Table 1 Details of the main features of each section of Web CIPHER
Section | Update frequency | Content | Selection criteria for content | How the section targets barriers to evidence-informed policymaking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Hot Topics | Daily | Provides summaries and blurbs of news articles that are directly relevant to member agencies of Web CIPHER; direct links to these articles are provided | Media monitoring with keywords of interest set up via Google Alerts (e.g. “public health”, “research”, “evidence”, and “health policy”); articles are scanned daily and chosen for their relevance and interest to members of the Web CIPHER network; the emphasis is on intervention research, program reviews, locally-relevant news, or examples of evidence-based policy | Many of the selected articles promote the value and importance of evidence-informed decision making in health |
Research Updates | Fortnightly | Summaries of systematic reviews, research papers and reports, with links to full articles | Fortnightly scan of relevant journals and sources for systematic reviews, research articles and reports (e.g. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, Implementation Science); these sources are reviewed for research, reviews and reports of interest, with an emphasis on public health intervention research, program evaluation, locally-relevant research, and research translation | Articles are chosen specifically for their relevance to agencies within the Web CIPHER community; numerous articles focus on strategies to facilitate research use in policy; article summaries are written in an engaging, newspaper style to highlight the main findings, aid comprehension of full text articles, and highlight the policy relevance of findings |
Events | Monthly | Summaries of upcoming events of interest to health policymakers | Monthly scan of organisations of interest for relevant events (e.g. the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation, the National Health & Medical Research Council, the Australian Research Council, the Cochrane Collaboration) and organisations represented by Web CIPHER members | The section allows policymakers to learn about upcoming programs, seminars, and conferences to improve their research skills, expose them to the latest research findings, or provide opportunities to connect with researchers |
Multimedia | Monthly | Videos, audio recordings and presentations of interest to health policymakers | Monthly scan of email alerts from a range of organisations (e.g. the Australian Healthcare & Hospitals Association, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care) and organisations represented by Web CIPHER members | The media files posted in this section often discuss practical strategies and innovations to integrate research into policy, as well as the value of using research to inform policymaking |
Blogs | Monthly-quarterly | 500-word conversational-style articles written by health leaders, focusing on their area of expertise, with lessons for policymakers | Quarterly meetings with management team to agree on potential topics and contributors; pitch sent to contributor, and article written by contributor in consultation with senior staff member at the Sax Institute to ensure tone and style matches Web CIPHER requirements | Blogs are often geared towards improving policymakers’ perceptions of the value of evidence-informed decision-making, describing the latest research in bloggers’ area of expertise, and providing advice on strategies to improve the use of such research in decision-making; the blog style caters to the needs of policymakers by being engaging, current, relevant, practical and concise |
Community | As required | Bulletin board where users can post information for other community members, such as new research, jobs or opportunities | User-driven | Provides a forum where policymakers and researchers can communicate and connect, access research, disseminate relevant research studies to policymakers, and discuss its relevance to current policy decisions |
Research Tools | As required | Links to sources that provide high-level advice and methods on accessing research, appraising research and applying it to policy, and generating new research | Updated as required only; sources are those identified as high quality by CIPHER investigators and Web CIPHER users | Section provides links to key articles that provide methods on how to find research, and appraise the relevance and quality of research, as well as links to services offered by the Sax Institute for generating new research and reviews (when available evidence is lacking) |
Research Portal | As required | Links to sources of high quality research and data, such as the Cochrane Library, the Campbell Collaboration, health-evidence.ca, Eppi-CENTRE, NIHR Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the Australian Bureau of Statistics | Updated as required only; sources are those identified as high quality by CIPHER investigators and Web CIPHER users | Section provides links to key websites that provide one-stop shopping for systematic reviews, evidence briefs, high quality research journals, databases, and reliable sources of data and statistics; the section can be particularly helpful to staff whose organisations do not provide tools and systems that assist them in searching for and accessing research |