This study investigates how scientific research influences policymaking by analyzing citations of research articles in policy documents (policy impact) for nearly 125,000 articles across 434 public policy journals. We reveal distinct citation patterns between policymakers and other stakeholders like researchers, journalists, and the public. News and blog mentions, social media engagement, and open access publications (excluding fully open access) significantly increase the likelihood of a research article being cited in policy documents. Conversely, articles locked behind paywalls and those published under the full open access model (based on Altmetric data) have a lower chance of being policy-cited. Publication year and policy type show no significant influence. Our findings emphasize the crucial role of science communication channels like news media and social media in bridging the gap between research and policy. Interestingly, academic citations hold a weaker influence on policy citations compared to news mentions, suggesting a potential disconnect between how researchers reference research and how policymakers utilize it. This highlights the need for improved communication strategies to ensure research informs policy decisions more effectively. This study provides valuable insights for researchers, policymakers, and science communicators. Researchers can tailor their dissemination efforts to reach policymakers through media channels. Policymakers can leverage these findings to identify research with higher policy relevance. Science communicators can play a critical role in translating research for policymakers and fostering dialogue between the scientific and policymaking communities.

翻译：本研究通过分析近12.5万篇发表于434种公共政策期刊的研究论文在政策文件中的被引情况（即政策影响），探究科学研究如何影响政策制定。我们揭示了政策制定者与其他利益相关者（如研究人员、新闻记者和公众）之间存在截然不同的引用模式。新闻和博客提及、社交媒体参与以及开放获取出版物（不包括完全开放获取模式）显著提高了研究论文被政策文件引用的可能性。相反，被付费墙限制的文章以及基于Altmetric数据认定为完全开放获取模式的文章，被政策引用的几率较低。发表年份和政策类型未表现出显著影响。我们的发现强调了新闻媒体和社交媒体等科学传播渠道在弥合研究与政策之间鸿沟中的关键作用。有趣的是，与新闻提及相比，学术引用对政策引用的影响较弱，这表明研究人员引用研究的方式与政策制定者利用研究的方式之间存在潜在脱节。这凸显了改进传播策略以确保研究更有效地为政策决策提供信息的必要性。本研究为研究人员、政策制定者和科学传播者提供了宝贵见解：研究人员可通过媒体渠道调整其传播工作以触达政策制定者；政策制定者可利用这些发现识别政策相关性更高的研究；科学传播者则在向政策制定者转化研究成果及促进科学界与政策界对话中发挥关键作用。