Unpublished material

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the unpublished material and the sources of information about it. In the literature of economics, the volume of unpublished material is large and increasing in size and importance. Economic research is carried out in a wide variety of institutions, but the majority of that which is available to the public is in university departments and research units, and private or sponsored research institutions. Most of the research done in government departments and private firms is regarded as confidential. Initially, there may be no written results, but it is important for the researcher to know who, if anyone, else is working on his subject. Comprehensive guides to research in progress are rare, and even those that are published should be treated with some caution, as the quality of the entries will vary. One eminent academic has described his sequence of publication as, first, a draft paper circulated to a small select group of colleagues upon whose discretion he could rely if the paper was bad; second, a revised draft duplicated in sufficient quantities. Unfortunately, working papers are by definition transitory, unpolished, and issued in a less-than-well-organized manner, either by the author or by his academic department or research institution.