Is it possible to count the earth's population from outer space? The answer is yes, in urban areas it is possible. However, this can only be done in an indirect manner: by identifying physical objects in the urban landscape in earth observation data and using these to estimate the number of...

This paper investigates how scientists decide whether to share information with their colleagues or not. Detailed data on the decisions of 1,694 bio-scientists allow to detect similarities and differences between academia-based and industry-based scientists. Arguments from social capital theory...

With the development of household budget systems and with regard to the requirements of the European Union with new EU-SILC approaches, the cumulation of cross-section surveys to an integrated information system is recently discussed and required. In particular the reconstruction of household...

This report investigates whether information collected by large commercial companies about their customers might have value to the UK's Office for National Statistics. ONS's focus is on information which may improve: Population Estimates: providing evidence of current numbers and types of...

Since 2005, the German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB) has offered a successful Digital Object Identifier (DOI) registration service for persistent identification of research data. In 2009, TIB, the British Library, the Library of the ETH Zurich, the French Institute for...

In 1999 the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) appointed a commission to examine the informational infrastructure in Germany and to make proposals for its improvement. The central objective was to improve the cooperation between the scientific community and official...

Just over a quarter century ago, Edward Leamer (1983) reflected on the state of empirical work in economics. He urged empirical researchers to “take the con out of econometrics” and memorably observed (p. 37): “Hardly anyone takes data analysis seriously. Or perhaps more accurately, hardly...

Social scientists have long virtually ignored the biological constraints of human behavior. Yet if the prediction of behavior is considered essential to a social science, neglecting any variable that might influence human behavior is unacceptable. This paper provides examples of important...

Behavioral scientists routinely publish broad claims about human psychology and behavior in the world's top journals based on samples drawn entirely from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic (WEIRD) societies. Researchers - often implicitly - assume that either there is little...

This paper concentrates on the trends in peer-reviewed longitudinal panel studies under scientific direction. Household panel studies have succeeded in broadening their disciplinary scope. Numerous innovations such as questions dealing with psychological concepts, and age-specific topical...