v2026.1CASRAI Dictionary 714 entries across 20 domains · CC-BY 4.0714 entries · CC-BY 4.0

Dictionary termTrack AStablev2026.2

White paper

An authoritative document — published by a government, industry, or research organisation — that provides analysis and recommendations on a specific issue, typically intended to inform policy, position the issuing body, or guide implementation, with a more formal and longer treatment than a policy brief.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
A UK Government White Paper on AI regulation tabled in Parliament

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
A marketing one-pager for a software product is not a white paper in the scholarly-output sense

Editorial commentary

The term originates from UK government policy documents (Command Papers in white covers) and has expanded to industry use. Distinct from a policy brief by greater length and analytic depth; distinct from a technical report by primary audience (policy/decision-maker vs. technical practitioner).

References

UK Government White Papers convention
OECD White Paper format

Also known as

Position paper (white paper)

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="White paper"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/white-paper" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "name": "White paper",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/white-paper",
  "description": "An authoritative document — published by a government, industry, or research organisation — that provides analysis and recommendations on a specific issue, typically intended to inform policy, position the issuing body, or guide implementation, with a more formal and longer treatment than a policy brief.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/research-outputs-expanded/",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/white-paper",
  "sameAs": [
    "Position paper (white paper)"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}

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