RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) - Short Review

Product Overview: RePEc (Research Papers in Economics)

Introduction

RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) is a comprehensive, volunteer-driven initiative designed to enhance the dissemination of research in economics and related disciplines. It is the world’s largest collection of scholarly information in economics, facilitating scholarly communication and making research more accessible to both authors and readers.

Key Features

Decentralized Archive

RePEc operates as a decentralized network where each participating institution (e.g., economics departments, research institutes, central banks) maintains its own archive of bibliographic text files describing their publications. This decentralized approach allows institutions to have complete control over their materials, with changes to archives automatically reflected in RePEc services without manual intervention.

Extensive Database

The RePEc database is vast, containing:

• Bibliographic information on over 100,000 working papers published by institutions and individuals.
• Bibliographic citations for 55,000 articles from leading journals in the discipline.
• Information on over 4,000 individual professionals, including their contact details and associated publications.
• Data on 6,000 institutions, such as economics departments, research institutes, and governmental organizations.
• Over 800 software descriptions and programs.

Access and Services

RePEc data is accessible through various web-based services, including:

• IDEAS (http://ideas.repec.org): A comprehensive search and browse service.
• EconPapers (http://econpapers.repec.org): Another search and browse service with features like abstract pages and a “share” button.
• NEP (New Economics Papers, http://nep.repec.org): Provides subject-specific current awareness email lists.
• LogEc: Logs usage of RePEc data and generates access statistics for authors, papers, and institutional providers.

Author and Institution Participation

Authors can create a profile through the RePEc Author Service, linking their indexed works and receiving notifications about citations and the visibility of their works. Institutions can increase the visibility of their working papers, track their researchers’ publications, and use metrics to evaluate impact.

Data Utilization

The data assembled by RePEc can be used for various purposes, including:

• Academic research.
• Tracking the publication of working papers.
• Adding metrics to a website.
• Evaluating researchers or institutions.
• Accessing data through an API for specific needs, such as getting bibliographic references, author information, or publication data.

Additional Tools and Features

• CitEc Project: Provides automated citation analysis from full-text documents and will eventually offer a full click-through citation index.
• RSS Feeds: Available for new citations, specific articles, papers, series, and journals.
• User Contributions: Scripts and tools, such as RePEcfb (a Facebook application), that enhance the user experience and functionality of RePEc services.

Functionality

Metadata and Syntax

RePEc uses a simple but rigorous machine-readable syntax for the metadata files. These files are typically in ReDIF (Research Documents in Economics Format) and can be automatically mirrored and made available to the public on various RePEc websites.

Technical Setup

Institutions can set up their RePEc archive by following step-by-step instructions, which include setting up the necessary metadata for working papers, journal articles, books, chapters, and software. The archive files must adhere to strict directory structure rules to ensure proper mirroring and display.

Community Collaboration

RePEc collaborates with other initiatives through the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) to disseminate publications in economics and related disciplines to a broader scholarly community. It also involves thousands of people and organizations contributing data, a core team managing the system, and sponsor organizations providing infrastructure.

In summary, RePEc is a powerful tool for economists, researchers, and institutions, offering a vast repository of economic literature, robust search and access services, and tools for enhancing scholarly communication and research visibility.