A repository has been created to make it easier for policymakers to find and use scientific documents for their decision-making. The thesis paper provides practical tips on how scientific consultation documents should be created and used.
- Broer, Irene; Ibert, Oliver; Kuckeland, Niklas; Kuper, Freia & Müller, Felix. C. (2024): Lost (and Found) in Translation. Thesen zur Übersetzungleistung von Beratungsdokumenten an der Schnittstelle von Wissenschaft und Politik [Theses on the Translation Performance of Advisory Documents at the Interface of Science and Policy]. Repository for Policy Documents. https://doi.org/10.21241/ssoar.94211
Theses on Translation between Science and Policy
- The fit between available knowledge and acute need for advice must be actively established.
- Personal trust in consulting can be least assumed when it is most needed.
- Coordination processes promote compatibility but can lead to a loss of autonomy and legitimacy.
- The need for confidentiality in politics conflicts with the ideal of public transparency in science.
- The presentation of complexity conflicts with the need for clarity.
- Policy advice requires resources that are often not fully available on either the supply or demand side.
- Impact is a decisive motivation for policy advice but is hardly tangible.
- Advisory documents from outside academia are important but should be treated with caution.
The thesis paper is the result of research accompanying the development of the Repository for Policy Documents (REPOD), which has been online since May 2024 (repod.zbw.eu). The joint project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) from 1 February 2023 to 31 March 2024.
The Leibniz Information Center for Economics (ZBW) was responsible for managing the project and developing the repository. The Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS), the Leibniz Institute for Media Research (HBI), the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) and the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research (RWI) were involved in the accompanying research.