Science has become more open and more transparent. Through open data and materials, many published findings are now directly reproducible by other researchers. Most of the advances in research transparency, however, have focussed on quantitative modes of inquiry.

In 2018, The Qualitative Data Repository (QDR), Cambridge University Press (the Press), and the open-source software maker Hypothesis launched Annotation for Transparent Inquiry (ATI) to facilitate transparency in qualitative research. ATI allows scholars to “annotate” specific passages in an article with additional information explaining how they generated and analysed their data, along with links to a wide variety of underlying data sources. These annotations are displayed alongside their articles on the publisher’s website, with pinpoint linking to the relevant sections of text. By connecting data directly to relevant sections of text, ATI reflects the way evidence is used in much of qualitative research and helps make such works more transparent. 

To date, more than 20 articles have been published with ATI, the majority by the Press. However, a lot of qualitative research is not published in articles but in books, both monographs and edited volumes. Books pose particular challenges for a digital technology like ATI: they are still frequently read in paper copy and ebook formats vary greatly. We are therefore proud and excited that the Press has released the first ever book using ATI: Constitution Makers on Constitution Making: New Cases, edited by Tom Ginsburg and Sumit Bisarya. 

The book provides a novel angle on constitution-making, a topic of an increasingly rich scholarly  literature. The individual authors were participants in some of the most high profile constitution-making processes in recent years, including South Africa, Kenya, Tunisia and Nepal. Their chapters describe these major events from an inside perspective, providing new insights and informing broader theory.

In close collaboration, editor Tom Ginsburg, the book’s contributors, and the Qualitative Data Repository created ATI annotations for all seven case study chapters in the book. Annotations provide additional background about legislative history as well as links to key documents such as peace agreements, constitutional drafts, court cases,  and important legislation. Researchers interested in accessing these primary sources can do so seamlessly. ATI thus allows readers of Constitution Makers to immerse themselves more fully in its case studies.  

On a technical level, ATI benefits from the Cambridge Core platform, which integrates ebooks and journal articles on a single publishing platform: ATI annotations are visible alongside the published chapters on Cambridge Core. In addition, readers can view a list of all annotations per chapter on QDR, e.g., to read alongside a print copy of the book.