Sources of Policy: Knowledge Brokering in Governmental Reports

Linus Salö (), Björn Hammarfelt and Gustaf Nelhans
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Linus Salö: Stockholm University
Björn Hammarfelt: University of Borås
Gustaf Nelhans: University of Borås

A chapter in Making Universities Matter, 2024, pp 185-210 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This chapter explores indirect, text-based knowledge brokering through a study of Swedish governmental reports, known as Statens offentliga utredningar (SOUs). To this end, we endeavor to gauge the impact of knowledge uptake in their sources as displayed in their reference lists. Because SOUs are the outcome of commissions, we seek to position this feature of Swedish policymaking culture as an overlooked yet vital enabling condition for productive science–policy interaction where scholars and their knowledge can matter. However, doing so effectively requires a better understanding of the characteristics of impactful knowledge objects and the dynamics required to make them effective. Our analysis shows that the lion’s share of the references cited in the SOUs studied can be classified as gray literature and are published in Swedish. This suggests that scholars wanting to matter in a policy context may consider other routes besides the predominating genre of the peer-reviewed journal article in an English-language journal. Further implications of these findings are discussed vis-à-vis recent conceptualizations of agency in knowledge brokering as a lens through which to view collaborative impact in the future.

Keywords: Policy impact; Knowledge brokering; Uptake; Agency; Language; Scholarliness; Gray literature (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:innchp:978-3-031-48799-6_9

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-48799-6_9

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