Nature Human Behaviour

, volume 9 , issue 4 , pages 713-730

Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries

Viktoria Cologna ^{1, 2, 3}

Niels G Mede ²

Sebastian Berger ⁴

John Besley ⁵

Cameron Brick ^{6, 7}

Marina Joubert ⁸

Ed Maibach ⁹

Sabina Mihelj ¹⁰

Naomi Oreskes ¹

Mike S. Schäfer ²

Sander van der Linden ¹¹

N Izzatina Abdul Aziz ¹²

Suleiman Abdulsalam ¹³

Nurulaini Abu Shamsi ¹⁴

Balazs Aczel ¹⁵

Indro Adinugroho ^{16, 17}

Eleonora Alabrese ¹⁸

Alaa Aldoh ⁶

Mark Alfano ¹⁹

Innocent Mbulli Ali ²⁰

Mohammed Alsobay ²¹

Marlene Sophie Altenmüller ^{22, 23}

R. Michael Alvarez ²⁴

Richard Amoako ²⁵

Tabitha Amollo ²⁶

Patrick Ansah ²⁵

Denisa Apriliawati ²⁷

Flavio Azevedo ^{28, 29}

Ani Bajrami ³⁰

Ronita Bardhan ³¹

Keagile Bati ³²

Eri Bertsou ³³

Cornelia Betsch ³⁴

Apurav Yash Bhatiya ³⁵

Rahul Bhui ^{21, 36}

Olga Bialobrzeska ³⁷

Michał Bilewicz ³⁸

Ayoub Bouguettaya ³⁹

Katherine Breeden ⁴⁰

Amélie Bret ⁴¹

Ondrej Buchel ⁴²

Pablo Cabrera-Álvarez ⁴³

Federica Cagnoli ⁴⁴

André Calero Valdez ⁴⁵

Timothy Callaghan ⁴⁶

Rizza Kaye Cases ⁴⁷

Sami Çoksan ^{48, 49}

Gabriela Czarnek ⁵⁰

Steven De Peuter ⁵¹

Ramit Debnath ^{24, 52}

Sylvain Delouvée ⁵³

Lucia Di Stefano ⁴⁴

Celia Díaz Catalán ^{43, 54}

K. C. Doell ⁵⁵

Simone Dohle ⁵⁶

Karen MJ Karen Douglas ⁵⁷

Charlotte Dries ⁵⁸

Dmitrii Dubrov ⁵⁹

Małgorzata Dzimińska ⁶⁰

Ullrich K. H. Ecker ⁶¹

Christian T. Elbaek ⁶²

Mahmoud ElSherif ³⁹

Benjamin Enke ⁶³

Tom W Etienne ⁶⁴

Matthew Facciani ⁶⁵

Antoinette Fage-Butler ⁶⁶

Md. Zaki Faisal ⁶⁷

Xiaoli Fan ⁶⁸

Christina Farhart ⁶⁹

Christoph Feldhaus ⁷⁰

Marinus Ferreira ¹⁹

Stefan Feuerriegel ⁷¹

Helen Fischer ⁷²

Jana Freundt ⁷³

Malte Friese ⁷⁴

Simon Fuglsang ⁷⁵

Albina Gallyamova ⁵⁹

Patricia Garrido-Vásquez ⁷⁶

Mauricio E. Garrido Vásquez ⁷⁶

Winfred Gatua ⁷⁷

Oliver Genschow ⁷⁸

Omid Ghasemi ^{79, 80}

Theofilos Gkinopoulos ⁵⁰

Jamie L. Gloor ⁸¹

Ellen Goddard ⁶⁸

Mario Gollwitzer ²²

Claudia Gonzalez Brambila ⁸²

Hazel Gordon ¹⁶

Dmitry Grigoryev ⁵⁹

Gina M Grimshaw ⁸³

Lars Guenther ⁸⁴

Håvard Haarstad ^{85, 86}

Dana Harari ⁸⁷

Lelia N Hawkins ⁸⁸

Przemysław G. Hensel ⁸⁹

Alma Cristal Hernández-Mondragón ⁹⁰

Atar Herziger ⁸⁷

Guanxiong Huang ⁹¹

Markus Huff ^{72, 92}

Mairéad Hurley ⁹³

Nygmet Ibadildin ⁹⁴

Maho Ishibashi ⁹⁵

Mohammad Tarikul Islam ⁹⁶

Younes Jeddi ¹³

Tao Jin ⁹⁷

Charlotte A. Jones ⁹⁸

Sebastian Jungkunz ^{99, 100}

Dominika Jurgiel ¹⁰¹

Zhangir Kabdulkair ⁹⁴

Jo-Ju Kao ¹⁰²

Sarah Kavassalis ⁸⁸

John Kerr ¹⁰³

Mariana Kitsa ¹⁰⁴

Tereza Klabíková Rábová ¹⁰⁵

Olivier Klein ¹⁰⁶

Hoyoun Koh ¹⁰⁷

Aki Koivula ¹⁰⁸

Lilian Kojan ⁴⁵

Elizaveta Komyaginskaya ⁵⁹

Laura König ^{109, 110}

Lina Koppel ¹¹¹

Kochav Koren Nobre Cavalcante ¹¹²

Alexandra Kosachenko ¹¹³

John Kotcher ⁹

Laura S. Kranz ⁸³

Pradeep Krishnan ³³

Silje Kristiansen ^{86, 114}

André Krouwel ¹¹⁵

Toon Kuppens ¹¹⁶

Eleni A. Kyza ¹¹⁷

Claus Lamm ⁵⁵

Anthony Lantian ¹¹⁸

Aleksandra Lazic ¹¹⁹

Oscar Zanetti Lecuona ¹²⁰

Jean-Baptiste Légal ¹¹⁸

Zoe Leviston ¹²¹

Neil Levy ^{19, 122}

Amanda M. Lindkvist ¹¹¹

