About

Policy Online is a research database and alert service providing free access to full text research reports and papers, statistics and other resources essential for public policy development and implementation in Australia and New Zealand.

Policy Online monitors over 500 sources each week including academic research centres and institutes, government departments, think tanks, NGOs and other media and information networks, in order to select and catalogue high quality open access research on public interest issues in Australia. Currently we have over 16,000 research records linking to full text resources.

The site specialises in reports and articles (grey literature*) on public interest issues but also includes peer-reviewed journal articles and ebooks from Australia and internationally.

As well as research, Policy Online offers commentary articles, video, audio and web resources, topic guides, books, calls for papers and a range of paid listings for events, jobs and courses.

*More information on grey literature is available at our related research project Grey Literature Strategies, an ARC Linkage project (2012 - 2015) developed as a result of the work being undertaken at Policy Online to collect and preserve research content published informally online.

Download the 2 page colour brochure for more information on Policy Online's audience, content and services

PARTNERSHIPS

Policy Online was established in 2002 as an initiative of the Swinburne Institute for Social Research. APO is a not-for-profit project which relies on institutional support, grants and revenue from advertising.

The site's development has been supported with a number of Australian Research Council Linkage Infrastructure and Equipment Grants (LIEF) grants over the years which have been critical to its development as an information resource enabling access to research for all Australians.

In 2013 we were awarded an ARC LIEF grant to develop Australian Policy Online as a linked database working with RMIT Publishing, RMIT University, Victoria University of Wellington and the University of South Australia.

Partnerships with universities and other organisations are crucial to Policy Online's ongoing sustainability. We are grateful to all the organisations that have supported Policy Online over the years.

The Creative and Digital gateway is presented in partnership with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI) along with support from ACCAN - the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network.

The Urban Policy & Design gateway is presented in partnership with RMIT University.

The collection of research from New Zealand is supported by the School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington.

The collection of material about Climate Change Adaptation is supported by the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF).

The 2013 upgrade has been supported by Australian National Institute for Public Policy at ANU