Assessing the influence of research quality on policy citations: Quantitative analysis finds non-academic factors more likely to influence how papers get cited in SDG policy

Addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires policymakers to utilise high-quality scholarly research effectively. This study explores the extent to which bibliometric indicators of research quality—field weighted citation index, journal CiteScore, author h-index and mentions—influence the likelihood of SDG-related research being cited in policy documents. Analysing metadata from over 16 million SDG-related articles revealed modest relationships between selected bibliometric indicators and policy citations. This suggests that bibliometric measures of research quality may not adequately explain policy influence, or that these metrics might not capture the essence of research excellence from a policy perspective. Importantly, the study identifies variations in research utilisation across different SDGs and highlights the potential role of non-academic factors in determining policy impact. Results provide a framework for understanding the extent to which policymakers are leveraging the best available evidence in their efforts to meet the SDGs.