Special Issue
Practice-Informing Research in Public Administration: What, Why, and So What
Special Issue Editor
Tobin Im (Graduate School of Public Administration, Seoul National University)
tobin@snu.ac.kr
Abstract due: 25 February 2026
Manuscript due: 30 June 2026
Journal information
Submit an article to Journal of Policy Studies
View Journal of Policy Studies on Journal Homepage
Read the Instructions for Authors on Journal of Policy Studies
Journal Information
The Journal of Policy Studies (JPS) is a scholarly journal quarterly published by Graduate School of Public Administration (GSPA) at Seoul National University (SNU). JPS seeks original research that provides rigorous analyses of public policy and administration questions, as well as research that makes contributions to comparative policy. JPS continues the Korean Journal of Policy Studies (pISSN:1225-5017, eISSN:2765-2807), published from 1986 to 2021 by the same publisher.
Practice-Informing Research in Public Administration: What, Why, and So What
Bridging scholarly inquiry and administrative practice is essential both to the cumulative development of the PA field and to the improvement of public services and practices. Although Public Administration emerged with a close relationship between researchers and practitioners, that relationship has weakened over time. As the discipline has pursued scientific credibility, scholars have increasingly prioritised methodological sophistication and theory refinement, often at the expense of attention to practical problems. Practitioners, by contrast, typically favour problem-driven inquiry that is directly responsive to operational realities and immediate service challenges. The consequence is a recurring misalignment between what research produces and what practice can readily use.
Yet the pursuit of theory-building should not displace public administration’s enduring commitment to informing governing practice and addressing complex or even “wicked” social problems. Over the past several decades, the political expectation that public services be more evidence-based has accelerated both scholarship and practice related to knowledge mobilisation; approaches that support the production, sharing, and use of research-informed knowledge alongside other forms of knowledge. Paradoxically, the expansion of this agenda has not simplified research use. Instead, it has made evidence uptake more uncertain and contested, while increasing the variety and intensity of roles carried by knowledge brokers and other intermediaries.
As a result, while public administration scholarship continues to advance in conceptual and methodological terms, public sector leaders and frontline decision-makers face urgent problems that require timely judgement under political, fiscal, ethical, technological, and organisational constraints. Too frequently, academic work progresses without specifying credible implications for governing choices, while practical reforms proceed with limited engagement with systematic research-informed evidence. This special issue addresses that persistent gap by providing a dedicated outlet for research that connects scholarly contribution to practical relevance.
For this special issue, practice-informing public administration research refers to scholarship that strengthens how governments design, implement, manage, evaluate, and adapt public policies, services, and institutions. Submissions may inform practice through explanation, diagnosis, evaluation, or the development of frameworks, provided that the practical contribution is articulated and defensible.
Practice relevance may be shown in multiple ways, including guidance for policy design and implementation; managerial and organisational implications; the development of measurement and diagnostic tools; comparative learning with well-specified scope conditions; co-production and engagement with practitioners; and decision relevance that clarifies options, trade-offs, risks, and likely consequences for real public sector choices. Practice contributions may also arise through conceptual clarification, theory development that sharpens the understanding of decision contexts, or methodological innovations that improve governments’ capacity to assess and strengthen performance.
Call for Contributions
This special issue invites manuscripts that are theoretically grounded and methodologically rigorous, while also producing usable knowledge for policymakers, public managers, frontline leaders, and public organisations.
We welcome contributions that begin from a recognisable practice problem or decision context (for example, policy design choices, implementation breakdowns, managerial dilemmas, capability constraints, accountability pressures, ethical risks, digital transformation challenges, or coordination failures). Submissions will make the governing stakes explicit, including constraints and trade-offs related to time, resources, political pressures, statutory obligations, and ethical responsibilities.
Methodologically, we welcome quantitative, qualitative, mixed-method, comparative, experimental, and interpretive research. We also encourage practice-facing syntheses (systematic reviews, evidence reviews, and meta-syntheses), methodological contributions with clear practical pay-offs (measurement tools, evaluation designs, and diagnostic instruments), and conceptual or theoretical papers that sharpen practitioner-relevant concepts, mechanisms, and implications for governing practice.
