Research and Policy updates are posted on the research in practice website on the first Monday of every month. Electronic copies are sent by e-mail to research in practice Partner Agencies on the same day.

Material for the policy update is selected on the basis of its interest to professionals working with children and young people in England and Wales, particularly in the fields of social care, education and health. Its principal aim is to draw attention to new policy developments so that individuals and agencies can plan ahead as well as lobby MPs and participate in relevant consultations if they so wish.

For more information on the resources scanned see our policy resource list

A range of journals and websites is scanned each month. Relevant websites are trawled for the recently commissioned research section, which appears in March and September each year. Recently published books are identified from library catalogues and databases for the section on new books, which appears in the May, August and November issues.

Criteria for inclusion in the Research Update are quite stringent because we want to present material that is explicit about its evidence base.

This means that there is a strong bias towards empirical research, that is, research conducted 'in the field', where data are gathered first hand, rather than reviews or discussion papers.

We are also keen to include evaluations of projects.

Finally, we include articles which discuss the task of reading and understanding research, as this is central to the evidence-informed practice (EIP) agenda.

The Research Update does not contain policy reviews or reflections on or evaluations of policy.

For more information on the journals and websites scanned see our research resource list