Global Study Reveals High Trust in Scientists Across 68 Countries

Global Study Reveals High Trust in Scientists Across 68 Countries 1024 754 Open and Universal Science (OPUS) Project

A comprehensive international study published in Nature Human Behaviour has found that most people around the world trust scientists and support their involvement in policymaking. The research, conducted across 68 countries with 71,922 respondents, challenges the popular narrative of a widespread crisis of trust in science. Key findings include:

  1. Trust in scientists is moderately high globally, with no country showing low overall trust. The grand mean of trust was 3.62 on a 5-point scale, where 3 represents neither high nor low trust.
  2. 83% of respondents agree that scientists should communicate about science with the public, particularly in African countries.
  3. People generally want scientists to prioritise research on public health and solving energy problems. However, there’s a notable discrepancy between what people perceive science is currently prioritising and what they expect scientists to prioritise.
  4. Trust varies across countries and demographic groups:
    • Women, older people, and more educated individuals show higher levels of trust.
    • Urban residents and those with higher incomes tend to trust scientists more.
    • Contrary to some assumptions, religiosity is positively associated with trust in scientists overall, though this varies by country and religion.
  5. Political orientation’s relationship with trust in scientists differs significantly between countries:
    • In several European and North American countries, right-leaning and conservative orientations are associated with lower trust.
    • However, in most countries (41 out of 68), there’s no credible evidence of a relationship between political orientation and trust in scientists.
    • In some Eastern European, Southeast Asian, and African countries, right-leaning individuals have higher trust in scientists.
  6. Social dominance orientation and science-related populist attitudes are associated with lower trust in scientists.
  7. People with high trust in scientists strongly favour scientists’ engagement in society and policymaking, especially in English-speaking countries.

The study also found that while there’s no widespread lack of trust, even small distrusting minorities could impact the consideration of scientific evidence in policymaking. The authors suggest that scientists wishing to gain public trust could work on being more receptive to feedback, more transparent about their funding and data sources, and invest more effort into communicating about science with the public. This large-scale study provides valuable insights for scientists and policymakers seeking to maintain and increase public trust in science, emphasising the importance of open communication and addressing public research priorities. It also highlights the need for more international research that includes under-represented countries and understudied subpopulations to better understand the nuances of trust in scientists across different cultural and political contexts.

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Photo credit: The Oxford Scientist

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