The Overton index allows you to track mentions of people in policy documents, in addition to formal citations.
A mention occurs when a person is referenced by name in a policy document, even if no scholarly publication is formally cited.
Mentions help you understand engagement, recognition, and influence in policymaking beyond traditional citation tracking.
See: How does Overton find people mentioned in policy documents
Examples of People mentions
In the People search, a mention occurs when Overton identifies a person’s name alongside their institutional affiliation in the text of a policy document.Overton links this information to a tracked individual profile where sufficient metadata is available.
Mentions can occur for many reasons. Some examples include where the individual:
- Co-authored a policy document or report found in Overton Index
- Provided expert evidence as part of a panel
- Participated in a committee hearing with a published transcript
- Was acknowledged in the document (for example, for providing feedback on a draft report)
Please note this is list is illustrative, not exhaustive!
Searching for People mentions
Users can use the People search to search for mentions by first conducting a search for a name or list of names and then applying the ‘Type’ filter for ‘Only people mentioned’.
See: Using Overton's People Search
There may be instances where users cannot find a mention of themselves using the People search. This doesn’t necessarily mean the person has not been mentioned in policy but rather that Overton has not been able to verify a mention.
In cases like these, users can instead conduct a full-text search for their name in the ‘Search policy documents’ search.
Identifying mentions in policy document results
In the policy document results, mentions are identified in the results by the presence of a yellow bar.
