A template README for social science replication packages

Lars Vilhuber, Connolly, Marie, Koren, Miklós, Llull, Joan, and Morrow, Peter

November 2022

Abstract

The typical README in social science journals serves the purpose of guiding a reader through the available material and a route to replicating the results in the research paper, including the description of the origins of data and/or description of programs. As such, a good README file should first provide a brief overview of the available material and a brief guide as to how to proceed from beginning to end, before then diving into the specifics. These template files structure such a README in a way that is compliant with the typical data and code workflow in the social sciences.

Koren, Miklós, Connolly, Marie, Lull, Joan, & Vilhuber, Lars. (2022). Data and Code Availability Standard (1.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7436134