Cima Evidence Brief #01: Understanding Evidence Maps and Evidence Gap Maps: What They Are and Why They Matter

This brief is the first in a series that explores the rigorous global evidence available across a range of education topics. The briefs are intended for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners seeking to better understand how systematic reviews, evidence maps, and evidence gap maps can support evidence-informed decision-making in education and other social sectors. These tools help synthesize and organize large bodies of research by identifying where evidence is concentrated, where important gaps remain, and which interventions or outcomes have been most rigorously studied. Both evidence maps and evidence gap maps are typically visualized as bubbles plotted across matrixes, allowing readers to quickly identify patterns in the available evidence before exploring the findings in greater detail.