Authors of empirical papers will be required to submit files for replication purposes to https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataverse/ps/ prior to the publication of manuscripts. These replication files must reproduce the findings in the manuscript with limited intervention by the end user. Someone accessing these files should be able to open the replication script in the program that you used, run the script without modification, and produce your results. Any add-on software libraries or packages (e.g., user-installed libraries for R or Stata) that are required to reproduce the manuscript’s results must be clearly indicated in a README file and/or referenced in the replication code, including instructions about how to obtain this software.Failure to adhere to these guidelines, unless explicitly agreed to by the editorial team, will result in a withdrawal of acceptance. If you believe you cannot comply with the data policy, clearly indicate your request for an exemption in your cover letter upon submissions. Note that exemption requests will be handled on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the editorial team.

Authors should upload to Dataverse:

1. The data set(s) that formed the basis of the research
2. Well documented code that will produce results from the article and online appendices (placed in the order that the results appear in the manuscript)
3. A log or results file that displays the results produced by running the code
4. A README file that includes descriptions of the other files, any variables used in the analysis and a description of intermediate data sets or programs used to create the final results. The data files and code can be provided in any format using any statistical package or software. The README file must include a list of add-on libraries or packages that are necessary to execute the code and how these libraries/packages can be obtained.

Note: To facilitate replication, we require access to any software the author used to produce the results. We have access to some proprietary statistical analysis software (including Stata, R/RStudio, SPSS, and Excel), but if we do not have access, it is the author’s responsibility to provide us with any software needed to reproduce their results. Note that the editorial team does not have access to SAS, EViews, and Limdep.

There may be occasions when the author is unable to comply due to data embargoes or privacy concerns. These cases will be handled individually and the rationale for the inability to provide the replication files must be included in the cover letter at the time of submission. We recognize that it may be necessary to de-identify some datasets by removing some demographic and other indicators. Authors are asked to provide information on how proprietary data can be obtained by others in their README file. In all cases, a copy of the code used to create the final results is still required. To encourage qualitative scholars to make their research transparent and accessible, we request authors to archive relevant evidence and research protocols where possible. The editors recognize reproduction standards in qualitative research are under discussion, and authors who are unsure about the nature of the evidence required can contact the editors for clarification. Appropriate embargo periods for both quantitative and qualitative research materials will be negotiated with authors where reasons for embargo are consistent with existing guidelines. The data should be referenced using the DOI (from Dataverse) in the references section of the manuscript and should be cited in the text. For additional instructions on how to upload a dataset, see PS Dataverse instructions.