Recently completed studies

Ex post studies of influence

• CIFOR, 2005. Achievements of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) 1998-2005. Bogor, Indonesia: CIFOR.
  The study is a relatively comprehensive inventory of perceived examples of CIFOR use and uptake of CIFOR research products produced between 1998 and 2005.  Based on interaction with senior scientific staff, the study identifies national policy changes, international policy processes, development agency policies, and community initiatives that have been influenced by CIFOR work.  As a result, the study is a useful basis for the selection of case studies for impact assessment.

• Spilsbury, M.J. 2005. The sustainability of forest management: assessing the impact of CIFOR criteria and indicators research. Impact Assessment Papers no. 4. Bogor, Indonesia: CIFOR.
  The study attributes influence on forest management practices to the use of CIFOR research on Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management.  In so doing, the study assesses a broad range of impact pathways, including forest certification requirements and various national regulations.  In total, the study finds that the management of 5 million hectares of forest was substantively influenced by this research, and that many more millions of hectares were slightly influenced.

Citation studies

CIFOR has conducted a number of diffusion studies, so as to capture global uptake of research results.  Due to the number of uptake pathways captured, these do not go beyond use to establish counterfactual scenarios of events.

• Angelsen, A. and B. Aryal. 2005. Contributing to the scientific literature - Citation of CIFOR publications. Impact Assessment Papers no. 6. Bogor, Indonesia: CIFOR.
  The study quantifies total number of CIFOR publications, investigates citation rates, and identifies characteristics of most frequently cited papers.  

• Spilsbury, M.J. and P. Bose. 2005. Influencing the global forest policy agenda – an evaluation of CIFOR research. Impact Assessment Papers no. 2. Bogor, Indonesia: CIFOR.
  This study identifies CIFOR’s contributions to the international forest agenda through bibliometric analysis of 193 key international forest policy papers.  In so doing, the report identifies important uptake of CIFOR findings in key documents of the World Bank, FAO and the Convention on Biological Diversity.

• Spilsbury, M.J. and N. Haase. 2005. An evaluation of POLEX (CIFORs Forest Policy Experts Listserv). Impact Assessment Papers no. 3. Bogor, Indonesia: CIFOR.
  Reports the results of a survey of recipients of POLEX email messages, so as to estimate total readership, use of message content, and identify areas for potential improvement.

Related papers

• Spilsbury, M.J.; Kaimowitz, D. 2000. The influence of research and publications on conventional wisdom and policies affecting forests. Unasylva 51(203): 3-10.

• Spilsbury, M.J.; Kaimowitz, D. 2002. Forestry research, innovation and impact in developing countries - from economic efficiency to the broader public good. Forestry Chronicle 78(1): 103-107

• Spilsbury, M.J. 2002. Getting forestry research into policy and practice. Proceedings of the IUFRO Task Force on the Science/Policy Interface International Workshop on Forest Science and Forest Policy in the Asia-Pacific Region: Building Bridges to a Sustainable Future, held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, on 16-19 July 2002.

• Spilsbury, M.J.; Nasi, R. 2006. The interface of policy research and the policy development process: challenges posed to the forestry community. Forest Policy and Economics 8: 193– 205.

Ongoing Studies

Assessing the Impact of CIFOR’s Influence on Policy and Practice in the Pulp and Paper Sector
CIFOR’s research on the political economy of investment in the Indonesian pulp and paper sector offered groundbreaking insights into how market imperfections resulted in deforestation outcomes.  This case study will appraise whether the research influenced fiber sourcing practices for two major pulp producers in Indonesia, and whether an important Ministerial decree, which restricts harvesting of natural forests for pulp, may be attributable to the research.  If validated, this influence may have helped to avert large areas of deforestation.  The study will also assess whether the research had influence on socially responsible business practices in other parts of the globe, as well.

Review of the Documented Impacts of Forestry Research Investments
Forestry is a sector that poses unique challenges for the uptake of improved management technologies.  Tenure and regulatory insecurity limit the expected returns from investment in improved technologies in many areas, while incentives often exist for extensification, rather than sustainable management.  As a result, only under certain conditions are benefits from research on improved forestry methods likely.  This paper will make an attempt to identify technologies and adoption conditions that have a demonstrated track record of impact, through a comprehensive inventory of ex post impact assessments of forestry research investments.