Scottish Government website publication breakdown: FOI release

Information requested

The Scottish Government’s Publications site lists distinct (https://www.gov.scot/publications/) items – ten per page. These items are by default sorted in chronological order from newest to oldest, and results can be filtered by categories ‘Content Type’, ‘Topic’, and date of most recent update.

Please provide the following information:

1. [PART 1] The total number of all Scottish Government publication items from 1 January 2018 (first published or updated on or since that date) to present. Please break this quantity of publications down by:
a. Topic
b. Content Type
c. Year and month of first publication
d. Year and month of most recent update

2. [PART 2] Whether publications ever have more than one content type classification

3. [PART 3] Whether publications ever have more than one topic classification

4. [PART 4] If publications can have more than one content type classification and more than one topic classification, please provide another breakdown as requested in (1), but this time counting each publication only once, including it only in the category which it is first tagged with. (For example, if a publication’s topic field contains ‘Arts, Culture and Sport; Brexit; Coronavirus (Covid-19) in Scotland’, then it would be only counted under ‘Arts, Culture and Sport’). Please specify how this tag-ordering is performed (e.g. if it is alphabetical, in order of first entry etc.)

Response

[PART 1] Publications can be filtered by topic, date last updated, and type. The total number of publications returned by applying these filters is shown at the top of the page. The total number of publications by year and month of first publication since January 2018 is:

2018-01	226
2018-02	302
2018-03	381
2018-04	254
2018-05	379
2018-06	375
2018-07	266
2018-08	267
2018-09	318
2018-10	458
2018-11	418
2018-12	324
2019-01	281
2019-02	346
2019-03	382
2019-04	323
2019-05	380
2019-06	357
2019-07	265
2019-08	272
2019-09	366
2019-10	355
2019-11	304
2019-12	331
2020-01	366
2020-02	279
2020-03	419
2020-04	259
2020-05	270
2020-06	351
2020-07	345
2020-08	365
2020-09	416
2020-10	418
2020-11	517
2020-12	494
2021-01	353
2021-02	577
2021-03	728
2021-04	291
2021-05	367
2021-06	484
2021-07	428
2021-08	350
2021-09	414
2021-10	533
2021-11	481
2021-12	485
2022-01	410
2022-02	563
2022-03	607
2022-04	283
2022-05	414
2022-06	401
2022-07	343
2022-08	426
2022-09	277
2022-10	401
2022-11	377
2022-12	331
2023-01	332
2023-02	379
2023-03	440
2023-04	298
2023-05	318
2023-06	389
2023-07	269
2023-08	367
2023-09	520
2023-10	640
2023-11	1116
2023-12	797
2024-01	904
2024-02	533
2024-03	427
2024-04	507
2024-05	445
2024-06	307
2024-07	360
2024-08	611
2024-09	1243
2024-10	723
2024-11	568
2024-12	369
2025-01	759
2025-02	524
2025-03	492
2025-04	73 (as of April 9th)

[PART 2] Publications do not have more than one content type classification.

[PART 3] Publications often have more than one topic classification.

[PART 4] Publications do not have a hierarchy of topic classifications (i.e. primary, secondary, tertiary, etc.), therefore it cannot be listed as you suggest. Topic ordering on gov.scot is alphabetical.

Some of the information you have requested in [Part 1] is available from gov.scot using the appropriate filters: Publications - gov.scot. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.