Abstract
Science is crucial for evidence-based decision-making. Public trust in scientists can help decision makers act on the basis of the best available evidence, especially during crises. However, in recent years the epistemic authority of science has been challenged, causing concerns about low public trust in scientists. We interrogated these concerns with a preregistered 68-country survey of 71,922 respondents and found that in most countries, most people trust scientists and agree that scientists should engage more in society and policymaking. We found variations between and within countries, which we explain with individual- and country-level variables, including political orientation. While there is no widespread lack of trust in scientists, we cannot discount the concern that lack of trust in scientists by even a small minority may affect considerations of scientific evidence in policymaking. These findings have implications for scientists and policymakers seeking to maintain and increase trust in scientists.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Number of pages | 22 |
Journal | Nature Human Behaviour |
DOIs | |
Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 20 Jan 2025 |
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In: Nature Human Behaviour, 20.01.2025.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries
AU - Cologna, Viktoria
AU - Mede, Niels G
AU - Berger, Sebastian
AU - Besley, John
AU - Brick, Cameron
AU - Joubert, Marina
AU - Maibach, Edward W
AU - Mihelj, Sabina
AU - Oreskes, Naomi
AU - Schäfer, Mike S
AU - van der Linden, Sander
AU - Abdul Aziz, Nor Izzatina
AU - Abdulsalam, Suleiman
AU - Shamsi, Nurulaini Abu
AU - Aczel, Balazs
AU - Adinugroho, Indro
AU - Alabrese, Eleonora
AU - Aldoh, Alaa
AU - Alfano, Mark
AU - Ali, Innocent Mbulli
AU - Alsobay, Mohammed
AU - Altenmüller, Marlene
AU - Alvarez, R Michael
AU - Amoako, Richard
AU - Amollo, Tabitha
AU - Ansah, Patrick
AU - Apriliawati, Denisa
AU - Azevedo, Flavio
AU - Bajrami, Ani
AU - Bardhan, Ronita
AU - Bati, Keagile
AU - Bertsou, Eri
AU - Betsch, Cornelia
AU - Bhatiya, Apurav Yash
AU - Bhui, Rahul
AU - Białobrzeska, Olga
AU - Bilewicz, Michał
AU - Bouguettaya, Ayoub
AU - Breeden, Katherine
AU - Bret, Amélie
AU - Buchel, Ondrej
AU - Cabrera-Álvarez, Pablo
AU - Cagnoli, Federica
AU - Calero Valdez, André
AU - Callaghan, Timothy
AU - Cases, Rizza Kaye
AU - Çoksan, Sami
AU - Czarnek, Gabriela
AU - De Peuter, Steven
AU - Debnath, Ramit
AU - Delouvée, Sylvain
AU - Di Stefano, Lucia
AU - Díaz-Catalán, Celia
AU - Doell, Kimberly C
AU - Dohle, Simone
AU - Douglas, Karen M
AU - Dries, Charlotte
AU - Dubrov, Dmitrii
AU - Dzimińska, Małgorzata
AU - Ecker, Ullrich K H
AU - Elbaek, Christian T
AU - Elsherif, Mahmoud
AU - Enke, Benjamin
AU - Etienne, Tom W
AU - Facciani, Matthew
AU - Fage-Butler, Antoinette
AU - Faisal, Md Zaki
AU - Fan, Xiaoli
AU - Farhart, Christina
AU - Feldhaus, Christoph
AU - Ferreira, Marinus
AU - Feuerriegel, Stefan
AU - Fischer, Helen
AU - Freundt, Jana
AU - Friese, Malte
AU - Fuglsang, Simon
AU - Gallyamova, Albina
AU - Garrido-Vásquez, Patricia
AU - Garrido Vásquez, Mauricio E
AU - Gatua, Winfred
AU - Genschow, Oliver
AU - Ghasemi, Omid
AU - Gkinopoulos, Theofilos
AU - Gloor, Jamie L
AU - Goddard, Ellen
AU - Gollwitzer, Mario
AU - González-Brambila, Claudia
AU - Gordon, Hazel
AU - Grigoryev, Dmitry
AU - Grimshaw, Gina M
AU - Guenther, Lars
AU - Haarstad, Håvard
AU - Harari, Dana
AU - Hawkins, Lelia N
AU - Hensel, Przemysław
AU - Hernández-Mondragón, Alma Cristal
AU - Herziger, Atar
AU - Huang, Guanxiong
AU - Huff, Markus
AU - Hurley, Mairéad
AU - Ibadildin, Nygmet
AU - Ishibashi, Maho
AU - Islam, Mohammad Tarikul
AU - Jeddi, Younes
AU - Jin, Tao
AU - Jones, Charlotte A
AU - Jungkunz, Sebastian
AU - Jurgiel, Dominika
AU - Kabdulkair, Zhangir
AU - Kao, Jo-Ju
AU - Kavassalis, Sarah
AU - Kerr, John R
AU - Kitsa, Mariana
AU - Klabíková Rábová, Tereza
AU - Klein, Olivier
AU - Koh, Hoyoun
AU - Koivula, Aki
AU - Kojan, Lilian
AU - Komyaginskaya, Elizaveta
AU - König, Laura
AU - Koppel, Lina
AU - Koren Nobre Cavalcante, Kochav
AU - Kosachenko, Alexandra
AU - Kotcher, John
AU - Kranz, Laura S
AU - Krishnan, Pradeep
AU - Kristiansen, Silje
AU - Krouwel, André
AU - Kuppens, Toon
AU - Kyza, Eleni A
AU - Lamm, Claus
AU - Lantian, Anthony
AU - Lazić, Aleksandra
AU - Lecuona, Oscar
AU - Légal, Jean-Baptiste
AU - Leviston, Zoe
AU - Levy, Neil
AU - Lindkvist, Amanda M
AU - Lits, Grégoire
AU - Löschel, Andreas
AU - López Ortega, Alberto
AU - Lopez-Villavicencio, Carlos