Grégoire Lits ¹²³

Andreas Löschel ⁷⁰

Alberto López Ortega ¹¹⁵

Carlos Lopez-Villavicencio ¹²⁴

Nigel Mantou Lou ¹²⁵

Chloe H. Lucas ⁹⁸

Kristin Lunz Trujillo ^{126, 127}

Mathew D Marques ¹²⁸

Sabrina J Mayer ⁹⁹

Ryan McKay ¹²⁹

Hugo Mercier ¹³⁰

Julia Metag ¹³¹

Taciano L. Milfont ¹³²

Joanne M Miller ¹³³

Panagiotis Mitkidis ⁶²

Fredy Monge-Rodríguez ¹²⁴

Matt Motta ⁴⁶

Iryna Mudra ¹⁰⁴

Zarja Muršič ¹³⁴

Jennifer Namutebi ¹³⁵

Eryn J Newman ¹²¹

Jonas P. Nitschke ⁵⁵

Vincent Ntui Ntui-Njock ¹³⁶

Daniel Ikesinachi Nwogwugwu ¹³⁷

Thomas Ostermann ¹³⁸

Tobias Otterbring ¹³⁹

Jaime Palmer-Hague ¹⁴⁰

Myrto Pantazi ¹⁰⁶

Philip Pärnamets ¹⁴¹

Paolo Parra Saiani ⁴⁴

Mariola Paruzel-Czachura ^{142, 143}

Michal Parzuchowski ³⁷

Yuri G. Pavlov ¹⁴⁴

Adam R. Pearson ¹⁴⁵

Myron A. Penner ¹⁴⁰

Charlotte R. Pennington ¹⁴⁶

Katerina Petkanopoulou ¹⁴⁷

Marija B Petrović ¹¹⁹

Jan Pfänder ¹³⁰

Dinara Pisareva ¹⁰⁷

Adam Ploszaj ¹⁴⁸

Karolína Poliaková ¹⁰⁵

Ekaterina Pronizius ⁵⁵

Katarzyna Pypno ¹⁴²

Diwa Malaya A Quiñones ¹⁴⁹

Pekka Räsänen ¹⁰⁸

Adrian Rauchfleisch ¹⁰²

Felix G. Rebitschek ^{58, 150}

Cintia Refojo Seronero ⁴³

Gabriel Rêgo ^{29, 151}

James P. Reynolds ¹⁴⁶

Joseph Roche ⁹³

Simone Rödder ¹⁵²

Jan P. Röer ¹³⁸

Robert M. Ross ¹⁹

Isabelle Ruin ¹⁵³

Osvaldo Santos ¹⁵⁴

Ricardo R Santos ^{154, 155}

Philipp Schmid ^{34, 156, 157}

Stefan Schulreich ^{158, 159}

Bermond Scoggins ¹⁶⁰

Amena Sharaf ¹⁶¹

Justin Sheria Nfundiko ^{162, 163}

Emily Shuckburgh ⁵²

Johan Six ³

Nevin Solak ¹⁶⁴

Leonhard Späth ³

Bram Spruyt ¹⁶⁵

Olivier Standaert ¹²³

Samantha K. Stanley ^{79, 80, 121}

Gerrit Storms ⁵¹

Noel Strahm ⁴

Stylianos Syropoulos ¹⁶⁶

B. Szaszi ¹⁵

Ewa Szumowska ⁵⁰

Mikihito Tanaka ¹⁶⁷

Claudia Teran-Escobar ^{118, 153}

Boryana Todorova ⁵⁵

Abdoul Kafid Toko ¹³

Renata Tokrri ¹⁶⁸

Daniel Toribio Flórez ⁵⁷

Manos Tsakiris ^{129, 169}

Michael Tyrala ¹⁷⁰

Özden Melis Uluğ ¹⁷¹

Ijeoma Chinwe Uzoma ¹⁷²

Jochem Van Noord ^{116, 165}

Christiana Varda ^{117, 173}

Steven Verheyen ¹⁷⁴

Iris Vilares ⁹⁷

Madalina Vlasceanu ¹⁷⁵

Andreas von Bubnoff ¹⁷⁶

Iain Walker ^{121, 177}

Izabela Warwas ⁶⁰

Marcel Weber ⁷⁴

Tim Weninger ⁶⁵

Mareike Westfal ⁷⁸

Florian Wintterlin ¹³¹

Adrian Dominik Wojcik ¹⁷⁸

Ziqian Xia ¹⁷⁹

Jinliang Xie ¹⁸⁰

Ewa Zegler-Poleska ¹⁴⁸

Amber Zenklusen ³³

Rolf A. Zwaan ¹⁷⁴

Hide authors affiliations Show authors affiliations: 180 affiliations

Department of the History of Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA |

Department of Communication and Media Research, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland |

Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland |

⁴

Institute of Sociology, University Bern, Bern, Switzerland |

⁵

Department of Advertising + Public Relations, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA |

⁶

Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands |

⁷

Department of Psychology, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Lillehammer, Elverum, Norway |

⁸

Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa |

⁹

