Abstract
This issue of The Journal of Policy Studies includes several works that are products of the New Jersey State Policy Lab (NJSPL). This introductory piece explains the brief history of the NJSPL and its philosophy behind producing empirically driven, policy-relevant research that both can produce the types of academic works you see in the articles that follow, and reports that are of use to state decision-makers. The first author of this article is the Principal Investigator of the NJSPL, the second author is its Executive Director, and the third author, one of its summer interns who provided research support.