Guides: Library Resources for the Office of Government and Community Affairs: Public Policy

What's Public Policy?

Public policy refers to how a government seeks to address social issues, solve public problems, and improve the well-being of society. Because public policy encompasses a wide range of issues other than politics, including economics, education, healthcare policies, and environmental regulation, you may need to review research guides specific to those areas. It is also important to note that public policy papers serve different purposes than scholarly political science articles and have distinct characteristics:

Public policy databases generally consist of papers that describe and analyze political directives, decisions, and actions adopted by governments.
Policy papers are typically written to inform and influence policymakers, practitioners, and the general public in a language accessible to a broader audience.
While references are often included, public policy papers focus on practical examples, case studies, and real-world issues and may not provide citations.
Policy papers tend to be published by think tanks, policy research organizations, or government agencies. Some papers are freely available, while others are only available through subscription.

Overton
Overton is a specialized research and policy platform that helps users discover and analyze policy documents, guidance, and grey literature produced by governments, think tanks, and NGOs around the world. It is particularly useful for researchers, government relations professionals, and academic institutions that want to track the real-world policy impact of research and understand how evidence is used in policy-making.

Public Policy Databases

The following is a list of the top subject-specific research databases for locating public policy reports and articles.

If your issue is related to U.S. Federal government policy, consider searching for reports from the Congressional Research Service (CRS). The CRS works exclusively for the United States Congress, providing policy and legal analysis to committees and House and Senate members, regardless of party affiliation.

The CRS also provides "Policy and Legislative Research for Congressional Staff: Finding Documents, Analysis, News, and Training," a finding aid used by congressional aides for locating congressional documents, executive branch documents and information, news articles, policy analysis, contacts, and training for use in policy and legislative research.

Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO)
CIAO is a source for theory and research in international affairs. It includes scholarship, working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, proceedings from conferences, books, journals, case studies for teaching, and policy briefs.
PAIS Index
PAIS Index covers issues in the public debate through coverage of a wide variety of international sources, including journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference papers, web content, and more. PAIS International is the current file covering 1972 to the present, and PAIS Archive includes the content from printed volumes published 1915-1976.
Policy Archive
Policy briefs and research from sources such as the American Bar Association, the Brookings Institution, the Ford Foundation, the Institute for Policy Studies, and others.
Policy Commons
Policy Commons is a one-stop community platform for objective, fact-based research from the world's leading policy experts, nonpartisan think tanks, IGOs and NGOs. They treat think-tank publications as a formal body of literature in its own right, with tools to systematically search it, cite it, understand its impact, catalog it, and preserve it for the long term. Now includes archived content from defunct Policy Archive.
Policy File
Policy FIle provides access to international and domestic policy papers and gray literature, with abstracts and links to timely reports, papers, and documents from think tanks, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), research institutes, advocacy groups, agencies, and other entities.
ProQuest Congressional
ProQuest® Congressional is the most comprehensive subscription database for locating the full text of Congressional publications, regulations, laws, legislative histories, and background information on members of Congress. House and Senate committee reports are available from 1817-present.

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is the non-partisan research arm of the United States Congress. CRS experts prepare reports to assist Senators and Congressmen throughout the legislative process, providing background information and detailed analysis on various public policy issues. Primary research is conducted in the areas of U.S. law, domestic social policy, foreign affairs, defense and trade, government and finance, resources, and science and industry. Reports contain citations of sources along with figures and tables.

Congressional Research Reports (Congress.gov)
Congress.gov is the official site for Congressional research reports created by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). Reports on the CRS page are regularly updated to reflect new developments in various topical areas as needed by Congress members.
Every CRS Report
EveryCRS is a comprehensive free alternative to ProQuest Congressional. It has one of the largest collections of publicly submitted CRS reports available on the web covering most subject areas of interest.
ProQuest® Congressional
ProQuest® Congressional is the most comprehensive subscription database for locating the full text of Congressional publications, regulations, laws, legislative histories, and background information on members of Congress. ProQuest Congressional includes abstracting, indexing, bibliographic information, and searchable PDFs for CRS reports from 1916-present.

Public Policy Law Journals

Global Think Tanks

The Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) of the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania researches the role policy institutes play in governments and civil societies worldwide. The annual Global Go To Think Tank Index ranks the world’s leading think tanks in various categories. For links to the top think tanks ranked in the index, use the Public Policy Research Think Tanks Guide.

Other Think Tank Resources

Harvard Kennedy School Think Tank Search
Think Tank Search searches the websites of institutions that generate public policy research, analysis, and activity. These sites are affiliated with universities, governments, advocacy groups, foundations, and non-governmental organizations
Think Tank Directory
Produced by the Think Tank Initiative, TTD lists 43 think tanks across Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia.
Think Tanks' Guide
Think-Tanks' Guide aims to become the most comprehensive and up-to-date think-tank directory.