Centre for Climate Change Communication, George Mason University, Fairfax, USA |

¹⁰

Centre for Research in Communication and Culture, Department of Communication and Media, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK |

¹¹

Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK |

¹²

Institute of Malaysian and International Studies, National University of Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia |

¹³

School of Collective Intelligence, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Ben Guerir, Morocco |

¹⁴

Department of Science & Technology Studies, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |

¹⁵

ELTE Institute of Psychology, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary |

¹⁶

School of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK |

¹⁷

Faculty of Psychology, Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia |

¹⁸

Department of Economics, University of Bath, Bath, UK |

¹⁹

Department of Philosophy, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia |

²⁰

Department of biochemistry, Faculty of science, University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon |

²¹

Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA |

²²

Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany |

²³

Leibniz Institute for Psychology, Trier, Germany |

²⁴

Linde Center for Science, Society, and Policy, Division of Humanities and Social Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA |

²⁵

Department of Communication, George Mason University, Fairfax, USA |

²⁶

Department of Physics, Egerton University, Egerton, Kenya |

²⁷

Department of Psychology, Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kalijaga, Yogyakarta, Indonesia |

²⁸

Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands |

²⁹

National Institute of Science and Technology on Social and Affective Neuroscience, São Paulo, Brazil |

³⁰

Museum of Natural Sciences ‘Sabiha Kasimati’, University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania |

³¹

Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK |

³²

Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana |

³³

Institute of Political Science, University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland |

³⁴

Institute for Planetary Health Behaviour, University of Erfurt, Erfurt, Germany |

³⁵

Department of Economics, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK |

³⁶

Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA |

³⁷

Institute of Psychology, SWPS University, Warsaw, Poland |

³⁸

Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland |

³⁹

School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK |

⁴⁰

Computer Science Department, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, USA |

⁴¹

Department of Psychology, Nantes Université, LPPL, Nantes, France |

⁴²

Institute for Sociology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia |

⁴³

Department of Scientific and Innovation Culture, Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology, Madrid, Spain |

