Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A 4-page Brookings policy brief on AI regulation, citing the institute's underlying research papers
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A peer-reviewed journal article reviewing policy implications is not a policy brief in the form sense
Editorial commentary
A policy brief is a short document — typically 2 to 8 pages, occasionally up to around 8 for a more technical policy audience — that synthesises research evidence for a policy-maker audience, with explicit policy implications or recommendations, structured for accessibility rather than for an academic readership. Policy briefs are issued by research institutions, think tanks, NGOs, and government-aligned bodies, and converge on a broadly common structure: a title and one-line takeaway, an executive summary or key messages, context, evidence and findings, implications and recommendations, and sources.
How it fits alongside peer-reviewed publication types
A policy brief is not itself peer-reviewed in the way a journal article is, and it is not the same output as a peer-reviewed article that happens to discuss policy implications — the defining feature is the format and audience (short, recommendation-oriented, written for policy-makers) rather than the underlying research being new. Policy briefs are, however, increasingly counted as legitimate research outputs in narrative CVs and research-impact case studies — for example, the UK’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) impact assessment scores such dissemination on reach and significance, and specifically requires concrete corroborating evidence that a benefit or change actually occurred, not just that the brief was published.
Example
A short policy brief published by a research institute, synthesising several of the institute’s own underlying research papers into a set of concrete, accessible recommendations for policy-makers.
Also known as
Policy memo · Research brief
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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