ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT? Juan Non-Volokh observes, "I have no reason to believe that academics, as a class, are substantially less prone to sloppiness or deception than people at large. I do not mean to suggest that most academics are scoundrels. Rather, given the number of academic researchers, even a relatively small proportion of incompetent, lazy, or dishonest researchers would produce a large corpus of bad research. Thus, I find it hard to believe that for every Bellesiles that is uncovered, there may be dozens who remain undetected." Quite possible, given how unimportant replication of results is compared to the production of new results. Also quite possible, given that referees almost never ask for the research notes or computer output. That's all up to the honesty of the writer. And an editor who is familiar enough with the data base, as this one is (an economics editor at that), is an exceedingly diligent editor. It would be easier to simply say, "I don't believe it," and reject the paper.

There is a great deal of useful information about academic publishing, particularly involving the law reviews, at Volokh Conspiracy today.