Repository for scientific policy and society advice

 
Science-led policy and society advice has grown enormously in importance and diversity in recent years. Political decisions are increasingly based on empirical research results and expert reports. However, searching for these advisory documents can be tedious and time-consuming, as they are scattered on various websites and often cannot be searched in a targeted manner. For this reason, the Repository for Policy Documents (REPOD) is now being launched with funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Building a digital repository

In the course of the project, a digital repository will be established that includes advisory documents from scientific policy and societal advice from the entire German academic system. This will make advisory documents searchable across disciplines in a targeted manner and ensure uniform quality management. The goal is to create an information and advisory infrastructure for politics and society by the end of 2023 that will make the transfer of knowledge from research much easier.

Quality standards

What is an advisory document? What criteria must it fulfil in order to be posted in the repository? To answer these questions, HIIG is working with RWI Leibniz Institute for Economic Research to develop standards for the content quality of different types of advisory documents. During the technical implementation, the project is in exchange with politicians, administrative staff and consultants from academia who have experience in the field of policy advice. Based on the findings, workflows for quality assurance and guidelines for the uploading of advisory documents in the repository will be defined at the end.

Research consortium

Led by the ZBW Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, the research consortium consists of scientists from the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans Bredow Institute (HBI), the Leibniz Institute for Spatial Social Research (IRS) and the RWI Leibniz Institute for Economic Research, as well as the Leibniz Association as an associated partner.