⁴⁴

Department of International and Political Sciences, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy |

⁴⁵

Institute of Multimedia and Interactive Systems, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany |

⁴⁶

Department of Health Law, Policy, and Management, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, USA |

⁴⁷

Department of Sociology, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines |

⁴⁸

Department of Psychology, Erzurum Technical University, Erzurum, Turkey |

⁴⁹

Network for Economic and Social Trends, Western University, London, Canada |

⁵⁰

Behavior in Crisis Lab, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland |

⁵¹

Department of Psychology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium |

⁵²

Cambridge Zero, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK |

⁵³

LP3C (Psychology Laboratory), Université Rennes 2, Rennes, France |

⁵⁴

TRANSOC, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain |

⁵⁵

Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria |

⁵⁶

Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine, University of Bonn, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany |

⁵⁷

School of Psychology, University of Kent, canterbury, UK |

⁵⁸

Harding Center for Risk Literacy, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany |

⁵⁹

Center for Sociocultural Research, HSE University, Moscow, Russia |

⁶⁰

Department of Labor and Social Policy, University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland |

⁶¹

School of Psychological Science & Public Policy Institute, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia |

⁶²

Department of Management, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark |

⁶³

Department of Economics, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA |

⁶⁴

Department of Political Science & Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA |

⁶⁵

Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, USA |

⁶⁶

School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark |

⁶⁷

a2i Programme of ICT Division and UNDP Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh |

⁶⁸

Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada |

⁶⁹

Department of Political Science and International Relations, Carleton College, Northfield, USA |

⁷⁰

Faculty of Management and Economics, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany |

⁷¹

LMU Munich School of Management, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany |

⁷²

Leibniz Institut für Wissensmedien, Tübingen, Germany |

⁷³

School of Social Work, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Lucerne, Switzerland |

⁷⁴

Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany |

⁷⁵

Department of political Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark |

⁷⁶

Department of Psychology, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile |

⁷⁷

Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK |

⁷⁸

Institute for Management & Organization, Leuphana University, Lueneburg, Germany |

⁷⁹

School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia |

⁸⁰

UNSW Institute for Climate Risk & Response, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia |

⁸¹

Research Institute for Responsible Innovation, School of Management, University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland |

⁸²

Department of Business Administration, Instituto Técnológico Autónomo de México, Mexico City, Mexico |

⁸³

School of psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand |

⁸⁴

Department of Media and Communication, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany |

⁸⁵

Department of Geography, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway |

⁸⁶

Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway |

⁸⁷

Faculty of Data and Decision Sciences, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel |

⁸⁸

Hixon Center for Climate and the Environment, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, USA |

⁸⁹

Faculty of Management, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland |

⁹⁰

Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politícnico Nacional, Mexico City, Mexico |

⁹¹

Department of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong |

⁹²

Department of Psychology, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany |

⁹³

School of Education, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland |

⁹⁴

Department of Political Science and International Relations, KIMEP University, Almaty, Kazakhstan |

⁹⁵

Center for Integrated Disaster Information Research, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan |

⁹⁶

Department of Government & Politics, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh |

⁹⁷

Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA |

⁹⁸

School of Geography, Planning, and Spatial Sciences, University of Tasmania, Tasmania, Australia |

⁹⁹

Institute of Political Science, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany |

¹⁰⁰

Institute of Political Science and Sociology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany |

¹⁰¹

Institute of Psychology, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland |

¹⁰²

Graduate Institute of Journalism, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan |

¹⁰³

Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand |

¹⁰⁴

Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Lviv Polytechnic National University, Lviv, Ukraine |

¹⁰⁵

Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic |

¹⁰⁶

Center for Social and Cultural Psychology, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium |

¹⁰⁷

Department of Political Science and International Relations, School of Sciences and Humanities, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan |

¹⁰⁸

Department of Social Research, University of Turku, Turku, Finland |

¹⁰⁹

Faculty of Life Sciences: Food, Nutrition and Health, University of Bayreuth, Kulmbach, Germany |

¹¹⁰

Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria |

¹¹¹

Division of Economics, Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden |

¹¹²

Faculty of Polish and Classical Philology, University of Adam Mickiewicz, Poznań, Poland |

