A research agenda for making evidence useful, usable and used in policymaking

Despite growing investments in evidence-based policymaking, a substantial gap remains between the production of policy-relevant research and the use of evidence to impact policy. This Perspective argues that overcoming this production-adoption gap requires reconceptualizing evidence adoption as a series of behavioural and organizational hurdles that determine whether evidence is useful, usable and, ultimately, used. Drawing on a large interdisciplinary literature, we develop a unified framework and highlight key gaps in our understanding of each of these critical stages for bringing evidence to scale. We conclude by outlining a research agenda for advancing our understanding of why a production-adoption gap persists and knowledge of what works to increase evidence adoption-which, together, are essential for ensuring that the evidence-based policymaking movement meets its promise of improving societal outcomes.