Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries
Authors: Viktoria Cologna, Niels G. Mede, Sebastian Berger, John Besley, Cameron Brick, Marina Joubert, Edward W. Maibach, Sabina Mihelj, Naomi Oreskes, Mike S. Schäfer, Sander van der Linden, Nor Izzatina Abdul Aziz, Suleiman Abdulsalam, Nurulaini Abu Shamsi, Balazs Aczel, Indro Adinugroho, Eleonora Alabrese, Alaa Aldoh, Mark Alfano, Innocent Mbulli Ali, Mohammed Alsobay, Marlene Altenmüller, R. Michael Alvarez, Richard Amoako, Tabitha Amollo, Patrick Ansah, Denisa Apriliawati, Flavio Azevedo, Ani Bajrami, Ronita Bardhan, Keagile Bati, Eri Bertsou, Cornelia Betsch, Apurav Yash Bhatiya, Rahul Bhui, Olga Białobrzeska, Michał Bilewicz, Ayoub Bouguettaya, Katherine Breeden, Amélie Bret, Ondrej Buchel, Pablo Cabrera-Álvarez, Federica Cagnoli, André Calero Valdez, Timothy Callaghan, Rizza Kaye Cases, Sami Çoksan, Gabriela Czarnek, Steven De Peuter, Ramit Debnath, Sylvain Delouvée, Lucia Di Stefano, Celia Díaz-Catalán, Kimberly C. Doell, Simone Dohle, Karen M. Douglas, Charlotte Dries, Dmitrii Dubrov, Małgorzata Dzimińska, Ullrich K. H. Ecker, Christian T. Elbaek, Mahmoud Elsherif, Benjamin Enke, Tom W. Etienne, Matthew Facciani, Antoinette Fage-Butler, Md. Zaki Faisal, Xiaoli Fan, Christina Farhart, Christoph Feldhaus, Marinus Ferreira, Stefan Feuerriegel, Helen Fischer, Jana Freundt, Malte Friese, Simon Fuglsang, Albina Gallyamova, Patricia Garrido-Vásquez, Mauricio E. Garrido Vásquez, Winfred Gatua, Oliver Genschow, Omid Ghasemi, Theofilos Gkinopoulos, Jamie L. Gloor, Ellen Goddard, Mario Gollwitzer, Claudia González-Brambila, Hazel Gordon, Dmitry Grigoryev, Gina M. Grimshaw, Lars Guenther, Håvard Haarstad, Dana Harari, Lelia N. Hawkins, Przemysław Hensel, Alma Cristal Hernández-Mondragón, Atar Herziger, Guanxiong Huang, Markus Huff, Mairéad Hurley, Nygmet Ibadildin, Maho Ishibashi, Mohammad Tarikul Islam, Younes Jeddi, Tao Jin, Charlotte A. Jones, Sebastian Jungkunz, Dominika Jurgiel, Zhangir Kabdulkair, Jo-Ju Kao, Sarah Kavassalis, John R. Kerr, Mariana Kitsa, Tereza Klabíková Rábová, Olivier Klein, Hoyoun Koh, Aki Koivula, Lilian Kojan, Elizaveta Komyaginskaya, Laura König, Lina Koppel, Kochav Koren Nobre Cavalcante, Alexandra Kosachenko, John Kotcher, Laura S. Kranz, Pradeep Krishnan, Silje Kristiansen, André Krouwel, Toon Kuppens, Eleni A. Kyza, Claus Lamm, Anthony Lantian, Aleksandra Lazić, Oscar Lecuona, Jean-Baptiste Légal, Zoe Leviston, Neil Levy, Amanda M. Lindkvist, Grégoire Lits, Andreas Löschel, Alberto López Ortega, Carlos Lopez-Villavicencio, Nigel Mantou Lou, Chloe H. Lucas, Kristin Lunz-Trujillo, Mathew D. Marques, Sabrina J. Mayer, Ryan McKay, Hugo Mercier, Julia Metag, Taciano L. Milfont, Joanne M. Miller, Panagiotis Mitkidis, Fredy Monge-Rodríguez, Matt Motta, Iryna Mudra, Zarja Muršič, Jennifer Namutebi, Eryn J. Newman, Jonas P. Nitschke, Ntui-Njock Vincent Ntui, Daniel Nwogwugwu, Thomas Ostermann, Tobias Otterbring, Jaime Palmer-Hague, Myrto Pantazi, Philip Pärnamets, Paolo Parra Saiani, Mariola Paruzel-Czachura, Michal Parzuchowski, Yuri G. Pavlov, Adam R. Pearson, Myron A. Penner, Charlotte R. Pennington, Katerina Petkanopoulou, Marija B. Petrović, Jan Pfänder, Dinara Pisareva, Adam Ploszaj, Karolína Poliaková, Ekaterina Pronizius, Katarzyna Pypno-Blajda, Diwa Malaya A. Quiñones, Pekka Räsänen, Adrian Rauchfleisch, Felix G. Rebitschek, Cintia Refojo Seronero, Gabriel Rêgo, James P. Reynolds, Joseph Roche, Simone Rödder, Jan Philipp Röer, Robert M. Ross, Isabelle Ruin, Osvaldo Santos, Ricardo R. Santos, Philipp Schmid, Stefan Schulreich, Bermond Scoggins, Amena Sharaf, Justin Sheria Nfundiko, Emily Shuckburgh, Johan Six, Nevin Solak, Leonhard Späth, Bram Spruyt, Olivier Standaert, Samantha K. Stanley, Gert Storms, Noel Strahm, Stylianos Syropoulos, Barnabas Szaszi, Ewa Szumowska, Mikihito Tanaka, Claudia Teran-Escobar, Boryana Todorova, Abdoul Kafid Toko, Renata Tokrri, Daniel Toribio-Florez, Manos Tsakiris, Michael Tyrala, Özden Melis Uluğ, Ijeoma Chinwe Uzoma, Jochem van Noord, Christiana Varda, Steven Verheyen, Iris Vilares, Madalina Vlasceanu, Andreas von Bubnoff, Iain Walker, Izabela Warwas, Marcel Weber, Tim Weninger, Mareike Westfal, Florian Wintterlin, Adrian Dominik Wojcik, Ziqian Xia, Jinliang Xie, Ewa Zegler-Poleska, Amber Zenklusen, Rolf A. Zwaan
Journal: Nature Human Behaviour (2025)

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.