RePEc / IDEAS
The volunteer-built open bibliography of economics — with IDEAS as its main front door.
At a Glance
- Publisher
- The RePEc collaboration; IDEAS hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
- Coverage
4M+ items including working papers, journal articles, books, and software, with author rankings and citation data via CitEc (verify current counts).
- Access
Free and open; author registration via RePEc Author Service; open data.
- Free alternative
- It is free; EconLit for the curated subscription index.
- Regional
Global; strong coverage of economics working-paper series worldwide.
Our Take
RePEc is a decentralised, volunteer-run bibliography that punches far above its weight in economics — its great strength is working papers, the pre-publication series where economics actually circulates its newest results, indexed here months or years before journal publication. Front-ended by IDEAS, it adds author rankings, citation data, and download metrics that the field watches closely. Because it is community-maintained and self-archived, metadata quality varies and coverage is uneven outside economics. Use it to catch working papers early and to gauge author and paper impact in economics; pair with EconLit for curated journal coverage.
Power Tips
- Search here first for working papers — economics circulates results in NBER, CEPR, and IZA series long before journal publication.
- Use IDEAS author profiles and rankings, but read them as engagement and download signals, not definitive impact.
- Cross-check a working paper against its later published version before citing.
Alternatives & Complements
EconLit, SSRN, NBER, Google Scholar
Figures last verified: June 15, 2026