AU - Lou, Nigel Mantou
AU - Lucas, Chloe H
AU - Lunz-Trujillo, Kristin
AU - Marques, Mathew D
AU - Mayer, Sabrina J
AU - McKay, Ryan
AU - Mercier, Hugo
AU - Metag, Julia
AU - Milfont, Taciano L
AU - Miller, Joanne M
AU - Mitkidis, Panagiotis
AU - Monge-Rodríguez, Fredy
AU - Motta, Matt
AU - Mudra, Iryna
AU - Muršič, Zarja
AU - Namutebi, Jennifer
AU - Newman, Eryn J
AU - Nitschke, Jonas P
AU - Ntui, Ntui-Njock Vincent
AU - Nwogwugwu, Daniel
AU - Ostermann, Thomas
AU - Otterbring, Tobias
AU - Palmer-Hague, Jaime
AU - Pantazi, Myrto
AU - Pärnamets, Philip
AU - Parra Saiani, Paolo
AU - Paruzel-Czachura, Mariola
AU - Parzuchowski, Michal
AU - Pavlov, Yuri G
AU - Pearson, Adam R
AU - Penner, Myron A
AU - Pennington, Charlotte R
AU - Petkanopoulou, Katerina
AU - Petrović, Marija B
AU - Pfänder, Jan
AU - Pisareva, Dinara
AU - Ploszaj, Adam
AU - Poliaková, Karolína
AU - Pronizius, Ekaterina
AU - Pypno-Blajda, Katarzyna
AU - Quiñones, Diwa Malaya A
AU - Räsänen, Pekka
AU - Rauchfleisch, Adrian
AU - Rebitschek, Felix G
AU - Refojo Seronero, Cintia
AU - Rêgo, Gabriel
AU - Reynolds, James P
AU - Roche, Joseph
AU - Rödder, Simone
AU - Röer, Jan Philipp
AU - Ross, Robert M.
AU - Ruin, Isabelle
AU - Santos, Osvaldo
AU - Santos, Ricardo R
AU - Schmid, Philipp
AU - Schulreich, Stefan
AU - Scoggins, Bermond
AU - Sharaf, Amena
AU - Sheria Nfundiko, Justin
AU - Shuckburgh, Emily
AU - Six, Johan
AU - Solak, Nevin
AU - Späth, Leonhard
AU - Spruyt, Bram
AU - Standaert, Olivier
AU - Stanley, Samantha K
AU - Storms, Gert
AU - Strahm, Noel
AU - Syropoulos, Stylianos
AU - Szaszi, Barnabas
AU - Szumowska, Ewa
AU - Tanaka, Mikihito
AU - Teran-Escobar, Claudia
AU - Todorova, Boryana
AU - Toko, Abdoul Kafid
AU - Tokrri, Renata
AU - Toribio-Florez, Daniel
AU - Tsakiris, Manos
AU - Tyrala, Michael
AU - Uluğ, Özden Melis
AU - Uzoma, Ijeoma Chinwe
AU - van Noord, Jochem
AU - Varda, Christiana
AU - Verheyen, Steven
AU - Vilares, Iris
AU - Vlasceanu, Madalina
AU - von Bubnoff, Andreas
AU - Walker, Iain
AU - Warwas, Izabela
AU - Weber, Marcel
AU - Weninger, Tim
AU - Westfal, Mareike
AU - Wintterlin, Florian
AU - Wojcik, Adrian Dominik
AU - Xia, Ziqian
AU - Xie, Jinliang
AU - Zegler-Poleska, Ewa
AU - Zenklusen, Amber
AU - Zwaan, Rolf A.
PY - 2025/1/20
Y1 - 2025/1/20
N2 - Science is crucial for evidence-based decision-making. Public trust in scientists can help decision makers act on the basis of the best available evidence, especially during crises. However, in recent years the epistemic authority of science has been challenged, causing concerns about low public trust in scientists. We interrogated these concerns with a preregistered 68-country survey of 71,922 respondents and found that in most countries, most people trust scientists and agree that scientists should engage more in society and policymaking. We found variations between and within countries, which we explain with individual- and country-level variables, including political orientation. While there is no widespread lack of trust in scientists, we cannot discount the concern that lack of trust in scientists by even a small minority may affect considerations of scientific evidence in policymaking. These findings have implications for scientists and policymakers seeking to maintain and increase trust in scientists.
AB - Science is crucial for evidence-based decision-making. Public trust in scientists can help decision makers act on the basis of the best available evidence, especially during crises. However, in recent years the epistemic authority of science has been challenged, causing concerns about low public trust in scientists. We interrogated these concerns with a preregistered 68-country survey of 71,922 respondents and found that in most countries, most people trust scientists and agree that scientists should engage more in society and policymaking. We found variations between and within countries, which we explain with individual- and country-level variables, including political orientation. While there is no widespread lack of trust in scientists, we cannot discount the concern that lack of trust in scientists by even a small minority may affect considerations of scientific evidence in policymaking. These findings have implications for scientists and policymakers seeking to maintain and increase trust in scientists.
U2 - 10.1038/s41562-024-02090-5
DO - 10.1038/s41562-024-02090-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 39833424
SN - 2397-3374
JO - Nature Human Behaviour
JF - Nature Human Behaviour
ER -