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.
| Originalsprache | Englisch |
|---|---|
| Aufsatznummer | e2108576118 |
| Zeitschrift | Nature Human Behaviour |
| Jahrgang | 9 |
| Ausgabenummer | 4 |
| Seiten (von - bis) | 713-730 |
| Seitenumfang | 18 |
| DOIs | |
| Publikationsstatus | Veröffentlicht - 04.2025 |
Fördermittel
We thank D. Lombardi (University of Zurich) for managing the author list and author contributions and P. Licari (Technite) for valuable methodological advice. The following funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript: Swiss National Science Foundation Postdoc Mobility Fellowship (P500PS_202935) (V.C.); Harvard University Faculty Development Funds (V.C.); Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SI/502093\u201301) (S.B.); University of Zurich/IMKZ (M.S.S.); the HELTS Foundation (E.W.M.); School of Psychology, University of Sheffield (I.A. and H.G.); Beasiswa Pendidikan Indonesia Kemendikbudristek\u2014LPDP provided by Balai Pembiayaan Pendidikan Tinggi (BPPT) Kemdikbudristek and LPDP Indonesia (I.A.); Department of Economics, University of Warwick (E.A.); John Templeton Foundation grant no. 61378 (M. Alfano); Australian Research Council grant no. DP190101507 (M. Alfano); Resnick Sustainability Institute (R.M.A.); Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kalijaga (D.A.); University \u2018Aleksand\u00EBr Moisiu\u2019, Durr\u00EBs (A. Bajrami and R.T.); Africa Albarado Fund (R. Bardhan); Cambridge Africa (R. Bardhan); ESRC GCRF (R. Bardhan); SNSF (VAR-EXP) (E.B., P.K. and A.Z.); German Research Foundation grant no. BE 3970/12-1 (C. Betsch); Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (A.Y.B.); SWPS University (O. Bia\u0142obrzeska and M. Parzuchowski); University of Warsaw (M.B. and P.H.); Harvey Mudd College (K. Breeden); Boston University (Startup Funds) (T.C. and M.M.); Jagiellonian University (G.C. and E. Szumowska); Quadrature Climate Fund (R.D. and E. Shuckburgh); Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant no. OPP1144 (R.D.); EDCTP2 Programme (TMA2020CDF-3171) (I.M.A.); Cambridge Humanities Research Grant (R.D.); CRASSH grant fund for climaTRACES lab (R.D.); Keynes Fund (R.D.); UKRI ODA International Partnership Fund (R.D. and R. Bardhan); COVID-19 Rapid Response grant from the University of Vienna (K.C.D., C.L., J.P.N., E.P. and B.T.); OptimAgent (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, funding code 031L0299D) and University of L\u00FCbeck (A.C.V. and L. Kojan); Austrian Science Fund grant FWF, I3381 (K.C.D., C.L., J.P.N. and E.P.); the Austrian Science Fund FWF: W1262-B29 (C.L. and B.T.); Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft grant no. RE 4752/1-1 (C.D. and F.G.R.); David and Claudia Harding Foundation (C.D. and F.G.R.); Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE University) (D.D., A.G., D.G. and E.K.); University of Lodz (M.D. and I. Warwas); Australian Research Council grant no. FT190100708 (U.K.H.E.); School of Economics Interdisciplinary funding at University of Birmingham (M.E.); Kieskompas.nl (T.W.E. and A. Krouwel); USAID (M. Facciani and T.W.); Aarhus University Research Foundation grant no. AUFF-E-2019-9-13 (A.F.-B. and S. Fuglsang); Carleton College (C. Farhart); internal project costs IWM (H.F.); Australian Research Council grant no. DP190101675 (O. Ghasemi); Government of Alberta Major Innovation Fund grant no. RES0049213 (E.G.); Conacyt grant no. A1S9013 (C.G.-B. and A.C.H.-M.); Simone R\u00F6dder (L.G.); Hixon Center for Climate and the Environment, Harvey Mudd College (L.N.H.); Faculty Research Grant of City University of Hong Kong grant no. PJ9618021 (G.H.); research grant from the College of Social Sciences, Kimep University (N.I. and Z.K.); Hitachi Fund Support for Research Related to Infectious Diseases (M.I. and M. Tanaka); JST-RISTEX ELSI grant no. JPMJRX20J3 (M.I. and M. Tanaka); School of Geography, Planning, and Spatial Sciences, University of Tasmania (C.A.J. and C.H.L.); Centre for Marine Socioecology, University of Tasmania (C.A.J. and C.H.L.); University of Bamberg (S.J. and S.M.); Nicolaus Copernicus University (D.J. and A.D.W.); Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, Charles University (T.K.R. and K. Poliakov\u00E1); the John Templeton Foundation, grant