The potential of inclusive and collaborative Open Research processes at the science-policy interface

Proponents of Open Research often assert that it can support evidence-based policy-making by making scientific outputs more readily available to policy-makers and other policy actors, yet there is little empirical work to support or deny this claim. This paper fills this void by reporting the results of a qualitative study with researchers who regularly work at the science-policy interface. We found that there is little evidence that Open Research products, namely Open Access and open data, which aim at increasing access and transparency, are useful in integrating science into policy-making. Instead, we found that the cognitive accessibility of research outputs is more important than their physical accessibility, and that inclusive and collaborative Open Research processes, like upstream engagement, co-creation and Citizen Science, are most effective at doing so.