Research Transparency Is on the Rise in Economics

• DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20201077
• Publication Date: 2020-05-15T12:11:31Z
• Authors: Nicholas Swanson; Garret Christensen; Rebecca Littman; David Birke; Edward Miguel; Elizabeth Levy Pa...; Zenan Wang
• Keywords: 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine

This study provides a first assessment of awareness of, attitudes toward, perceived norms regarding, and adoption of open science practices within a broadly representative sample of active economics researchers. We observe a steep increase in adoption over the last decade, with an accelerating trend: as of 2017, 93 percent of economists had used at least one such practice--including posting data, sharing study materials, and study pre-registration--rising from 33 percent a decade earlier. We document extensive variation in adoption across economics subfields. Notably, most economists appear to underestimate the trend toward research transparency in the discipline.