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Research in economics and business studies relies heavily on specialised software for dinsata preparation, econometric analysis, simulation and visualisation. The statistical programming language R is used increasingly often for these tasks, and for good reason: it is free and Open Source. This makes it a natural choice from an Open Science perspective. This article is the first of a two-part series on R for researchers in economics and business studies. This first part outlines what R offers, highlights some key differences from Stata, a widely used but proprietary programme, and points to selected resources that can help with getting started. […]

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Replicating a study doesn’t just put the robustness of scientific findings to the test – researchers also learn something for their own work along the way. In Replication Games, researchers replicate papers together in teams, so everyone benefits directly from one another’s experience and expertise. Lenka Fiala from the Institute for Replication (I4R) presented the format at the Coffee Lecture on Open Science Education – and made clear that it can also be a useful tool for teaching Open Science in economics. On 8 September 2026, the seventh event in the “Coffee Lecture on Open Science Education” series took place. […]

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With Registered Reports (RRs), academic journals review the research question and study design before data is collected. At this stage, they already decide whether the study will be published, regardless of its later results. In this way, RRs – which are becoming increasingly common in the field of economics and business research – help to counteract questionable publication and research practices. In this article, you will learn what an RR is suitable for, where it can be submitted and how to make it a success. Many questionable research practices share a common cause: the incentive structure of the scientific publishing […]

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A README file is a central component of every replication package. Many leading economics journals, including those of the American Economic Association (AEA), and a growing number of business journals require one with every submission. With the right templates and a clear structure, the file can be created without excessive effort. In this post, we explain how best to go about it. A README file serves as a guide to the replication package – the collection of all materials needed to independently follow, reproduce, and replicate the results of an empirical research article. It explains the contents of the package and sets out, step by […]

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Where does replication research stand in economics and business studies and what does a realistic, low-risk entry point for researchers look like? Team members of the new journal Replication Research (R2) explain why Open Science is not about prestige but about good research and offer practical tips for getting started. Replication Research (R2) is a newly founded interdisciplinary diamond open access journal for replication and reproduction studies. The journal welcomes submissions from a wide range of disciplines including management sciences, behavioural economics, and decision making. In this interview, Lukas Röseler, journal manager and editor-in-chief, and senior editors Flávio Azevedo and […]

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Teaching reproducible research methods benefits not only students and lecturers, but also the overall quality of scholarly work. They should therefore be systematically incorporated into the curriculum from the undergraduate level onwards. This argument was put forward by Richard Ball at the sixth “Coffee Lecture on Open Science Education”, where he presented an initiative to integrate reproducibility into teaching in economics, business studies and the social sciences: Project TIER. On April 23, 2026, the sixth event in the series “Coffee Lecture on Open Science Education” took place. Richard Ball, Professor of Economics at Haverford College (USA), used Project TIER (Teaching […]

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Replication, data transparency and documentation may sound abstract and like a compulsory exercise to some, but they offer many advantages for research practice. Communicating Open Science therefore means doing more than simply explaining terms. How its practical benefits for one’s own research can still be conveyed at the end of a long conference day was demonstrated by an Open Science Happy Hour at the VHB conference. How can one talk about documentation, traceability and replicability in a way that goes beyond mere exhortation? At the VHB conference – the annual meeting of the German Academic Association for Business Research – […]

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