What is Overton?

Overton is the world’s largest searchable index of policy documents, guidelines, think tank publications and working papers.

Overton provides a unique database to show how UC research is cited within documents written by and for policymakers. It also provides a collection of policy documents searchable for research purposes. This data is particularly valuable in measuring the impact of UC research on policy and legislation, which is increasingly of interest to support grant funding applications, rankings schema, and for the upcoming PBRF Quality Evaluation in 2026.

Overton can be searched in three ways:

1. Search policy documents: Keyword search of the titles, and full text of all the policy documents indexed in Overton

2. Search people: Search your name or the name of someone whose work you're interested in to see where you/they are cited or mentioned in policy documents

3. Search scholarly publications: Look up a publication to see if it has been cited in policy documents