any exceptions to this policy should be requested at the time of submission):

1. The original instructions. These should be summarized as part of the discussion of experimental design in the submitted manuscript, and also provided in full as an appendix at the time of submission. The instructions should be presented in a way that, together with the design summary, conveys the protocol clearly enough that the design could be replicated by a reasonably skilled experimentalist. For example, if different instructions were used for different sessions, the correspondence should be indicated.
2. Information about subject eligibility or selection, such as exclusions based on past participation in experiments, college major, etc. This should be summarized as part of the discussion of experimental design in the submitted manuscript.
3. Any computer programs, configuration files, or scripts used to run the experiment and/or to analyze the data. These should be summarized as appropriate in the submitted manuscript and provided in full as an appendix when the final version of a manuscript is sent in. (Data summaries, intermediate results, and advice about how to use the programs are welcome, but not required.)
4. The raw data from the experiment. These should be summarized as appropriate in the submitted manuscript and provided in full as an appendix when the final version of an accepted manuscript is sent in, with sufficient explanation to make it possible to use the submitted computer programs to replicate the data analysis.

Other information, such as applications to Institutional Review Boards, consent forms, or Web signup and disclosure forms, is not required or expected. If it desired to make this kind of information public, it should be posted on laboratory or authors' Web sites.

If the paper is accepted by the CJE, the appendices containing instructions, the computer programs, configuration files, or scripts used to run the experiment and/or analyze the data, and the raw data will normally be archived on the CJE web site when the paper appears.

Please create a ZIP file containing the following:

• A PDF-formatted "Read Me" file (clearly labeled, for example, Readme.pdf) that contains a list of all the files in the archive, and a "user guide" for the types of files and how to use them to do replication. Authors should explain which programs generate each main set of results, e.g., Table 1, Table 2, Figure 1, etc.
• The dataset used to create the final set of results. You do not need to provide intermediate data sets, or the programs used to construct the final version of the data, as long as the final data are provided. Of course, authors should provide a detailed description of the procedures and programs used to go from the original data to the final variables included in the "final" data set.
• Clearly labeled programs that generate the final published results.
• The programs and data sets can be in any format or statistical software. Certainly, it is helpful if the format is readily usable by other researchers.
• If the data are proprietary (e.g., from Statistics Canada), and an exemption for providing the data has been granted by the editor, then the "readme" file should provide sufficient documentation that a researcher can start with the publicly available data sets, and using the programs supplied, generate the final set of results. In this case, the author(s) must provide the complete set of intermediate programs (and associated documentation). If the data are not publicly available (e.g., from an RDC), then the documentation should also include detailed instructions on how to obtain access to the data.
• The resulting ZIP archive file should be sent to the CJE office, and given a clear name "MSXXXXX_Data.zip."

© 2002-2010 Canadian Economics Association (URL: http://cje.economics.ca/). The CJE web pages are maintained by Werner Antweiler at UBC. Pages created by James Brander, Monica Zhang, and Werner Antweiler. French translations by Isabelle Desroches and Olivier Lebert. E-mail: journals@economics.ca.