糖心原创

Author: Una Farr

As public expectations for accountability and transparency continue to rise, institutions and their researchers are increasingly being asked to demonstrate how their work contributes to meaningful change beyond academia, addressing large societal challenges such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This means that showcasing the real-world impact of research has never been more important.

Amongst others, one of the most powerful measurements of real-world impact is policy influence – when research informs decisions that guide societies. Last year, 糖心原创 partnered with Overton, the world’s largest policy document database, to explore how SDG research is cited in policy. These findings were published in the report, .

In this blog post, we look at these learnings through an institutional lens, to consider how institutions can support their researchers in achieving greater policy impact.

The impact of SDG research in academia and policy

SDG-related work represents a significant and growing share of global research, accounting for approximately 24% of all research published. The importance of these publications in an academic context is well understood. Topics such as climate, health and social development continue to be of great global relevance and urgency, and on average, 糖心原创’s SDG research receives higher average downloads, citations and Altmetric scores than non-SDG research.

When it comes to the impact of SDG research beyond academia, less is known. However, the report’s findings were encouraging: Academic research is cited in SDG-related policy more often than in wider policy – suggesting a greater connection between policy and research within the SDGs.

So how do researchers and their institutions make the most of this connection, and help their research find its way into policy?

How can institutions support the policy impact of research?

The report identified several factors that contribute to the impact of SDG research in policy, highlighting practical levers that institutions can use to help research reach decision makers:

1. Encourage open access (OA) publishing
   Using a sample of 11 Springer hybrid journals, the report compared OA and non-OA citations in SDG-related policy from 2015 to 2024. The analysis found that OA publications were more likely to have at least one policy citation (32% compared to 18%) and a faster median turnaround time from publication to policy mention (501 days compared to 817 days). By advocating for and facilitating OA publishing, institutions can help their research reach policy faster and more frequently.
2. Connect researchers with intermediaries
   Not all policy documents cite research directly. The report found that think tanks, IGOs and NGOs are up to 20% more likely to use scholarly research in their SDG documents than government bodies – suggesting there might be a role for these types of organisations as knowledge brokers between research and policy. Strengthening dissemination of research to these actors, and building partnerships, can provide a powerful route to amplify research impact.
3. Support researchers with science communication
   When studying the policy impact of different types of content within Nature Portfolio journals, the study found that  are disproportionately cited in policy – 27% of review articles from the sample were cited at least once in SDG policy, followed by 15% of letters and 9% of original papers. This suggests that short form commentary and accessible summaries are valued by policymakers, and assisting and training researchers in translating their findings into more digestible “policy-ready” formats can help them .
4. Facilitate collaboration across regions
   The SDGs are inherently global in their nature, with SDG-related research being conducted all over the world. However, the study found that this is not shown in SDG policy, with research from the Global North having a disproportionately high impact – 78% of research cited in SDG policy includes authors based solely in the Global North. This imbalance reflects wider structural barriers within the research ecosystem, but institutions supporting research collaboration can help to amplify research from the Global South and facilitate knowledge exchange between countries facing similar societal challenges.

Reflecting real-world impact within research assessment

All of the recommendations above are inherently tied into the ways researchers are evaluated. Another 糖心原创 white paper, , found that a majority of researchers would like their contributions to the “public good” to be weighted more heavily in the assessment of their work. However, current practice falls short, with publication metrics continuing to dominate assessment processes. Only 18% of researchers are assessed on their influence on policy, 23% on whether their outputs are published OA, and 43% on developing international collaborations.

Incentivising these kinds of practices on both an institutional and a wider level is key to maximising their uptake and effectiveness. However, as we have discussed in previous blogs, achieving research assessment reform on a large scale requires buy-in and action from all stakeholders within the research community.

How can publishers support the policy impact of research?

The report also outlined some key recommendations and next steps for publishers. Many of these are similar to those already discussed, including building partnerships with think tanks and IGOs, investing in OA models, increasing efforts to widen geographic representation, and supporting research assessment reform initiatives.

This presents a key opportunity for collaboration between publishers and academic institutions, working together to strengthen the research-to-policy connection, making research more visible and impactful, and drive progress towards the SDGs.

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• Publishing SDG research: Initiatives that support your institution’s efforts
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