Frequently asked questions

Why does this directory exist?

The Open Think Tank Directory was born because information about think tanks, and other policy research centres, expertise bodies, etc. is is scattered across different sites with different focus areas and is seldom kept up to date. And when seemingly detailed information exists it tends to be private and not available to the public.  So, it is difficult for think tanks to find each other, for the public to know which centres exist and for funders to know which ones’ work on which topic. It is therefore problematic, if not impossible, to answer questions like:

• What is the city with most think tanks?
• Which organisations focus on health?
• What is the average staff size of a think tank?
• How many women lead think tanks?

This directory aims to pull together everything into one place. We want to make sure it’s as accessible as possible. That’s why it’s an open database — it’s available in its entirety to download and use for non-commercial purposes.

Who is On Think Tanks?

On Think Tanks (OTT)focuses on a range of issues of relevance and interest to think tanks as well as their staff and supporters. OTT is a global collaboration of researcher and policy entrepreneurs driven by the conviction that better informed societies have a better chance of delivering progress for their most vulnerable. The members of the OTT team and its partners consider that policy research institutes, or think tanks, can play many important roles in supporting better informed societies. To us, think tanks, and policy research centres more generally, are the way to address the broader challenges that pose macro level and

We hope that our initiatives and the articles and the resources published here will support think tanks to be more strategic in the ways they make short and long-term decisions; and that this will result in better policy advice and policy outcomes for all.

How have we defined which organisations to include?

Thinks tanks are difficult to define as the term applies to various organisations with different characteristics, development pathways and even different business models and structures. Organisations labelled think tanks include for-profit consultancies, university-based research centres, NGOs, public policy bodies, foundations, advocacy organisations and membership-based associations, to name a few. But despite their differences – and for the purpose of the Open Think Tank Directory – we have defined think tanks as a diverse group of knowledge and engagement organisations that have as their (main) objective to use research to inform and/or influence policy and its outcomes. To do this, they perform a range of functions, some of which are: undertaking research, aiming to influence the public agenda, monitoring how specific policies are carried out, suggesting or advocating for policy changes etc..

Given this broad definition the inclusion criteria for the directory are:

• The organisation must carry out some form of research with the aims of informing public policies – those doing research without a public policy angle were not considered, neither were organisations mainly focusing on advocacy and not carrying out research.
• The organisation must have an independent identity (particularly in the case of university affiliated centres).
• The organisation needs to be formally registered in a country (it can undertake research or influence in that or any other country).

The directory has been compiled and populated using a mixed approach: web searches in google to find existing country, regional or world think tank lists; web searches to find organisations (looking for terms such as  think tank, policy research centre or thought centre in different languages) in each country; suggestions of inclusion by country and regional experts; and by direct submission by think tanks. All organisations are reviewed to verify they fit the inclusion criteria and either accepted, accepted but deemed boundary or not accepted. The Open Think Tank Directory does not make any evaluation of the organisations it features.

We do not claim that this is the complete and final think tank list but, acknowledge that some might not appear,and if you have a suggestion for inclusion please let us knows. Despite it not being the final list of think tanks it does  however a good overview of think tanks and related organisations around the world

How reliable is the data in this directory?

The information in this directory is of different levels of reliability. We aim to be transparent in this by labelling the level or processing the data we present has had. There are three levels of reliability, described below:

• Imported: This information is the most basic level. We have compiled information from different credible sources. However, this data has not been reviewed at all by On Think Tanks, and may not be up to date
• Authenticated: Data collectors from around the globe sourced the information, under our guidance, by validating information available on the Internet, which may be of variable quality. On Think Tanks has not reviewed the accuracy of this data).
• OTT reviewed: Members of On Think Tanks have looked at the information and are satisfied that it is in the correct format and accurate (to the best of our knowledge). They have also made decisions about whether it should be included in the directory.

What is a boundary organisation?

During the process of finding organisations to include in the directory, we realised that some organisations somewhat met the criteria but were not think tanks in the classical definition, their characteristics were different. We decided to include them in the database but mark them as boundary organisations. A centre was deemed a boundary organisation if it carried out some form of research to inform public policy, but it´s main activities were others (pure research, advocacy, programme implementation, etc.). We have kept them in the directory but they are excluded from country and general averages of data.

Which variables does the directory track?

*These variables are only visible when you download the database.

Other data considerations

• University policy research centres and Twitter handles: Some university affiliated centres might be using the universities account and therefore appear to have more followers because of this.
• Publication numbers: Publication numbers include any type of publication, excluding promotional material. Generally, blogs are not included.
• Descriptions: The description of think tanks varies as we have tried to represent the think tanks as they present themselves. Also as the directory is used more by organizations, each will start describing themselves in the way they see fit. We encourage them to share, who they are, their aims/mission or objectives and main activities.

Topics

The list of topics is succinct in purpose. The objective is to provide an overview of the topics that an organisation focuses on and also enable comparisons. Here is a list of examples of what each topic includes: