Wagdy Sawahel of University World News discusses a recent study that questions whether high-quality research on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) actually informs policy development. The study found that 90% of published SDG papers have not been cited in any policy, while many of those that were cited typically only received one citation. There was also a significant disparity in the policy citations for different SDGs, suggesting that certain SDGs are better represented in publications and have more influence on policy making. According to the study, these findings suggest that “both researchers and policymakers need to broaden their strategies” for promoting and sourcing research for policy development. Sawahel also touches on other influential factors such as the use of SDG-related keywords in research papers and the lack of alignment between what policy makers are looking for and how research papers are evaluated.