Key Themes and Topics
Submissions may address any topic in public administration, provided the practice contribution is explicit. Illustrative areas include:
- Public workforce, HRM, and organisational behaviour: Leadership, workforce capability, diversity and inclusion, representative bureaucracy, professional norms, identities, and public service motivation.
- Policy agendas, prioritisation, and policy design: Governing priorities, agenda dynamics, instrument choice, sequencing, policy mixes, and resource constraints.
- Evidence use and policy advisory systems: Evidence production and uptake, advisory systems, boundary work, and organisational routines affecting what counts as usable knowledge.
- Performance management and organisational capacity: Performance information use, organisational learning, implementation management, and capability building.
- Public integrity, ethics, and accountability systems: Audit regimes, conflicts of interest, ethics, integrity, and risk governance.
- Digital government and algorithmic governance: Digital service design, data governance, automation, AI in public administration, and implications for discretion, accountability, and equity.
- Health governance and public service delivery: Health systems management, public health administration, professional–managerial relations, and service delivery under crisis and uncertainty.
- University research systems: Governance of higher education and research organisations, performance regimes, research integrity, funding systems, and organisational reform.
- Environmental sustainability and climate governance: Climate policy implementation, environmental regulation, sustainability transitions, and long-term governance under uncertainty.
- Innovation and collaborative governance: Cross-boundary coordination, partnerships, networks, co-production, and managing accountability in collaborative settings.
- Local government and multi-level governance: Governing close to communities, intergovernmental coordination, local capacity, and service delivery under fiscal and political constraints.
- Comparative public administration and regional governance: Administrative traditions, reform trajectories, and comparative lessons for practice across institutional contexts.
Submission Instructions
To submit a proposal for this special issue, please submit an abstract (maximum 1,000 words, including references) via tobin@snu.ac.kr.
All submissions selected by the editors will be invited to submit a full article through the Journal of Policy Studies submission system and will then be subject to the journal’s usual peer review procedures. An invitation to submit a full article does not guarantee publication; final decisions rest with the guest editors.
Timeline
- 25 February 2026: Deadline for abstract proposals (maximum 1,000 words, including references)
- 15 April 2026: Notification of abstract decisions
- 30 June 2026: Full paper submission deadline
- December 2026: Expected publication of special issue
Selected Reference
Cheema, F. S., & Perry, J. L. (2025). Reconsidering the gap between theory and practice in public administration. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration, 47(4), 315–320.
Christensen, J. (2021). Expert knowledge and policymaking: A multi-disciplinary research agenda. Policy & Politics, 49(3), 455–471.
Adam, C., Steinebach, Y., & Knill, C. (2018). Neglected challenges to evidence-based policy-making: The problem of policy accumulation. Policy Sciences, 51(3), 269–290.
Bogenschneider, K., & Corbett, T. (2011). Evidence-based policymaking: Insights from policy-minded researchers and research-minded policymakers. Routledge.
Emerson, K. (2022). On theory and theory building in public administration. Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, 5(1), 3–10.
Head, B. W. (2016). Toward more “evidence-informed” policy making? Public Administration Review, 76(3), 472–484.
Heinrich, C. J. (2012). How credible is the evidence, and does it matter? An analysis of the Program Assessment Rating Tool. Public Administration Review, 72(1), 123–134.
Howlett, M. (2009). Policy analytical capacity and evidence-based policy-making: Lessons from Canada. Canadian Public Administration, 52(2), 153–175.
Kroll, A., & Moynihan, D. P. (2018). The design and practice of integrating evidence: Connecting performance management with program evaluation. Public Administration Review, 78(2), 183–194.
Lemire, S., Peck, L. R., & Porowski, A. (2020). The growth of the evaluation tree in the policy analysis forest: Recent developments in evaluation. Policy Studies Journal, 48, S47–S70.
Sanderson, I. (2002). Evaluation, policy learning and evidence-based policy making. Public Administration, 80(1), 1–22.
Supplee, L. H., & Metz, A. (2015). Opportunities and challenges in evidence-based social policy. Social Policy Report, 28(4), 1–16.