no. 61580 (M.A.P.); Zhangir Kabdulkair (H.K. and B. Scoggins); Concerted Research Action grant from the F\u00E9d\u00E9ration Wallonie-Bruxelles (Belgium) (\u2018The Socio-Cognitive Impact of Literacy\u2019) (O.K.); Center for Climate and Energy Transformation, University of Bergen, Norway (H.H. and S. Kristiansen); University of Turku (A. Koivula and P.R.); Victoria University of Wellington (L.S.K.); NORFACE Joint Research Programme on Democratic Governance in a Turbulent Age (T.K., K. Petkanopoulou and J.v.N.); NWO (T.K., K. Petkanopoulou and J.v.N.); European Commission through Horizon 2020 grant no. 822166 (T.K., K. Petkanopoulou and J.v.N.); Australian Research Council grant no. DP180102384 (N.L. and R.M.R.); John Templeton Foundation grant no. 62631 (N.L., R.M.R. and M. Alfano); internal research/creative project grant (N.M.L.); Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant no. 430-2022-00711 (N.M.L.); School of Psychology and Public Health Internal Grant Scheme 2022 (M.D.M.); \u2018An Evolutionary and Cultural Perspective on Intellectual Humility via Intellectual Curiosity and Epistemic Deference\u2019 from the John Templeton Foundation (H.M.); SCALUP grant from the ANR grant no. ANR-21-CE28-0016-01 (H.M.); ANR grants to PSL and the DEC ANR-10-IDEX-0001-02, and ANR-17-EURE-0017 (H.M.); University of Delaware (J.M.); School of Medicine and Psychology, Australian National University (E.J.N. and S.K.S.); university research budget (T. Ostermann and J.R.P.); Trinity Western University (J.P.-H.); Swedish Research Council grant no. 2020-02584 (P.P.); University of Silesia in Katowice (M.P.-C. and K.P.-B.); John Templeton Foundation Academic Cross Training Fellowship grant no. 61580; University of Warsaw under the Priority Research Area V of the \u2018Excellence Initiative\u2014Research University\u2019 programme (A.P. and E.Z.-P.); National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan (ROC) grant nos 111-2628-H-002-003- and 112-2628-H-002-002- (A.R.); the S\u00E3o Paulo Research Foundation\u2014FAPESP grant no. 2019/26665-5 (G.R.); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)\u2014458303980 (F.G.R. and C.D.); Aston University (J.P. Reynolds); ANR PICS (I.R.); Funda\u00E7\u00E3o para a Ci\u00EAncia e a Tecnologia, UIDB/04295/2020 and UIDP/04295/2020 (O. Santos and R.R.S.); European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme grant no. 964728 (JITSUVAX) (P.S.); Universit\u00E9 Officielle de Bukavu (J.S.N.); ETH Zurich (J.S.); Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation grant no. 7F09521 (L.S. and J.S.); NOMIS Foundation (M. Tsakiris); NOMIS Foundation (R.M.); School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne (I. Walker); Observatory for Research on Media and Journalism, University of Louvain (G.L. and O. Standaert); European Research Council Advanced Grant \u2018Consequences of conspiracy theories\u2014CONSPIRACY_FX\u2019 grant no. 101018262 (K.M.D.); Universit\u00E4t Hamburg (S. Schulreich); Genome Canada and Genome Alberta, Canada, LSARP Project Integrating Genomic Approaches to Improve Dairy Cattle Resilience: A Comprehensive Goal to Enhance Canadian Dairy Industry Sustainability (E.G.); Alberta Ministry of Technology and Innovation Canada, Major Innovation Fund Project AMR\u2014One Health Consortium (E.G.); Aarhus University Research Foundation grant no. AUFF-E-2019-9-4 (P.M.); University of Hamburg (S.R., L.G. and M.J.); Resnick Sustainability Institute, Critical Zone Initiative, California Institute of Technology (R.M.A.); UK Research and Innovation under the UK government\u2019s Horizon Europe funding guarantee EP/X042758/1 (J.P. Reynolds); Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) (C.R.S., C.D.-C. and P.C.-\u00C1.); CNPq\u2014INCT (National Institute of Science and Technology on Social and Affective Neuroscience, grant no. 406463/2022-0) (G.R. and F.A.); Swiss National Science Foundation PRIMA Grant (no. PR00P1_193128) (J.L.G.); Economic and Social Research Council, UK (grant reference no. ES/X000702/1) (S.M.); and Leverhulme International Professorship Grant (no. LIP-2022-001) (R.M.); Slovak Research and Development Agency (APVV), grant no. APVV-22-0242 (O. Buchel). Open access funding provided by Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich.
