Legal research as a collective enterprise: an examination of data availability in empirical legal scholarship

Abigail A. Matthews; Jason Rantanen

doi:10.1093/jleo/ewae001

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Legal research as a collective enterprise: an examination of data availability in empirical legal scholarship

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Legal research as a collective enterprise: an examination of data availability in empirical legal scholarship

Abigail A. Matthews and Jason Rantanen

Journal of law, economics, & organization, Vol.41(2), pp.570-603

07/01/2025

DOI: 10.1093/jleo/ewae001

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Abstract

While most social sciences confronted data sharing, transparency, and reproducibility sometime in the last two decades, the legal academy has largely been absent from these discussions. In this study, we examine the degree to which the information underlying empirical studies is available. Using an original dataset of every empirical study published in top law journals from 2010 to 2022, we find that 15% have a dataset that is readily available. We compare these low rates with a dataset of every empirical article published in the top economics, political science, and interdisciplinary journals from 2018 to 2022. The vast majority of these articles (99%) make their data available. Additional analysis demonstrates that disciplinary norms enforced by journals drive when authors make their data available. Given the discrepancy between law and other social sciences, we advocate for a disciplinary and cultural shift in law that embraces data accessibility and identify concrete steps to improve data availability. (JEL K00, K1, K10)

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Details

Title: Subtitle: Legal research as a collective enterprise: an examination of data availability in empirical legal scholarship
Creators: Abigail A. Matthews - University at Buffalo, State University of New York
Jason Rantanen - University of Iowa, Law Faculty
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Journal of law, economics, & organization, Vol.41(2), pp.570-603
DOI: 10.1093/jleo/ewae001
ISSN: 8756-6222
eISSN: 1465-7341
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Number of pages: 34
Grant note: University of Iowa Law Librarian
Language: English
Electronic publication date: 02/13/2024
Date published: 07/01/2025
Academic Unit: Law Faculty; Central Admin Facilities
Record Identifier: 9984695158802771

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