Connecting research to real-world outcomes: policy documents in the Web of Science

Powering academic institutions and government organizations
Clarivate is home to leading research, education and library solutions, including Web of Science™, ProQuest™, Ex Libris™ and Innovative™.
Featured
Highly Cited Researchers 2024
See the individuals who have demonstrated significant and broad influence in their fields of research.
The Institute for Scientific Information
Fostering the scientometric community through research and collaboration.
Research Professional News
A trusted source for authoritative, editorially independent news and analysis.
Academic AI
Pushing the boundaries of research and learning with AI you can trust.
Deliver innovative and impactful research outcomes by equipping your institution with trusted data, flexible solutions and unbiased expertise.
Research discovery and referencing
Research funding and analytics
Publisher solutions
We help libraries support the curriculum with essential content to enable the success of students, researchers and faculty.
Our solutions
Seamless workflows for librarians and their users.
Our solutions
Clarivate helps public, academic, government, and specialty libraries, as well as library consortia, modernize in support of the unique communities they serve.
Academic libraries
Public libraries
A leading provider of global transformative intelligence.
Clarivate™ is a leading global provider of transformative intelligence. We offer enriched data, insights & analytics, workflow solutions and expert services in the areas of Academia & Government, Intellectual Property and Life Sciences & Healthcare.
Featured articles
Clarivate Unveils Transformative Subscription-Based Access Strategy for Academia

Clarivate Unveils Transformative Subscription-Based Access Strategy for Academia
How Clarivate uses Artificial Intelligence you can trust to transform your world

How Clarivate uses Artificial Intelligence you can trust to transform your world
Clarivate newsroom
Support areas
Sustainability
We have embraced an extensive, holistic approach to sustainability in order to drive measurable impact.
Voice of Customer
See how we keep our customers first
See the stories
Explore Clarivate insights
Stay informed with the latest insights, news, and research from Clarivate. Explore our blogs, webinars, podcasts, reports, and case studies to stay ahead of trends and innovations in your field.
Featured
A responsible framework for evaluating the societal impact of research
Read the report to learn more about this innovative framework in more detail.
The Pulse of the Library report
Read the report to learn about how libraries are approaching AI and other mission-driven topics.
Blog
Our blogs
Expert analysis
Expert analysis
Our webinars
Find logins to all Clarivate products below.
Eytan Goldfinger
Director, Product Management
Eytan Goldfinger
Director, Product Management
The new Policy Citation Index on the Web of Science platform links policy documents to the research papers they cite, helping researchers and institutions demonstrate the societal impact of their work.
Although policymakers and analysts rely on academic research for decision-making, translating the recommendations from scholarly literature into practical solutions can be challenging. Researchers and policymakers operate in different environments, and the growing volume of published and grey literature can be overwhelming for both researchers and officials alike.
To help bridge the gap between research and policy, we are pleased to announce the release of the Web of Science Policy Citation Index, a new collection that adds reports, policy briefs and working papers from worldwide sources to the Web of Science platform.
To conduct use-inspired research that aligns with policymakers’ needs, researchers need visibility into policy discussions. Upon release, the Policy Citation Index integrates documents from the ProQuest Policy File Index, which contains reports from hundreds of think tanks, research organizations and advocacy groups, including the Hoover Institution, International Monetary Fund, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, RAND Corporation and the World Bank. We are actively engaging more organizations, and our coverage will continue to grow. Throughout 2025, we will add more than a hundred new sources, with more to follow in the coming years.
We include documents that are prepared by policymakers and for policymakers, for example, to influence action on an issue. Policy documents in the database might detail implemented policy, provide an overview of an issue or outline a persuasive argument for implementing a policy in the future. Through citation linking, policy documents are connected to the literature that they cite, enabling Web of Science users to explore the research foundation for a proposed policy solution.
By enhancing the discoverability of policy documents on the platform, the Web of Science helps researchers better align their research to real-world challenges. Researchers can now easily consult policy documents to focus their research efforts on topics that are directly relevant to societal issues and contribute to evidence-based policymaking. Policy documents also provide researchers with an additional source of data and statistics that may support their own studies.
Citation indexing deepens connections between policy documents and other scholarly outputs on the Web of Science. Citations from policy documents demonstrate that a piece of research has helped policy professionals develop, analyze and implement policy solutions that address societal problems. As more sources are added, the linkages will grow to provide a robust view of the societal impact of scientific and scholarly research.

^{Figure 1: Policy Citation Index record with linked cited references}
Universities and researchers must articulate the value of their output to secure continued investment and sustain their initiatives. One of the most powerful ways to demonstrate research impact is by showing how it leads to real-world benefits for people and the planet. However, developing a narrative that clearly and directly links published research to tangible outcomes can be challenging. To aid in this, policy citations to papers on Web of Science Researcher Profiles now automatically appear, allowing researchers to easily share their broader impact with peers and evaluators.

^{Figure 2: Web of Science Researcher Profiles include citations from policy documents}
As universities continue to develop their societal impact narratives, they need a consistent system that will guide them through a comprehensive assessment of their position. With this challenge in mind, the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) recently developed a framework for evaluating the societal impact of research. The framework outlines a responsible and robust foundation for evaluation that includes a wide range of data sources, including those that extend beyond traditional scholarly output. Transferring knowledge to non-academic stakeholders is a component of university missions. Contributions to policy documents, via co-authorship or citation, provide evidence of that broader knowledge transfer.
The societal impact framework from ISI will power Web of Science Research Intelligence, an AI-native analytics platform currently in development with institutional partners. Data for multiple output types on the Web of Science platform, including policy documents and citations, will be available for analysis in Web of Science Research Intelligence.
To continue to meet the evolving needs of the research community, we are expanding the Web of Science platform and developing analytics capabilities powered by the next wave of AI technologies with Web of Science Research Intelligence. We are innovating to help researchers and institutions build impactful research strategies for the future.
Clarivate has focused on growing the Web of Science to include outputs that provide new angles and information on a research idea. Journal articles provide a snapshot of research findings; other outputs can augment a researcher’s understanding of a topic. The Web of Science presents early outputs, such as dissertations and theses, awarded grants, and preprints, alongside later-stage applications, such as patents, helping users easily consult developments along the entire research lifecycle. The Policy Citation Index represents another significant step forward in the ongoing expansion of the Web of Science platform to support researchers at every step of their research journey.
Learn more about the Policy Citation Index, or contact our team to suggest an additional policy source for indexing.
© 2025 Clarivate. All rights reserved.
Please be advised that recently there have been fraudulent job offers and interviews using the Clarivate name, logo and even names of our colleagues.
Please be aware that Clarivate will:
If you have any question about a position posted in our company name, please check our current open positions on the Clarivate website Careers pages or contact one of our recruiting team members directly.
If you have been the victim of a scam, please contact your local law enforcement agency.
This link leads to the machine-readable files that are made available in response to the federal Transparency in Coverage Rule and includes negotiated service rates and out-of-network allowed amounts between health plans and healthcare providers. The machine-readable files are formatted to allow researchers, regulators, and application developers to more easily access and analyze data.