bEcon publications are organized into four main categories: the impacts of genetically engineered crops on farms, on consumers, on industries/sectors, and on international trade. A small but growing set of studies addresses the costs of regulations, which is a particularly significant issue for transgenic crops. This category is grouped under the topic of industry impact.

All papers included in bEcon meet well-established criteria. In general, they must:

• focus on transgenic crops in non-industrialized agriculture, including at least one developing economies
• be peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and published conference proceedings. Technical reports, working papers, and discussion papers are considered if there is some indication of peer review.

bEcon does not consider:

• papers focusing on crop biotechnologies other than transgenic crops, such as tissue culture
• papers in progress and papers accepted for presentation at conferences but not yet accepted for publication
• papers published by local, state, or national governments, as well as by private organizations and nongovernmental organizations, unless they have been peer reviewed
• purely theoretical studies, conceptual papers, or critical essays.