About this Research Topic

Background

Policy implementation science (IS) is an emerging, multidisciplinary field that aims to provide explanations and guidance for policy implementation efforts to improve their effectiveness and other outcomes. Policy implementation intersects with multiple disciplines and utilizes different terminologies from economics, political science, sociology, public administration, health systems and services, knowledge translation, and others. Further progress is needed towards a consensus on policy IS definitions, scope, theories, models, frameworks, methodologies, and outcomes. Practical case examples of using policy IS to drive implementation and outcomes are also lacking. We aim to facilitate a spirited debate on these topics and contribute to the progress and impact of policy implementation science and practice.

The objective of this special issue is to drive learning for action in policy implementation by strengthening connections among a range of policy IS stakeholders, including implementation scientists, policy researchers, technical advisers, policymakers, and policy implementation practitioners. The complexity of policy IS means that overarching theories that can provide practical guidance are challenging to develop. A major question is how theories or conceptual frameworks and methods may need to be modified for different contexts, including a range of cultural, social, organizational, professional, political, economic, and other contexts. The evolution of contexts and stakeholders over time is another complicating factor. Incorporating contextual contingencies that include and address the factors affecting policy IS may be one approach. A related issue is how policy IS may need to address policy initiatives at different levels, such as macro (national, regional, or global), meso (organizations or networks), and micro (work groups, practice sites, and individuals). This is also complicated by the open versus closed nature of the social and technical processes affected through ripple effects, and how they may evolve over time. Finally, there is a need for policy IS to be pragmatic and useful to policymakers and policy IS practitioners among other stakeholders, yet there is little guidance on how these groups have effectively used policy IS meaningfully to advance their goals. This issue will explore these areas with consideration of the full research-to-policy-and-practice continuum, with contributions ranging from the theoretical, to the empirical, through to the practical applications.

This special issue invites submissions of manuscripts from a range of policy IS stakeholders. We invite papers from different countries and different academic disciplines to fill critical theoretical, conceptual, methodological, and practical gaps in the field of policy IS.

Specific themes for manuscripts to address include, but are not limited to:
1. Conceptual frameworks and theories for policy IS, including a focus on how frameworks from related fields that can inform policy IS;
2. Research methodologies for studying policy IS, including costing methods for use in policy implementation;
3. Measures and measurement issues in policy IS;
4. The role of contexts and in policy IS. Policy IS challenges in different settings and contexts (e.g., global vs. domestic; governmental vs non-governmental);
5. How policy implementation informs, and is informed by, other elements of the policy life cycle, including agenda setting, policy development, policy negotiation, and others;
6. Case studies that illustrate the utility of policy IS theories and frameworks, or describe policy IS in different settings and contexts;
7. The impact of policy intermediaries.

Keywords: policy, implementation, implementation science

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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