Scoping Review on Science-Policy Interaction: Scientific Advisory Committees during Public Health Emergencies (Supplementary material)
Description
The search strategies were designed by Beatrice Minder and peer-reviewed by Doris Kopp-Heim, both from the Public Health & Primary Care Library at the University of Bern.
Abstract: Background: Public Health emergency policy decisions are primarily driven by scientific evidence and current public health knowledge making the interaction between science and policy a crucial asset. Much work has been published about processes and forms of science-policy interaction on one hand and challenges of public health emergency on the other hand. Yet little is known about issues emerging combining of both topics. Methods: A scoping review was conducted to identify formalised and informal approaches to organize science-policy interaction. Sixty-one relevant studies were identified to provide input into understanding science-policy interaction. Findings: Findings indicate that few formalised approaches were described in the included literature. Included studies described science-policy interaction in form of scientific advisory committees SACs. Establishing entity of SACs were mostly governments and composition of SAC was often unbalanced in disciplinary diversity. Communication and trust are key in science-policy interaction in public health emergencies. Evidence Based Policy mindset was prevalent in evaluation of SAC impact. Conflation of roles and danger of losing scientific independence was a main concern when describing science-policy interaction in SAC work. Few articles analysed the interaction from a theory informed perspective. Discussion and conclusion: Pre-pandemic preparations and institutionalization could smoothen in science policy interaction during an emergency. This preparation could include institutionalisation and learning from established evidence informed policymaking approaches. Future research could provide reconstructions of events through rigorous, theory-informed analyses.
