About the AEA RCT Registry

The American Economic Association maintains a registry for randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The AEA RCT Registry allows investigators to share their work with collaborators, other scholars, students, and the general public by providing links to survey instruments, experimental findings, and experimental protocols.  

Registration is free and requires a minimal amount of information, allowing for amendments and additional material, such as reports, articles, data, and code, to be provided at any point during the life of the study.  Version history is maintained.

Select fields can be hidden/embargoed until the trial is completed so as to not influence survey respondents while the survey is in the field. In addition, confidential documents may be stored, which will not be shared without the authorization of the principal investigator (PI).

At appropriate points in the trial's lifecycle, reminders are provided to the PI to update the registration of an RCT. For example, the submitted end date will trigger an email asking the PI to enter post-trial information. If the trial has been extended, the PI can update the trial with the new end date.

It is the policy of the AEA journals that all work involving field experiments must be registered prior to submission for publication. (Laboratory experiments do not need to be registered at this time.) Researchers may register during any phase of the trial—forthcoming, ongoing, or completed—but are encouraged to register early.  

Authors of papers using randomized controlled trials should include a self-reference using the following format: Author Names. Year. "Title." AEA RCT Registry. Month Day. DOI.