Enabling reproducible research in past networks: A data documentation framework

Abstract

This article addresses a significant challenge hindering large-scale research into past human social networks: the lack of structured and standardised documentation for published network data, alongside inconsistent community-wide adoption of such practices. Although the community of practitioners applying network analysis to historical and archaeological sources remains small and the corpus of available network datasets is still limited, there is a clear demand for shared infrastructural resources, which are increasingly viewed as essential to sustaining and scaling the field. To overcome these obstacles, the authors propose a formulation of past network data standards that reflect current usage and identify missing components to achieve best practices while adhering to the FAIR and LOUD principles of Open Science. The proposed standards aim to enhance understanding of data provenance, licensing, and feasibility for specific research scenarios, while also promoting reproducibility and facilitating the automation of data reuse for large-scale comparative studies. Additionally, the Past Networks Repository