What is co-production? Conceptualising and understanding co-production of knowledge and policy across different theoretical perspectives

Background: ‘Co-production’ is one of the key concepts in evidence-informed policy and practice – in terms of both its theoretical importance and its practical applications − being consistently discussed as the most effective strategy for mobilising evidence in policy and practice contexts. The concept of co-production was developed (almost) independently across multiple disciplines and has been employed in various policy and practice fields including environment, sustainability, and health.

Aims and objectives: This paper surveys the literature to identify different meanings of co-production across different disciplinary bodies of knowledge. Such exploration is aimed at identifying the key points of convergence and divergence across disciplinary and theoretical traditions.

Methods: The study employs a scoping review methodology, using Web of Science via a query designed to capture literature likely focussing on co-production, and then screening each document for relevance. Citation network analysis was then used to ‘map’ this literature by grouping papers into clusters based on the density of citation links between papers. The top-cited papers within each cluster were thematically analysed.

Findings: This research identified five meanings of co-production: understood as a science-politics relationship, as knowledge democracy, as transdisciplinarity, as boundary management, and as an evidence use intervention.

Conclusion: Co-production captures a spectrum of practices at different levels of abstraction – from the level of socio-political systems, the level of institutions, and the level of situated practices. Even though these meanings are complementary, they are at times in tension with each other as they lead to different knowledge effects.