Research Papers

Gaps in science-policy interface: textual analysis of scientific insights overlooked by policies during COVID-19

Expand
  • 1School of Humanities and Arts, Ningbo University of Technology, Ningbo, China;
    2School of Information Resource Management, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China;
    3School of Interdisciplinary Studies, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
†Chao Ren (Email: renchao@nbut.edu.cn; ORCID: 0009-0002-3989-9407).

Received date: 2024-12-25

  Revised date: 2025-03-18

  Accepted date: 2025-03-25

  Online published: 2025-04-02

Abstract

Purpose: Policies have often, albeit inadvertently, overlooked certain scientific insights, especially in the handling of complex events. This study aims to systematically uncover and evaluate pivotal scientific insights that have been underrepresented in policy documents by leveraging extensive datasets from policy texts and scholarly publications.
Design/methodology/approach: This article introduces a research framework aimed at excavating scientific insights that have been overlooked by policy, encompassing four integral parts: data acquisition and preprocessing, the identification of overlooked content through thematic analysis, the discovery of overlooked content via keyword analysis, and a comprehensive analysis and discussion of the overlooked content. Leveraging this framework, the research conducts an in-depth exploration of the scientific content overlooked by policies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Findings: During the COVID-19 pandemic, scientific information in four domains was overlooked by policy: psychological state of the populace, environmental issues, the role of computer technology, and public relations. These findings indicate a systematic underrepresentation of important scientific insights in policy.
Research limitations: This study is subject to two key limitations. Firstly, the text analysis method—relying on pre-extracted keywords and thematic structures—may not fully capture the nuanced context and complexity of scientific insights in policy documents. Secondly, the focus on a limited set of case studies restricts the broader applicability of the conclusions across diverse situations.
Practical implications: The study introduces a quantitative framework using text analysis to identify overlooked scientific content in policy, bridging the gap between science and policy. It also highlights overlooked scientific information during COVID-19, promoting more evidence-based and robust policies through improved science-policy integration.
Originality/value: This paper provides new ideas and methods for excavating scientific information that has been overlooked by policy, further deepens the understanding of the interaction between policy and science during the COVID-19 period, and lays the foundation for the more rational use of scientific information in policy-making.

Cite this article

Chao Ren, Menghui Yang . Gaps in science-policy interface: textual analysis of scientific insights overlooked by policies during COVID-19[J]. Journal of Data and Information Science, 0 : 1 . DOI: 10.2478/jdis-2025-0024

