It is the policy of the IMF Economic Review to publish papers only if the data used in the analysis are clearly and precisely documented and are readily available to any researcher for purposes of replication. Authors of accepted papers that contain empirical work, simulations, or experimental work must provide to the IMF Economic Review, prior to publication, the data, programs, and other details of the computations sufficient to permit replication.
These will be posted on the IMF Economic Review website. The Editor should be notified at the time of submission if the data used in a paper are proprietary or if, for some other reason, the requirements above cannot be met.
As soon as possible after acceptance, authors are expected to send their final manuscript in Word or LaTex format, together with data, programs, and sufficient details to permit replication, in electronic form, to the IMF_ER@imf.org, indicating the manuscript number. Questions regarding any aspect of this policy should be forwarded to the Editor at IMF_ER@imf.org.
The minimum requirement should include the data set(s) and programs used to run the final models, plus a description of how previous intermediate data sets and programs were employed to create the final data set(s). Authors are invited to submit these intermediate data files and programs as an option; if they are not provided, authors must fully cooperate with investigators seeking to conduct a replication who request them. The data files and programs can be provided in any format using any statistical package or software. Authors must provide a Readme PDF file listing all included files and documenting the purpose and format of each file provided, as well as instructing a user on how replication can be conducted.
If a request for an exemption based on proprietary data is made, authors should inform the Editors if the data can be accessed or obtained in some other way by independent researchers for purposes of replication. Authors are also asked to provide information on how the proprietary data can be obtained by others in their Readme PDF file. A copy of the programs used to create the final results is still required.
