Russian data no longer included in CPF

Starting with CPF 2.0, the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) data are no longer included in the CPF harmonized cross-country dataset (for an unspecified time).

This decision is a direct response to the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022—a brutal act of aggression that constitutes a grave violation of international law and human rights. We support Ukraine and condemn authoritarian violence that targets civilians and suppresses democratic freedoms. In line with international academic principles and ethical responsibility, we have chosen not to include data from the Russian Federation in CPF’s collaborative scientific infrastructure. This applies irrespective of where the data are used or by whom.

The decision aligns with the policies of Tilburg University and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), which suggest suspending any collaborations with Russian institutions. Note that CPF does not formally collaborate with any of the data organizations; it only provides code to make analyses possible. It also aligns with broader policies around the democratic world that impose sanctions on Russian institutions and exclude Russia from international networks and systems.

We do not make any personal objectives against the people engaged in the RLMS project or scholars using the data. We acknowledge that RLMS provides quality data about Russian society, which can be used for valid scientific purposes. However, RLMS remains closely linked to the Russian universities, research institutes, and governmental financing. As a statement of objection against the Russian state, we do not want CPF to be associated with or legitimise research infrastructures that are embedded in, or dependent upon, authoritarian systems that actively undermine peace, democracy, and international cooperation.

The Comparative Panel File is an open science project grounded in the values of transparency, peaceful cooperation, and solidarity among nations. While RLMS data remain technically supported within the CPF codebase for legacy purposes, they are no longer part of the default configuration and will not be updated beyond CPF version 1.5 (based on data up to 2021). Users who wish to include RLMS data for valid academic purposes may do so by manually modifying the survey selection parameters in the configuration files.

The CPF 2.0 release continues to provide comprehensive harmonized panel data from Australia (HILDA), Korea (KLIPS), United States (PSID), Switzerland (SHP), Germany (SOEP), United Kingdom (UKHLS), and the Netherlands (LISS).