At JMIR Publications, we believe that the true value of scientific discovery lies in its ability to improve lives. Our commitment to Open Access (OA) isn’t just about making papers free to read; it’s about ensuring that your insights reach the people who have the power to implement change—the policymakers.
But how exactly does a peer-reviewed article transition from a journal page to a legislative document or a clinical guideline? Recent insights from Overton [1], one of the platforms available to track the real-world influence of our authors, shed light on the mechanics of policy impact.
Key Takeaways |
| Open Access is Essential for Policy Impact: Publishing research Open Access removes accessibility barriers, resulting in a significantly higher rate of citation in policy documents, as decision-makers need immediate access to evidence. |
| Proactive Steps Increase Policy Reach: Authors should be proactive by ensuring abstracts clearly state societal or clinical implications and creating intermediary documents, like policy briefs, to share with relevant stakeholders. |
| Specialized Tools are Key to Demonstrating Impact: To demonstrate "real-world" value for grants, leverage specialized tools such as Altmetric for public interest, ECRI Guidelines Trust for clinical integration, and Boolean searches to track your work in grey literature. |
The Power of Open Access in Policy
The path to policy impact is often winding, but one factor stands out as a clear advantage: accessibility. Between 2017 and 2022, Open Access papers were cited in policy documents at a significantly higher rate than those behind paywalls.
When a policy researcher at a NGO, a government analyst, or a health official is looking for evidence to support a new initiative, they need immediate access. By publishing OA with JMIR, you are removing the barriers that often prevent your evidence-based findings from reaching these crucial decision-makers.
3 Ways to Increase Your Research’s Policy Reach
According to the landscape analyzed by Overton and other impact-tracking tools, there are several proactive steps you can take to bridge the gap between academia and public action:
- Lead with Clarity: Policy documents often cite research for context or background. Writing a clear, concise abstract and ensuring your "Conclusions" section explicitly mentions the societal or clinical implications of your work makes it easier for a non-specialist to identify your study's relevance.
- Think Beyond the Citation: Policymakers often rely on intermediary documents like policy briefs, white papers, and executive summaries. Consider creating these translated versions of your research to share with relevant stakeholders.
- Leverage Impact Tools: Tracking where your research goes is the first step to understanding its influence. This information is valuable for grant applications and demonstrating the "real-world" value of your scholarship.
Demonstrating Impact
Demonstrating impact is essential for successful grant applications and career advancement, and several specialized tools and techniques that can help you capture the full story of your research:
- For Capturing Public Interest: Use Altmetric to track real-time media mentions and Google Alerts to receive immediate notifications whenever your study is discussed online.
- For Evidencing Clinical Value: Utilize PubMed (Clinical Queries) and the ECRI Guidelines Trust to discover if your findings have been integrated into clinical practice or medical guidelines.
- For Measuring Industry & Academic Reach: Beyond traditional searches, Google Scholar remains a powerhouse for tracking citations, while mastering Boolean Impact Searches can help you uncover your work within grey literature, such as technical reports and white papers.
By adding these tools to your toolkit, you can more effectively measure and communicate the positive influence your research has on both science and society.
Our Shared Mission: A Healthier Society
The impact of a paper is often measured by its H-index or citation count within other journals. While these metrics are important, we are especially inspired by the societal impact—seeing your digital health innovations and public health findings cited by the WHO, the CDC, or local health ministries, where they can help make a positive societal impact.
We view our relationship with our authors as a collaboration. You provide rigorous, transformative science; we provide the open, high-visibility platform to ensure that science doesn't just sit on a shelf, but serves as a catalyst for a healthier, more informed world.
Thank you for choosing to publish with JMIR. Together, we are ensuring that evidence-based research remains at the heart of the world’s most important decisions.
Explore a selection of landmark JMIR Publications papers that were directly integrated into international health policy documents.
Prevalence of Health Misinformation on Social Media: Systematic Review by Victor Suarez-Lledo and Javier Alvarez Galvez, mentioned in the World Health Organization policy document “Marco de competencias para el autocuidado: volumen 1: normas mundiales de competencia de los trabajadores de la salud y asistenciales para apoyar el autocuidado de las personas”
Social Media Use and Health and Well-being of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Youth: Systematic Review by Matthew N Berger, Melody Taba, Jennifer L Marino, Megan S C Lim, S Rachel Skinner, mentioned in the OECD report “How’s Life for Children in the Digital Age?”
Youth Perspectives on the Recommended Age of Mobile Phone Adoption: Survey Study by Aliah Richter, Victoria Adkins, Ellen Selkie in the Publications Office of the European Union publication “Mapping evidence of decline in basic skills and potential contributing factors”
Sources:
- How does research get cited in policy?
https://www.overton.io/blog/how-does-research-get-cited-in-policy