Five open access research papers impacting policy right now

In their article "From Research to Health Policy Impact" Carolyn M. Clancy, Sherry A. Glied, and Nicole Lurie describe four key ways that researchers can influence policymaking:

"They can identify critical problems, research the benefits and harms of policy solutions, estimate the costs and consequences of policy proposals, and actively participate in the policy process to aid real-time decision making."

Identifying critical problems is exactly what this 2022 study "Maternal mortality in the covid-19 pandemic: findings from a rapid systematic review" has contributed to a recent WHO report.

In the paper, authored by Clara Calvert, Jeeva John, Farirai P. Nzvere, Jenny A. Cresswell, Sue Fawcus, Edward Fottrell, Lale Say, and Wendy J. Graham, the authors report the findings of "a rapid systematic review of studies on levels of maternal mortality before and during the COVID-19 pandemic" using data from Mexico, Peru, Uganda, South Africa, Kenya, and India.

The researchers had difficulty finding conclusive evidence, offering that there is a "dearth of studies giving reliable information on levels of maternal mortality," and calling for "increased and more systematic reporting of this largely preventable outcome."

Their research findings were cited in WHO's report, "Protect the promise: 2022 progress report on the every woman every child global strategy for women's, children's, and adolescents' health (2016–2030)." This aims at "documenting severe setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic" to "restore lost gains for women, children and youth."

You can read the WHO report here.

The European Parliament's briefing "Press freedom in the EU" states: "Freedom of expression and information, as well as the freedom of the press, which provides the most powerful platform for the first two, contribute significantly to the formation of public opinion, thus allowing people to make informed choices in their political decisions.

"These freedoms are therefore essential for democracy, which is one of the fundamental values common to all Member States, on which the European Union is founded."

In its work promoting these values, the EU has created the report "Safety of journalists in non-EU countries: state and non-state protection mechanisms and the role of the EU" which cited a recent open access research paper from Tamsin S. Mitchell.

Mitchell's paper "Using journalism for self-protection: Profession-specific and journalistic measures and strategies for countering violence and impunity in Mexico and Honduras" uses interviews with 67 journalists in Honduras and Mexico.

Mitchell writes: "In Mexico and Honduras, journalists face violence from state and non-state actors and almost complete impunity for attacks."

The paper describes the situation that many reporters find themselves in, where they live with the daily threat of violence from the people they may want to report on.

These individuals enact self-protection measures that include avoiding topics altogether with self-censorship, or "accommodation," which "involves civilians interacting with armed actors, often under duress — for example, by paying for protection, acting as informants, or using connections with government or armed groups to obtain 'privileges.'"

Through this in-depth analysis from Mitchell, we're shown a world full of grey areas that journalists must navigate to survive.

The EU paper's recommendations include: "Carrying out missions to non-EU countries where journalist safety and protection are; and following consultation with local civil society, consider issuing urgency resolutions and/or press releases highlighting restriction and attacks on journalists and media freedom in such countries."

These recommendations could not have been made without researchers such as Mitchell explaining the plight of journalists in their respective countries.

As we noted earlier, researchers not only impact policy, but also analyze how enacted policies either benefit or harm the communities for which they're designed.

COVID-19 brought about unprecedented global collaboration and innovation; governments and the scientific community responded quickly, enacting policies and providing funding for vaccine research, most notably in a type of vaccine called mRNA.

In 2023, the World Intellectual Property Organization developed a publication providing observations based on a comprehensive review of the patenting activity that took place in the field of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics. WIPO cited the Taylor & Francis 2022 study "The global mRNA vaccine patent landscape,” from the journal Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics in its publication.

In it, the authors, Mengyao Li, Jianxiong Ren, Xingyong Si, Zhaocai Sun, Pingping Wang, Xiaoming Zhang, Kungmeng Liu, and Benzheng Wei, point out the significance of this new type of vaccine: "In light of their quick development and low risk, mRNA vaccines are gradually replacing traditional vaccines."

They go on to explain why: "Specifically, vaccines that can be produced at speed and scale, are affordable, and are capable of efficiently dealing with complex and mutating viruses are needed, which resulted in the advent of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines. Instead of injecting antigens into the body, this new generation of vaccines utilizes injected mRNA in order to help produce antigens in the body. mRNA vaccines can greatly reduce associated production costs and production cycles, thus steering vaccinology in a new direction."

Their study did a deep dive into the global mRNA patent landscape to "serve as a reference for governments, academia, and industry stakeholders to make relevant decisions and provides directions for technological development and industry transformation."

Read the WIPO paper that cites Taylor & Francis research here.