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APO Policies and Guidelines

Advertising terms and conditions

  1. ‘Advertising’ includes Banner advertising in Australian Policy Online (APO) newsletters, Classified listings in APO newsletters and on the APO website, and on any other associated platforms and publications. 
  2. All advertising is subject to availability and is moderated by APO.
  3. APO reserves the right to either reject or remove any advertisements for any reason at any time.
  4. APO will not accept advertisements that are or appear to be in breach of any laws or standards. It is the responsibility of the Advertiser to ensure that all advertisements provided to APO are not contrary to any Australian or international laws, regulations, standards or codes and to notify APO immediately if they should become aware of any breach, intended or otherwise.. 
  5. The Advertiser indemnifies APO against all claims, actions, suits, liabilities, costs and expenses incurred by APO as a result of the listing published by the Advertiser on APO.
  6. APO makes every effort to avoid errors in advertisements. However, it is the responsibility of the Advertiser to check for errors and APO accepts no responsibility or liability for any errors. APO will make every effort to amend any errors in a timely manner if contacted by the Advertiser. 
  7. APO is not liable for any loss or damage incurred by the Advertiser as a result of any error, failure or delay in listing an advertisement.
  8. Rates set by APO may vary without notice. Rates are in Australian dollars and 10% GST is included.
  9. Advertising must be purchased online via debit or credit card.
  10. APO does not provide refunds for Advertising that has not been used.
  11. APO reserves the right to make minor changes to Advertising formatting and copy to ensure that advertisements comply with editorial standards and consistency.
  12. Classified advertising can be listed on the website for a period of up to 4 months. If the advertiser does not specify an end date for their advertisement, APO shall set the end date at 4 months from the date of posting.

Changes and announcements

APO reserves the right to make changes to its product and services and Policies and Guidelines at any time, without notice. 

Content policy

APO collects, curates, catalogues and hosts resources from a diversity of research perspectives and policy standpoints. APO specialises in grey literature (i.e. literature published by organisations whose primary purpose is not commercial publishing) and includes resources sourced from a wide range of organisations such as government, agencies, regulators, research institutes, non-for-profits, think tanks and industry. 

Resource types include reports, policy documents, strategies, working and discussion papers, literature reviews, evaluations and open access journal articles.

Collection

  1. APO takes an editorial approach which is independent and non-partisan. 
  2. Opinions or views expressed on the APO website, associated platforms and in resources, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Susan McKinnon Charitable Foundation Ltd, APO or its staff.
  3. APO curates resources that are intended for people aged 13 and above. Resources on APO are generally appropriate for use in high school and higher education.
  4. APO will not, to the best of its knowledge, host resources that could reasonably be considered to be offensive, or that contain content of an explicit sexual or violent nature.
  5. Where possible, APO will endeavour to attach accessible and/or Easy Read format versions of resources to our records.
  6. APO endeavours to accurately catalogue and host relevant and appropriate resources, including their metadata. Queries regarding resource records and requests for corrections and clarifications can be raised with the APO Editors at [email protected]

Contribution and moderation

Anyone can sign-up for an APO account and contribute published public policy and research resources for APO to consider adding to the repository.

Academics, researchers, and organisations are strongly encouraged to contribute resources for editorial consideration. 

Resources that will be considered will need to be:

  • relevant to public policy and research in Australia and/or Aotearoa New Zealand
  • published by an organisation
  • submitted for moderation no more than six months from the publication date (exceptions can be made for My APO+ members for up to one year from the publication date)
  • open access and in the public domain
  • credible and well expressed.

APO does not accept the following:

  • resources that are behind a paywall
  • preprints or early views
  • submissions to public inquiries (exception made for Collections)
  • theses
  • opinion pieces.

Moderation of contributed resources

  1. APO moderates all contributed resources.
  2. APO asserts editorial rights to accept or reject resource contributions at its discretion. 
  3. Contributed resources uploaded to APO should adhere to the copyright statement of the resource, unless the contributor can be clearly identified as an author or other rights holder over the work. 
  4. Contributed resources should be complete and of a high standard. Contributed resources that are poorly written, not in clear English, lacking acknowledgements, lacking reference citations, or deemed by APO to be otherwise inappropriate, will be rejected and the contributor will be notified by email.
  5. Decisions to accept or reject contributions to APO are final.

To contribute a resource for consideration, go to How to use APO and follow the steps to add a resource.

APO observes Australian and international copyright standards and acknowledges copyright ownership as found on resources and related documentation.

By hosting content APO does not claim copyright over the work but is granted the non-exclusive right to post and distribute it. External contributors undertake that, to the best of their knowledge, they have the right to grant that permission.

Feedback

For feedback and questions about our Policies and Guidelines, use the APO Feedback form on the Contact us page.

Financial support and partnerships

APO is a not-for-profit operation under the auspices of the Susan McKinnon Charitable Foundation Ltd (ABN 12 653 756 597) in Melbourne, Australia.

APO was founded in 2002, at Swinburne University of Technology and continued to host and support APO and its staff until 2023. From 22 December 2023, APO has been hosted at, and supported by, the Susan McKinnon Charitable Foundation Ltd.

APO is a public good and seeks to partner with organisations that believe open access to useful evidence is an essential part of a well-functioning society. 

Because website links to resources can be unstable, APO prefers to host full-text copies of publications. In cases where material is copyright protected, or only released in a HTML format, APO backs up external links via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Metrics

Any APO statistics collected and published on the website are calculated on a best-effort basis with no guarantees of their accuracy, whether stated or implied. APO website statistics should be used with discretion. 

Open access

APO strongly prioritises resources that are in the public domain and freely accessible, which do not require information (such as email addresses) or payment via subscriptions or institutional access.

Privacy and data security

APO website users who have provided personal information are subject to, and protected by, Australian laws and standards including:

We take the protection of your personal information seriously. APO will never send you an email requesting you update or disclose personal information through an insecure channel such as email. If you receive a suspicious communication, do not respond to it or follow any links. You can report suspicious email activity to the National Anti-Scam Centre.

Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics to understand more about how the website is being used. No personal information is collected. Google Analytics collects the following information:

  • Number of users
  • Session statistics
  • Approximate geolocation
  • Browser and device information

Read more about the how Google Analytics collects this information.

Terms of use

This website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Int) License. This means the website can not be used for commercial harvesting.  

APO prohibits the use of the website for the purposes of generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI).