Whether you are building a web page, writing a blog post, posting on Facebook or tweeting, as an economist engaged in discussing research on the field, you have to cite relevant sources. To do so, one is tempted to link directly to where said research is to be found: on a personal homepage, on a publisher’s website, or to the pdf file in a working paper series. I want to argue that this is not the best tactic. It is better to link to the abstract page for these research pieces on IDEAS or EconPapers. Why?
- RePEc links are stable. Homepages disappear, publishers and institutions reorganize their websites, but RePEc services have committed to never change their URLs, as they are formed from persistent identifiers. And on the rare occasion that those change, IDEAS and EconPapers offer suggestions on the 404 page where to find the paper.
- RePEc shows other versions. The reader may not be able to read the particular version of the paper that is linked to a gated website. RePEc services often offer alternative versions of the article such as a freely available working paper.
- RePEc provides related literature. The abstract page offers links to referred and cited works, to author profiles, and other related material.
- RePEc rewards linked authors. Getting cited on the Internet, even if it is with a popular blogger or a major newspaper, does not offer any quantifiable rewards to the authors. With a RePEc link, though, hits and downloads will counts towards authors rankings. Authors will be grateful for that.
NB: Linking to the URLs disseminated by NEP is fine, too, although only the last point is valid in that case.
PS: For blogs, the posts linking to RePEc abstract pages will be featured on EconAcademics.
Posted by Christian Zimmermann 
The RePEc Blog 