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A study of the impact of data sharing on article citations using journal policies as a natural experiment

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  • Christensen, Garret
  • Dafoe, Allan
  • Miguel, Edward
  • Moore, Don A
  • Rose, Andrew K

Abstract

This study estimates the effect of data sharing on the citations of academic articles, using journal policies as a natural experiment. We begin by examining 17 high-impact journals that have adopted the requirement that data from published articles be publicly posted. We match these 17 journals to 13 journals without policy changes and find that empirical articles published just before their change in editorial policy have citation rates with no statistically significant difference from those published shortly after the shift. We then ask whether this null result stems from poor compliance with data sharing policies, and use the data sharing policy changes as instrumental variables to examine more closely two leading journals in economics and political science with relatively strong enforcement of new data policies. We find that articles that make their data available receive 97 additional citations (estimate standard error of 34). We conclude that: a) authors who share data may be rewarded eventually with additional scholarly citations, and b) data-posting policies alone do not increase the impact of articles published in a journal unless those policies are enforced.

Suggested Citation

  • Christensen, Garret & Dafoe, Allan & Miguel, Edward & Moore, Don A & Rose, Andrew K, 2019. "A study of the impact of data sharing on article citations using journal policies as a natural experiment," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt3vx87730, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:econwp:qt3vx87730
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    Cited by:

    1. Lukas Fink & Jan Marcus, 2025. "Replication code availability over time and across fields: Evidence from the German Socio‐Economic Panel," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 63(2), pages 357-386, April.
    2. Abel Brodeur & Nikolai M. Cook & Jonathan S. Hartley & Anthony Heyes, 2024. "Do Preregistration and Preanalysis Plans Reduce p-Hacking and Publication Bias? Evidence from 15,992 Test Statistics and Suggestions for Improvement," Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(3), pages 527-561.
    3. Edward Miguel, 2021. "Evidence on Research Transparency in Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(3), pages 193-214, Summer.
    4. Abel Brodeur & Nikolai Cook & Carina Neisser, 2024. "p-Hacking, Data type and Data-Sharing Policy," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 134(659), pages 985-1018.
    5. Qianjin Zong & Zhihong Huang & Jiaru Huang, 2023. "Do open science badges work? Estimating the effects of open science badges on an article’s social media attention and research impacts," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(6), pages 3627-3648, June.
    6. Joel Ferguson & Rebecca Littman & Garret Christensen & Elizabeth Levy Paluck & Nicholas Swanson & Zenan Wang & Edward Miguel & David Birke & John-Henry Pezzuto, 2023. "Survey of open science practices and attitudes in the social sciences," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.
    7. Troy J. Bouffard & Ekaterina Uryupova & Klaus Dodds & Vladimir E. Romanovsky & Alec P. Bennett & Dmitry Streletskiy, 2021. "Scientific Cooperation: Supporting Circumpolar Permafrost Monitoring and Data Sharing," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-17, June.
    8. Brian Jackson, 2021. "Open Data Policies among Library and Information Science Journals," Publications, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-12, June.
    9. Kwon, Seokbeom, 2025. "Competition or diversion? Effect of public sharing of data on research productivity of data provider," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(9).
    10. Zohid Askarov & Anthony Doucouli & Hristos Doucouli & T D Stanley, 2023. "The Significance of Data-Sharing Policy," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 21(3), pages 1191-1226.
    11. Brodeur, Abel & Cook, Nikolai & Hartley, Jonathan & Heyes, Anthony, 2022. "Do Pre-Registration and Pre-analysis Plans Reduce p-Hacking and Publication Bias?," MetaArXiv uxf39, Center for Open Science.
    12. Christophe Hurlin & Jean-Edouard Colliard & Christophe Pérignon, 2024. "The Economics of Computational Reproducibility," Working Papers hal-04759240, HAL.
    13. Liwei Zhang & Liang Ma, 2021. "Does open data boost journal impact: evidence from Chinese economics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(4), pages 3393-3419, April.
    14. Aguinis, Herman & Banks, George C. & Rogelberg, Steven G. & Cascio, Wayne F., 2020. "Actionable recommendations for narrowing the science-practice gap in open science," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 27-35.
    15. Barbara McGillivray & Paola Marongiu & Nilo Pedrazzini & Marton Ribary & Mandy Wigdorowitz & Eleonora Zordan, 2022. "Deep Impact: A Study on the Impact of Data Papers and Datasets in the Humanities and Social Sciences," Publications, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-40, October.

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