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Frequently asked questions about IDEAS

Check out also the tutorials! There is also a help file.
What is the difference between IDEAS and RePEc?
RePEc is a way of organizing primary data about working papers and journal articles, through a protocol called ReDIF. IDEAS is one way to use the data collected under this protocol to make the information available to the general public.

What is the difference between IDEAS and WoPEc?
WoPEc is an initiative that collects information about working papers available on the Internet. WoPEc is included in IDEAS. WoPEc is now defunct.

What is the difference between IDEAS and BibEc?
BibEc is an initiative that collects information about printed working papers. BibEc is included in IDEAS. BibEc is now defunct.

What is the difference between IDEAS and EconPapers?
EconPapers is a service similar to IDEAS with roughly the same coverage. EconPapers and IDEAS enjoy a healthy competition.

What is the difference between IDEAS and EconWPA/MPRA?
EconWPA is an economics working paper archive that contains downloadable papers. This service is now defunct and the Munich Personal RePEc Archive (MPRA) has taken over its operations. IDEAS contains only information about papers, not the papers themselves (but links to online papers). Information about EconWPA and MPRA papers is available through IDEAS.

What is the difference between IDEAS and NEP?
NEP (New Economics Papers) is a new and free awareness service based on RePEc, just as IDEAS is. While IDEAS shows you all what is currently in RePEc, NEP tells you what is new. NEP sends you regularly email of new papers in various subject fields. There are direct links to the full papers on the sites of the providers.
What is the difference between IDEAS and ERN/SSRN?
ERN, the Economics Research Network, is a commercial service that disseminates information about working papers in some economics fields. ERN uses mostly mailing lists, but information is also available through their web site. ERN downloads papers and makes them available through the ERN website. This service is currently free but will be fee based in the future. IDEAS, however, is free and will remain so. Furthermore, online papers are not at IDEAS, but on the sites of the original providers, giving them more control. Finally, IDEAS is much, much larger than ERN.

How does IDEAS work and where does it get all the papers from?
The holders of the primary information are the archives participating in RePEc. On their http or ftp server are files with all the bibliographic information they want to supply. A program fetches these files if they have changed since the last update, incorporates them in the central database and then creates the html files for display on the web. Then, a search index is created by Excite to allow you to search by keywords. IDEAS does not get any paper, only the bibliographic information about it, including relvant links.

How and how frequently is the database updated?
In principle every night (US time), barring crashes and accidents. The index for the search is updated once a week (Sundays) and the JEL tree once a week (Sundays as well). But, of course, it also depends on how often the primary archives update their data.

How do I get my working paper series listed here?
So you want to become an archive contributing to RePEc? Check out the easy step-by-step instructions! Also various useful documents are available for prospective and current archive maintainers.

My working paper series is already in IDEAS and EconPapers, why would I want to join RePEc?
Some working papers series have been indexed in the past by a series of volunteers, notably José Barrueco, Thomas Krichel, Victor Lyapunov, Féthy Mili and Sergei Parinov. These people have now better things to do. By joining RePEc, you have full control of the information about your papers, and the changes you make are timely propagated through the databases.

How can I provide a service similar (or different) to IDEAS?
IDEAS is just an example on how to use RePEc data. You may want to do it differently: different layout, selection or way of dissemination. A guide to getting the basic ReDIF data is available.

How can I advertise IDEAS?
One way is to display the logo. Here is an example code: <IMG SRC=http://ideas.repec.org/ideas.gif WIDTH=290 HEIGHT=160 ALT=IDEAS> which looks like this: IDEAS, or, for a smaller image, <IMG SRC=http://ideas.repec.org/ideas.gif WIDTH=145 HEIGHT=80 ALT=IDEAS> which looks like this: IDEAS. You may also want to include a more explicit add: <TABLE width="75%" BORDER=2><TR><TD> <B><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica" COLOR=#ff0000> <A HREF=http://ideas.repec.org/><IMG SRC=http://ideas.repec.org/ideas.gif WIDTH=145 HEIGHT=80 ALT=IDEAS></A> <P> If you are interested in Economics research, have a look at this new and free dissemination service! Already over 550'000 working papers articles from over a thousand series are available. And an easy address to remember: <A HREF=http://ideas.repec.org/>http://ideas.repec.org</A>! </FONT></TD></TR></TABLE> which looks like this:
IDEAS

If you are interested in Economics research, have a look at this new and free dissemination service! Already 550'000 working papers and articles from over a thousand series are available. And an easy address to remember: http://ideas.repec.org!

Can I advertise on IDEAS?
No! IDEAS is running on material and software purchased at educational prices which prohibits us to do anything commercial with it.

What is this "handle" each paper has?
Each paper is given a handle, for example "RePEc:cre:crefwp:30". This says, the information is provided by the "RePEc" system through the "cre" archive, which lists information about the series "crefwp", and the paper number is "30". The handle can be used for referencing.

Comments to Christian Zimmermann