The Yale Application for Research Data (YARD) is an open-source web application developed by the Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS) at Yale University to enhance the transparency, reproducibility, and long-term usability of social science research. Designed primarily for randomized trials, YARD structures the data curation and code review workflow, enabling researchers to upload files for pre-publication review and deposit them into the ISPS Data Archive.

The platform supports curators in replicating analyses, validating results, and ensuring that research outputs are well-documented and free of personally identifiable information. YARD facilitates the creation of high-quality, repository-agnostic data packages that can be ingested into any archive. Developed in partnership with Innovations for Poverty Action and Colectica, and supported by Yale’s IT and library services, YARD connects researchers, curators, and publishers through a unified pipeline. It is currently deployed on Yale infrastructure and tailored for use by ISPS affiliates.

In this video, YARD Software Development PI Limor Peer PhD, describes the tool and its uses.