The evidence-policy-interface is a two-way street: policymakers and researchers both benefit from sharing insights about the problems that governments face and how they seek solutions. Yet, too often, the response is one-way activity: investment in a research-to-policy infrastructure to help academics send evidence to policymakers. This engagement is ineffective unless academics draw on research to understand the policy process in which they engage. 

While there is an impressive body of policy research, and some is based on interviews with policymakers, there is no equivalent-sized infrastructure for policy process researchers. A lack of capacity makes most academics ill-prepared to engage effectively in the evidence-policy interface. While this problem cannot be solved overnight, reflection-driven improvement can be stimulated, including by revisiting guidance to policy scientists conducting elite research. This article reviews current advice to help formalise this guidance and provoke reflection on the state of interview-informed knowledge. 

The article argues that elite interviewing has become logistically easier but politically harder when elites are disincentivised to share perspectives with outsiders. Overcoming this trust barrier may depend on practices beyond those outlined in standard qualitative research methods and ethics processes. If so, access to policy insights and knowledge might remain limited. Better ways to facilitate academic-policymaker exchange are needed.