¹¹³

Department of Psychology, Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, Russia |

¹¹⁴

Department of Information Science and Media studies, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway |

¹¹⁵

Department of Communication Science and Political Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands |

¹¹⁶

Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands |

¹¹⁷

Department of Communication and Internet Studies, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus |

¹¹⁸

Laboratoire Parisien de Psychologie Sociale, Université Paris Nanterre, Nanterre, France |

¹¹⁹

Laboratory for Research of Individual Differences, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia |

¹²⁰

Department of Psychobiology and Methodology, Faculty of Psychology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain |

¹²¹

School of Medicine and Psychology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia |

¹²²

Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK |

¹²³

Institut Langage et Communication, University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium |

¹²⁴

Departamento de Psicología, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, La Molina, Peru |

¹²⁵

Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada |

¹²⁶

Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA |

¹²⁷

Network Science Institute, Northeastern University, Boston, USA |

¹²⁸

School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia |

¹²⁹

Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK |

¹³⁰

Institut Jean Nicod, Département d’études cognitives, ENS, EHESS, PSL University, CNRS, Paris, France |

¹³¹

Department of Communication, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany |

¹³²

School of Psychological and Social Sciences, University of Waikato, Tauranga, New Zealand |

¹³³

Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Delaware, Newark, USA |

¹³⁴

Office for Quality Assurance, Analyses and Reporting, Project EUTOPIA, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia |

¹³⁵

Department of Management and Supply Chain Studies, Nkumba University, Entebbe, Uganda |

¹³⁶

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon |

¹³⁷

Communication Arts Programme, Bowen University, Iwo, Nigeria |

¹³⁸

Department of Psychology and Psychotherapy, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany |

¹³⁹

Department of Management, University of Adger, Kristiansand, Norway |

¹⁴⁰

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Trinity Western University, Langley, Canada |

¹⁴¹

Department of clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden |

¹⁴²

Institute of Psychology, University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland |

¹⁴³

Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA |

¹⁴⁴

Institute of Medical Psychology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany |

¹⁴⁵

Department of Psychological Science, Pomona College, Claremont, USA |

¹⁴⁶

School of Psychology, Aston University, Birmingham, UK |

¹⁴⁷

Department of Psychology, University of Crete, Rethymno, Greece |

¹⁴⁸

Science Studies Laboratory, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland |

¹⁴⁹

Department of Psychology, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines |

¹⁵⁰

Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany |

¹⁵¹

Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, São Paulo, Brazil |

¹⁵²

Department of Social Sciences, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany |

¹⁵³

Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement, University Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble-INP, Grenoble, France |

¹⁵⁴

Institute of Environmental Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal |

¹⁵⁵

NOVA Institute of Communication, NOVA University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal |

¹⁵⁶

Department of Implementation Research, Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany |

¹⁵⁷

Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands |

¹⁵⁸

Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria |

¹⁵⁹

Department of Cognitive Psychology, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany |

¹⁶⁰

School of Politics and International Relations, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia |

¹⁶¹

Independent researcher, Cairo, Egypt |

¹⁶²

Département de Sociologie, Université Officielle de Bukavu, Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo |

¹⁶³

Faculté des Sciences Sociales, Université Catholique de Bukavu, Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo |

¹⁶⁴

Psychology Department, TED University, Ankara, Turkey |

¹⁶⁵

Sociology Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium |

¹⁶⁶

Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, USA |

¹⁶⁷

Faculty of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan |

¹⁶⁸

Department of Civil Law, Faculty of Law, University of Tirana, Milto Tutulani, Tirana, Albania |

¹⁶⁹

Centre for the Politics of Feelings, University of London, London, UK |

¹⁷⁰

Division of Public Policy, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, Hong Kong |

¹⁷¹

School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Falmer, UK |

¹⁷²

Molecular Haematology and Immunogenetics Laboratory, Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Health Sciences and Technology, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nsukka, Nigeria |

¹⁷³

School of Arts, Media and Communiation, UCLan Cyprus, Pyla, Cyprus |

¹⁷⁴

Department of Psychology, Education and Child studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands |

¹⁷⁵

Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, USA |

¹⁷⁶

Faculty of Technology and Bionics, Rhine-Waal University, Kleve, Germany |

¹⁷⁷

Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia |

¹⁷⁸

Faculty of Philosophy and Social Science, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland |

¹⁷⁹

School of Economics and Management, TongJi University, Shanghai, China |

¹⁸⁰

School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China |

Publication type: Journal Article

Publication date: 2025-01-20

Springer Nature

Nature Human Behaviour

scimago Q1

wos Q1

SJR: 5.537

CiteScore: 31.0

Impact factor: 15.9

ISSN: 23973374

DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-02090-5

Copy DOI

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.