References

[1] Alazmi, A. A., & Alazmi, H. S. (2023). Closing the gap between research and policy-making to better enable effective educational practice: A proposed framework. Educational Research for Policy and Practice, 22(1), 91-116. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10671-022-09321-4
[2] Betz, G. (Ed.). (2006). Post-normal science. In Prediction or Prophecy? The Boundaries of Economic Foreknowledge and Their Socio-Political Consequences(pp. 231-254). DUV. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-8350-9053-8_13
[3] Borja A., Elliott M., Snelgrove P. V.R., Austen, M. C., Berg, T., Cochrane, S., Carstensen, J., Danovaro, R., Greenstreet, S., Heiskanen, A.-S., Lynam, C. P., Mea, M., Newton, A., Patrício, J., Uusitalo, L., Uyarra, M. C., & Wilson, C.(2016). Bridging the Gap between Policy and Science in Assessing the Health Status of Marine Ecosystems. Frontiers in Marine Science, 3. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2016.00175
[4] Borja A., Elliott M., Uyarra M. C., Carstensen J.,& Mea, M.(2017). Editorial: Bridging the Gap between Policy and Science in Assessing the Health Status of Marine Ecosystems. Frontiers in Marine Science, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2017.00032
[5] Boswell, C., & Smith, K. (2017). Rethinking policy ‘impact’: Four models of research-policy relations. Palgrave Communications, 3(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-017-0042-z
[6] Bradshaw, G. A., & Borchers, J. G. (2000). Uncertainty as Information: Narrowing the Science-policy Gap. Conservation Ecology, 4(1). https://www.jstor.org/stable/26271749
[7] Brownson R. C.,& Jones, E.(2009). Bridging the gap: Translating research into policy and practice. Preventive Medicine, 49(4), 313-315. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2009.06.008
[8] Caplan, N. (1979). The two-communities theory and knowledge utilization.American Behavioral Scientist, 22(3), 459-470.
[9] Chen Y., Yao M., Zhao Q., Chen Z., Jiang P., Li M.,& Chen, D.(2021). Delineation of a basic farmland protection zone based on spatial connectivity and comprehensive quality evaluation: A case study of Changsha City, China. Land Use Policy, 101, 105145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.105145
[10] Cheng X., Tang L., Zhou M., & Wang G. (2021). Coevolution of COVID-19 research and China’s policies. Health Research Policy and Systems, 19(1), 121. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-021-00770-6
[11] Church, K. W. (2017). Word2Vec. Natural Language Engineering, 23(1), 155-162.https://doi.org/10.1017/S1351324916000334
[12] Funtowicz, S. (2006). Why knowledge assessment? In Interfaces between Science and Society. Routledge.
[13] Gao J., Yin Y., Myers K. R., Lakhani K. R., & Wang D. (2021). Potentially long-lasting effects of the pandemic on scientists. Nature Communications, 12(1), 6188. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26428-z
[14] Gentry S., Milden L.,& Kelly, M. P.(2020). Why is translating research into policy so hard? How theory can help public health researchers achieve impact? Public Health, 178, 90-96.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2019.09.009
[15] Hamerly, G., & Elkan, C. (2003). Learning the k in k-means. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 16. https://proceedings.neurips.cc/paper/2003/hash/234833147b97bb6aed53a8f4f1c7a7d8-Abstract.html
[16] Hodges R., Caperchione E., van Helden J., Reichard C., & Sorrentino D. (2022). The Role of Scientific Expertise in COVID-19 Policy-making: Evidence from Four European Countries. Public Organization Review, 22(2), 249-267. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11115-022-00614-z
[17] Hossain M. M., Tasnim S., Sultana A., Faizah F., Mazumder H., Zou L., McKyer E. L. J., Ahmed H. U., & Ma P. (2020). Epidemiology of mental health problems in COVID-19: A review. F1000Research, 9, 636. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.24457.1
[18] Jasanoff, S. (2004). The Idiom of Co-Production. In States of Knowledge. Routledge.
[19] Luhmann, N. (1991). Operational Closure and Structural Coupling: The Differentiation of the Legal System.Cardozo Law Review, 13, 1419.
[20] Morlacchi P.,& Martin, B. R.(2009). Emerging challenges for science, technology and innovation policy research: A reflexive overview. Research Policy, 38(4), 571-582. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2009.01.021
[21] Morselli Gysi D., do Valle Í., Zitnik M., Ameli A., Gan X., Varol O., Ghiassian S. D., Patten J. J., Davey R. A., Loscalzo J., & Barabási A.-L. (2021). Network medicine framework for identifying drug-repurposing opportunities for COVID-19. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(19), e2025581118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2025581118
[22] Myers K. R., Tham W. Y., Yin Y., Cohodes N., Thursby J. G., Thursby M. C., Schiffer P., Walsh J. T., Lakhani K. R., & Wang D. (2020). Unequal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on scientists. Nature Human Behaviour, 4(9), 880-883. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-0921-y
[23] Navarro, V. (2007). The Politics of Health Inequalities Research in the United States. In Neoliberalism, Globalization, and Inequalities. Routledge.
[24] Priem J., Piwowar H., & Orr R. (2022). OpenAlex: A fully-open index of scholarly works, authors, venues, institutions, and concepts (No. arXiv:2205.01833). arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2205.01833
[25] Sébastien L., Bauler T.,& Lehtonen, M.(2014). Can Indicators Bridge the Gap between Science and Policy? An Exploration into the (Non)Use and (Non)Influence of Indicators in EU and UK Policy Making.https://doi.org/10.3167/nc.2014.090305
[26] Shakil M. H., Munim Z. H., Tasnia M.,& Sarowar, S.(2020). COVID-19 and the environment: A critical review and research agenda. Science of The Total Environment, 745, 141022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141022
[27] Talbot C.,& Talbot, C.(2015). Bridging the academic-policy-making gap: Practice and policy issues. Public Money & Management, 35(3), 187-194. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2015.1027491
[28] Tworzydlo D., Gawronski S., Szuba P., & Bis L. (2020). The condition of the public relations industry in Poland: Current situation and threats related to COVID-19. https://doi.org/10.35808/ersj/1894
[29] van den Hove, S. (2007). A rationale for science-policy interfaces. Futures, 39(7), 807-826. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2006.12.004
[30] van der Arend, J. (2014). Bridging the research/policy gap: Policy officials’ perspectives on the barriers and facilitators to effective links between academic and policy worlds. Policy Studies, 35(6), 611-630. https://doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2014.971731
[31] Wang L. L., Lo K., Chandrasekhar Y., Reas R., Yang J., Burdick D., Eide D., Funk K., Katsis Y., Kinney R., Li Y., Liu Z., Merrill W., Mooney P., Murdick D., Rishi D., Sheehan J., Shen Z., Stilson B., … Kohlmeier, S. (2020). CORD-19: The Covid-19 Open Research Dataset. ArXiv, arXiv:2004.10706v4.
[32] Weinstein N. D., Sandman P. M., & Blalock S. J. (2020). The Precaution Adoption Process Model. In The Wiley Encyclopedia of Health Psychology (pp. 495-506). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119057840.ch100
[33] Weiss, C. H. (1986). The Many Meanings of Research Utilization *. In Social Science and Social Policy. Routledge.
[34] Wellstead A., Cairney P.,& Oliver, K.(2018). Reducing ambiguity to close the science-policy gap. Policy Design and Practice, 1(2), 115-125. https://doi.org/10.1080/25741292.2018.1458397
[35] Yin Y., Gao J., Jones B. F., & Wang D. (2021). Coevolution of policy and science during the pandemic. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abe3084
Outlines

/

京ICP备05002861号-43

Copyright © 2023 All rights reserved Journal of Data and Information Science

E-mail: jdis@mail.las.ac.cn Add:No.33, Beisihuan Xilu, Haidian District, Beijing 100190, China

Support by Beijing Magtech Co.ltd E-mail: support@magtech.com.cn