Why meta‐research matters to regulation and governance scholarship: An illustrative evidence synthesis of responsive regulation research

Abstract This article is an introduction to meta‐research, a systematic and replicable process of synthesizing research findings across a body of original research. After introducing the reader to the core of meta‐research methodology, meta‐research logic and tools are applied to present an evidence synthesis of empirical research on responsive regulation. The article concludes with a meta‐research agenda for regulation and governance scholarship, and five key lessons from the empirical responsive regulation literature.