Research Data and Code Disclosure

Pursuing CGD’s goal of providing independent research and practical ideas for global prosperity often involves making recommendations based on original statistical analysis. We believe that research that takes on a public role, such as becoming the basis for public policy decisions, should be transparent about its data and methods. Our policy, adopted in August 2011, is that the full details of these analyses should be publicly shared. The original data and all computer code needed to prepare and perform an analysis should be posted on our website in an accessible form so that others can understand and replicate our results.

Setting a high standard for data disclosure helps us meet the gold standard of scientific research: replicability. It also makes our research more credible and subject to fine-tuning through public examination.

There will be times when full disclosure of data will not be possible, as a result of confidentiality requirements, commercial ownership, or other professional costs of disclosure. In such cases, the reason for not disclosing data will be made public.

More details of the policy and the thought behind it can be found here (PDF).

You can find the CGD Dataverse here.