The UCSF Industry Documents Library (IDL) is a digital archive containing millions of documents obtained from industries which influence public health, hosted by the University of California, San Francisco Library. Originally established in 2002 to house the millions of documents publicly disclosed in litigation against the tobacco industry in the 1990s, beginning with the State of Minnesota’s settlement, the IDL has expanded to include documents from the drug, chemical, food, fossil fuel, and opioid industries to preserve open access to this information and to support research on the commercial determinants of public health.
These collections are an important tool for researchers, lawyers, journalists, public health advocates and the general public as they expose industry tactics around marketing campaigns, regulatory strategies, and public health policy formulation. The documents have been cited in more than 1,000 publications, including articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the British Medical Journal, NPR, and the New York Times.
The IDL collects and preserves previously internal corporate documents which become public via litigation, Freedom of Information Act Requests, partner libraries, and other research collections. To learn more about how we collect documents, please read our Collection Development Policy.
If you would like to contribute documents to the IDL, please contact us. Document contributions may be made anonymously.
Truth Tobacco industry documents
The Truth Tobacco Industry Documents Library (formerly known as the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library) was created in 2002 with support from the American Legacy Foundation (now Truth Initiative) and is our largest archive with over 16 million items. The archive was built to house and provide permanent access to tobacco industry internal corporate documents produced during litigation between US States and the seven major tobacco industry organizations and other sources. These internal documents give a view into the workings of one of the largest and most influential industries in the United States from the 1950s to the present day. As of 2024 the archive also contains millions of documents obtained from the e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs, Inc.
Drug industry documents
The Drug Industry Documents Archive was created in 2006 in collaboration with UCSF faculty members C. Seth Landefeld, MD and Michael Steinman, MD. Originally established to house documents from an off-label marketing lawsuit against Parke-Davis, the archive has grown to include more than 5,700 documents from additional sources illustrating how the pharmaceutical industry, academic journals and institutions, and continuing medical education organizations operate in ways that are detrimental to public health.
Chemical industry documents
The Chemical Industry Documents Archive was created in 2017 in collaboration with the UCSF Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE). The archive contains more than 13,000 internal company documents highlighting the chemical industry’s knowledge of the risks associated with toxic substances such as benzene and attempts to intervene in government standards and minimize the information about adverse effects to workers and the public.
Food industry documents
The Food Industry Documents Archive was created in 2018 in collaboration with the UCSF Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies. The Food Industry Documents were digitized and made available online through partnerships with other libraries, archives, and related organizations. The archive contains more than 173,000 documents highlighting marketing, research, and policy strategies used by food companies and trade groups that impact public health.
Fossil fuel industry documents
The Fossil Fuel Industry Documents Archive was established in 2019 to house documents created by fossil fuel companies and associated groups which illustrate the industry's influence on climate science research, regulation, and policies affecting public health. It includes a foundational collection of more than 1,100 documents obtained by the Climate Investigations Center and is expected to expand.
Opioid industry documents
The Opioid Industry Documents Archive was created in 2021 as a collaboration between UCSF and Johns Hopkins University. It is a rapidly-growing archive of more than 3 million documents that advances understanding of the root causes of the U.S. opioid epidemic, promotes transparency and accountability, and informs and enables evidence-based research and investigation to protect and improve public health.
All materials are in digital format and publicly available online at the Industry Documents Library website. Please contact us at industrydocuments@ucsf.edu, if you have questions or would like help searching the documents.
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