How do I access and use Overton?
Answer
What is Overton?
Overton.io is the world’s largest searchable database of policy documents, guidelines, think tank publications and working papers. The database collects data from 188 countries and over a thousand sources worldwide. It also analyses these documents to identify key terms and topics, and links them to related news stories, academic publications, and other policy. The database can be used to:
- Discover policy documents from around the world
- Track the impact of individual or groups of researchers on policy
- Monitor the quality of government policymaking
- See which organisations are producing policy documents on a given subject
How do I access Overton?
A link to Overton is provided via Library Search. Access is via your University username and password.
You can also create a personal account which provides access to additional features such as saved searches, email alerts, tags and more.
How do I use Overton?
Overton has produced guidance on how to use the most commonly requested features of their dataset:
- Search for Policy Documents that cite or mention the University of Manchester
- Search for Publications which have been cited within policy documents
- Search for Policy documents which cite or mention individual researchers
- Find out which sources of information are included within Overton
- Understanding policy document search results
Contact us
If you have any specific questions around using Overton, please don’t hesitate to contact the Office for Open Research team