EVIDENCE

Are rules requiring prompt publication well-understood and followed?
2.23 Over the past few years this group of rules has evolved from guidance into codes of practice
and ultimately into civil service and ministerial protocols, making them progressively more systematic,
although they remain unevenly applied across different areas of research. It is understood that the GSR
profession upgraded its publication guidance to civil service protocol (which means that it can be more
formally enforced), following concerns that the expectation of open publication was breaking down
in some departments.
2.24 As these rules ultimately acknowledge, what matters for democratic accountability is timely access
to research to facilitate public interaction with policy. If the rules were followed in every case, would they
prevent the delays and withholding that are discussed in the following sections?
2.25 Evidence submitted to this inquiry by researchers, civil servants and parliamentarians suggests
that the system of guidelines and rules leaves room for uncertainties over:
a) whether a particular research project is subject to publication;
b) if so, when; and
c) which rules take precedence
The pressure on policymakers to align the publication of evidence with policy agendas sharpens
the question of when studies should be published in relation to the policy they are intended to inform.
Different views on how and why this matters, and recommendations to resolve the tension, are set out
in the following sections.
2.26 First, however, it may be helpful to look at some prominent cases in which publication of research
has been held back, in an attempt to gauge the significance of the problem.
9 SECTION 2: THE SYSTEM OF CONDUCTING, COMMISSIONING AND PUBLISHING GOVERNMENT RESEARCH