Pop-up journals for policy research: can temporary titles deliver answers?

"I'm less interested in topics than in questions, and I'm less interested in publishing than I am in curation. When I've testified before Congress or dealt with an appropriations bill or a budget negotiation, this question, of what is the return on investments when you're doing R&D, comes up quite often. It's been asked by economists in very formal ways since at least the 1950s, but the data and the methods that were available were really not very strong."

"The Pop-Up Journal Initiative aims to connect policymakers looking for solid evidence to back fresh policies, with researchers who are collecting the relevant evidence. With funding of some US$1 million from two non-profit organizations - the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in New York City and Coefficient Giving in San Francisco, California - the initiative will set up journals that will publish articles focused on a single question for a period of time, roughly a few years, before closing the pop-up journal to submissions."

The Pop-Up Journal Initiative addresses the challenge of connecting policymakers with relevant research evidence amid the overwhelming volume of published scientific papers. Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Coefficient Giving with approximately $1 million, the initiative establishes temporary journals dedicated to answering specific policy questions over several years before closing to submissions. Rather than focusing on broad topics, the initiative emphasizes curating evidence around particular questions that frequently arise in government discussions. The first pop-up journal will examine how research and development investment generates economic growth—a question repeatedly raised in congressional testimony and budget negotiations since the 1950s, yet lacking clear answers due to previously limited data and methods.

Read at Nature