Research Standards

To ensure that our research products are credible, globally competitive and influential, we adhere to a number of standards in our research activity. We ensure that our research meets the following standards:

We are committed to producing well-organized and understandable research. We ensure that our research has a clear and well-formulated research question, addresses a tangible policy problem, poses a significant, important policy issue that can be investigated empirically, and contributes to the improvement of relevant policies. Thus, the research problem should be very readable and should thoroughly address the overall implications originating therein. Our research addresses conclusions and recommendations in an effective and sustainable manner.

We are committed to finding methodological research approaches that are appropriate and help us to reach the targeted purpose. In order to produce credible research, we place deep importance on finding an approach that is logical and suitable for the specific policy problems being addressed. Not only do we place importance on matching our research questions with the appropriate methodology. We also seriously consider the selection of research topics, the measurement of outcomes, and protection against systematic bias, nonsystematic bias, and inferential error. Therefore, we ensure that our research addresses the policy problems in a competent manner to offer recommendations that are reasonably expected to repair/address the causes causing the policy problem. To reach this level of research credibility, we apply a diverse range of evidence-based research methods from those with a pure quantitative nature to those with a pure qualitative nature. Overall, the research design, methodology, and practices are satisfactorily transparent and ensure an independent, balanced, and objective approach to the research.

We are committed to providing research that fully considers and provides analysis on related and alternative policy options and choices. Our policy products examine policy issues based on alternative choices and studies, while consulting and building upon related research. We aim to prove that our policy research is not isolated from the rest of policy knowledge on related issues, and that it is based on obvious chains of inferential analysis, making it supported and justified by a complete coverage of the relevant literature and policy documents.

We ensure that our research is based on credible information and data. Our policy products must therefore build upon as much credible and comprehensive data as possible, thereby examining the issue on the basis of policy evidence. We assure that the data and information which our research is based upon is properly screened, correct, clearly specified, and easily verifiable, while also expressing the quality of data and information provided.

We are committed to ensuring that our policy research raise assumptions inasmuch strict as possible manner. To ensure that our policy products remain credible sources for stakeholders, we assure that speculation and/or opinionating arguments are used only in minor occasions and in strict contexts.

We are committed to ensuring that our research produces novel policy knowledge on central policy issues. It is in our organizational strategy to approach policy problems with novelty and originality, and to avoid conducting activities and research that duplicate the findings/conclusions of previous research. Ensuring that our policy research advances policy knowledge and provides novel policy solutions, we remain a credible partner to the stakeholders with the innovative solutions that our policy research pushes forward.

We are committed to engage with real-world and practically relevant policy problems, with the aim of making a tangible/workable/practical contribution to the improvement of the state-of-affairs surrounding a certain policy issue. We ensure that our policy research is not only outstanding, but most importantly, that the policy stakeholders find it useful and relevant. The final aim of our policy research is to bring about the improvement of a certain policy issue, thus we make the research as attractive as possible for the stakeholders to engage with and use in solving problems. Our research products contain adequate information for the informed reader to assess their validity, including all the information that would be essential for the stakeholders to be convinced of the policy solutions’ integrity.

We are committed to ensuring that our recommendations respond properly to the policy problems. We ensure that our policy recommendations provide for workable policy choices/solutions, and offer solutions which stakeholders see as realistically achievable. Our policy recommendations are strictly based on analysis, evidence and knowledge, thereby we strictly avoid providing recommendations based on speculation or opinions.

We are committed to ensuring that our policy research is independent, objective, balanced and credible. Our policy research is based upon intellectual maturity, and omits consideration of partisan or biased opinions/arguments. We ensure that our research reflects credible and unprejudiced policy choices and analysis, thus providing stakeholders with safe ways to improve the policy. Our research also ensures that a fair treatment and balance between informed scientific and policy perspective is constantly observed. We also ensure that peer-review is an essential component in the conduct of research.

We prohibit every form of misconduct in research in proposing, performing or reviewing our policy research. We strictly prohibit fabrication, falsification or plagiarism. We are also committed to open policy research, thereby discussing and opening our results and policy solutions to the public and relevant stakeholders.