| Träger | Trägernummer |
|---|---|
| Kimep University | |
| University | |
| United States Agency for International Development | |
| Balai Pembiayaan Pendidikan Tinggi | |
| Uniwersytet Śląski w Katowicach | |
| Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kalijaga | |
| School of Medicine and Psychology | |
| Australian National University | |
| Jagiellonian University | |
| Universität Hamburg | |
| Aston University | |
| Uniwersytet Warszawski | |
| Universität Wien | |
| Keynes Fund | |
| Concerted Research Action | |
| University of Birmingham | |
| Genome Canada | |
| University of Delaware | |
| Turun Yliopisto | |
| Sloan School of Management | |
| Kemdikbudristek and LPDP Indonesia | |
| HELTS Foundation | |
| Hixon Center for Climate and the Environment | |
| Resnick Sustainability Institute for Science, Energy and Sustainability, California Institute of Technology | |
| Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología | |
| Africa Albarado Fund | |
| INCT | |
| University of Warwick | |
| Zhangir Kabdulkair | |
| University of Melbourne | |
| Harvey Mudd College | |
| Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan | |
| Global Challenges Research Fund | |
| California Institute of Technology | |
| Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich | |
| Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico | |
| Uniwersytet Mikolaja Kopernika w Toruniu | |
| Harvard University | |
| European Commission | |
| Victoria University of Wellington | |
| University of Tasmania | |
| Universität Zürich | |
| Centre for Marine Socioecology | |
| Genome Alberta, Canada | |
| Hitachi Fund Support for Research Related to Infectious Diseases | |
| Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg | |
| Beasiswa Pendidikan Indonesia Kemendikbudristek | |
| College of Social Sciences | |
| Universitetet i Bergen | |
| Universität zu Lübeck | |
| National Research University Higher School of Economics | |
| SWPS University | |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | |
| Boston University | |
| Quadrature Climate Foundation | |
| NOMIS Stiftung | |
| NWO | |
| Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles | |
| Alberta Ministry of Technology and Innovation Canada | |
| Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism | |
| University of Sheffield | |
| Cambridge Humanities Research | |
| School of Economics | |
| IMKZ | |
| School of Geography, Planning, and Spatial Sciences | |
| Trinity Western University | |
| University of Louvain | |
| UK Research and Innovation | |
| Université Officielle de Bukavu | |
| Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia | UIDB/04295/2020, UIDP/04295/2020 |
| Australian Research Council | DP190101507 |
| Horizon Europe funding guarantee | EP/X042758/1 |
| Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo | 2019/26665-5 |
| National Science and Technology Council | 111-2628-H-002-003-, 112-2628-H-002-002- |
| Horizon 2020 Framework Programme | 964728 |
| Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada | 430-2022-00711 |
| Leverhulme International | LIP-2022-001 |
| Vetenskapsrådet | 2020-02584 |
| John Templeton Foundation | 61378 |
| National Institute of Science and Technology on Social and Affective Neuroscience | 406463/2022-0, PR00P1_193128 |
| Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencias y Tecnologías | A1S9013 |
| Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation | OPP1144, TMA2020CDF-3171 |
| Carleton College | DP190101675 |
| Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society | JPMJRX20J3 |
| Univerzita Karlova v Praze | 61580 |
| Agentúra na Podporu Výskumu a Vývoja | APVV-22-0242 |
| European Research Council | 101018262 |
| Economic and Social Research Council | ES/X000702/1 |
| Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung | 031L0299D |
| Aarhus Universitets Forskningsfond | AUFF-E-2019-9-13 |
| Austrian Science Fund | I3381, W1262-B29 |
| Uniwersytet Łódzki | FT190100708 |
| Major Innovation Fund | AUFF-E-2019-9-4 |
| Horizon 2020 | 62631, DP180102384, 822166 |
| Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft | 458303980 |
| Direktion für Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit | 7F09521 |
| Agence Nationale de la Recherche | ANR-21-CE28-0016-01 |
| Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung | P500PS_202935 |
| City University of Hong Kong | PJ9618021 |
| Innovation Fund | RES0049213 |
| Bundesamt für Energie | SI/502093–01 |
| DEC | ANR-17-EURE-0017, ANR-10-IDEX-0001-02 |
DFG-Fachsystematik
- 1.22-04 Sozialpsychologie und Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie
- 1.23-02 Empirische Sozialforschung