Lucy Rycroft-Smith This blog post is based on the Evidence & Policy article, ‘What might constitute research misuse in knowledge brokering and how might Ofsted’s 2021 mathematics ‘research review’ be considered as an example?‘, part of the part of the Evidence & Policy Special Issue: Research (Mis)use and Mis/Disinformation in and around Education. In a new debate article in Evidence & Policy, I argue that Ofsted, the body that inspects England’s schools, engaged in what I term research-washing when it published its 2021 Mathematics Research Review. Research-washing means “the application of a thin veneer of research credibility to a product or idea that’s being sold to schools or teachers” (Enser, 2019:23), or wearing borrowed and underserved robes of academic credibility. The result can mislead teachers, skew school inspections, and corrode public trust in evidence itself. Why this matters beyond mathematics education We live in an age of evidence-informed everything. Governments, regulators, and inspectorates routinely invoke “the research” to justify their decisions. This is, in principle, a good thing. Research should inform practice and policy. But …