Found

2 citations

Grigoryev Dmitry

🥼 🤝

PhD in Psychology

89 publications, 1 213 citations, 279 reviews

h-index: 19

National Research University Higher School of Economics

Research interests

Bayesian statistics

Intergroup Relations

International Migration

Psychometrics

Social Identity

Social psychology

2 citations

Pavlov Yuri

PhD

78 publications, 1 087 citations

h-index: 18

University of Tübingen

Research interests

Cognitive Neuroscience

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Current Opinion in Psychology	Current Opinion in Psychology, 12, 11.32% Current Opinion in Psychology 12 publications, 11.32%
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications	Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 3, 2.83% Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 3 publications, 2.83%
Nature Africa	Nature Africa, 2, 1.89% Nature Africa 2 publications, 1.89%
Nature	Nature, 2, 1.89% Nature 2 publications, 1.89%
Nature Human Behaviour	Nature Human Behaviour, 2, 1.89% Nature Human Behaviour 2 publications, 1.89%
Nature Climate Change	Nature Climate Change, 2, 1.89% Nature Climate Change 2 publications, 1.89%
Journal of Environmental Psychology	Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2, 1.89% Journal of Environmental Psychology 2 publications, 1.89%
npj Climate Action	npj Climate Action, 2, 1.89% npj Climate Action 2 publications, 1.89%
Public Understanding of Science	Public Understanding of Science, 2, 1.89% Public Understanding of Science 2 publications, 1.89%
Scientific data	Scientific data, 1, 0.94% Scientific data 1 publication, 0.94%
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health	Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 1, 0.94% Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 1 publication, 0.94%
Annals of Tourism Research	Annals of Tourism Research, 1, 0.94% Annals of Tourism Research 1 publication, 0.94%
International Journal of Public Opinion Research	International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 1, 0.94% International Journal of Public Opinion Research 1 publication, 0.94%
Irish Educational Studies	Irish Educational Studies, 1, 0.94% Irish Educational Studies 1 publication, 0.94%
The Journal of Climate Change and Health	The Journal of Climate Change and Health, 1, 0.94% The Journal of Climate Change and Health 1 publication, 0.94%
Medical Journal of Australia	Medical Journal of Australia, 1, 0.94% Medical Journal of Australia 1 publication, 0.94%
Journal of Academic Ethics	Journal of Academic Ethics, 1, 0.94% Journal of Academic Ethics 1 publication, 0.94%
Foods	Foods, 1, 0.94% Foods 1 publication, 0.94%
Vaccines	Vaccines, 1, 0.94% Vaccines 1 publication, 0.94%
Environmental Research Letters	Environmental Research Letters, 1, 0.94% Environmental Research Letters 1 publication, 0.94%
Osterreichische Zeitschrift fur Soziologie	Osterreichische Zeitschrift fur Soziologie, 1, 0.94% Osterreichische Zeitschrift fur Soziologie 1 publication, 0.94%
Trends in Cognitive Sciences	Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 1, 0.94% Trends in Cognitive Sciences 1 publication, 0.94%
Microbial Biotechnology	Microbial Biotechnology, 1, 0.94% Microbial Biotechnology 1 publication, 0.94%
Royal Society Open Science	Royal Society Open Science, 1, 0.94% Royal Society Open Science 1 publication, 0.94%
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 1, 0.94% Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 1 publication, 0.94%
Atmosphere	Atmosphere, 1, 0.94% Atmosphere 1 publication, 0.94%
Frontiers in Psychology	Frontiers in Psychology, 1, 0.94% Frontiers in Psychology 1 publication, 0.94%
Policy Studies Journal	Policy Studies Journal, 1, 0.94% Policy Studies Journal 1 publication, 0.94%
Methods	Methods, 1, 0.94% Methods 1 publication, 0.94%
	2 4 6 8 10 12

Publishers

	5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Springer Nature	Springer Nature, 31, 29.25% Springer Nature 31 publications, 29.25%
Elsevier	Elsevier, 27, 25.47% Elsevier 27 publications, 25.47%
Taylor & Francis	Taylor & Francis, 11, 10.38% Taylor & Francis 11 publications, 10.38%
Wiley	Wiley, 9, 8.49% Wiley 9 publications, 8.49%
MDPI	MDPI, 7, 6.6% MDPI 7 publications, 6.6%
Frontiers Media S.A.	Frontiers Media S.A., 4, 3.77% Frontiers Media S.A. 4 publications, 3.77%
SAGE	SAGE, 3, 2.83% SAGE 3 publications, 2.83%
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory	Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 3, 2.83% Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory 3 publications, 2.83%
Oxford University Press	Oxford University Press, 2, 1.89% Oxford University Press 2 publications, 1.89%
IOP Publishing	IOP Publishing, 1, 0.94% IOP Publishing 1 publication, 0.94%
The Royal Society	The Royal Society, 1, 0.94% The Royal Society 1 publication, 0.94%
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 1, 0.94% Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) 1 publication, 0.94%
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)	American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 1, 0.94% American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1 publication, 0.94%
Scandinavian University Press / Universitetsforlaget AS	Scandinavian University Press / Universitetsforlaget AS, 1, 0.94% Scandinavian University Press / Universitetsforlaget AS 1 publication, 0.94%
JMIR Publications	JMIR Publications, 1, 0.94% JMIR Publications 1 publication, 0.94%
Copernicus	Copernicus, 1, 0.94% Copernicus 1 publication, 0.94%
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 1, 0.94% Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1 publication, 0.94%
Walter de Gruyter	Walter de Gruyter, 1, 0.94% Walter de Gruyter 1 publication, 0.94%
	5 10 15 20 25 30 35

We do not take into account publications without a DOI.
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109

Cite this

GOST |

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GOST Copy

Cologna V. et al. Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries // Nature Human Behaviour. 2025. Vol. 9. No. 4. pp. 713-730.

GOST all authors (up to 50) Copy

Cologna V. et al. Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries // Nature Human Behaviour. 2025. Vol. 9. No. 4. pp. 713-730.

RIS |

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RIS

BibTex |

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BibTex (up to 50 authors) Copy

@article{2025_Cologna,

author = {Viktoria Cologna and Niels G Mede and Sebastian Berger and John Besley and Cameron Brick and Marina Joubert and Ed Maibach and Sabina Mihelj and Naomi Oreskes and Mike S. Schäfer and Sander van der Linden and N Izzatina Abdul Aziz and Suleiman Abdulsalam and Nurulaini Abu Shamsi and Balazs Aczel and Indro Adinugroho and Eleonora Alabrese and Alaa Aldoh and Mark Alfano and Innocent Mbulli Ali and Mohammed Alsobay and Marlene Sophie Altenmüller and R. Michael Alvarez and Richard Amoako and Tabitha Amollo and Patrick Ansah and Denisa Apriliawati and Flavio Azevedo and Ani Bajrami and Ronita Bardhan and Keagile Bati and Eri Bertsou and Cornelia Betsch and Apurav Yash Bhatiya and Rahul Bhui and Olga Bialobrzeska and Michał Bilewicz and Ayoub Bouguettaya and Katherine Breeden and Amélie Bret and Ondrej Buchel and Pablo Cabrera-Álvarez and Federica Cagnoli and André Calero Valdez and Timothy Callaghan and Rizza Kaye Cases and Sami Çoksan and Gabriela Czarnek and Steven De Peuter and Ramit Debnath and others},

title = {Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries},

journal = {Nature Human Behaviour},

year = {2025},

volume = {9},

publisher = {Springer Nature},

month = {jan},

url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-024-02090-5},

number = {4},

pages = {713--730},

doi = {10.1038/s41562-024-02090-5}

}

MLA

Cite this

MLA Copy

Cologna, Viktoria, et al. “Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries.” Nature Human Behaviour, vol. 9, no. 4, Jan. 2025, pp. 713-730. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-024-02090-5.

Publisher

Springer Nature

Journal

Nature Human Behaviour

scimago Q1

wos Q1

SJR

5.537

CiteScore

31.0

Impact factor

15.9

ISSN

23973374 (Electronic)

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