Despite a dip in confidence following the pandemic, Americans still trust the scientific community more than many other institutions, as per research from the University of Michigan.

The study reveals that 73% of Americans have either “a fair amount” or “a great deal” of confidence in scientists acting in the best interest of the public. This confidence is even higher for medical scientists at 77%.

Comparatively, these confidence levels are akin to trust in the military (74%) and police officers (69%), surpassing confidence in journalists (42%), business leaders (35%), and elected officials (24%).

The researchers assessed changes in public confidence in science over recent years and highlighted potential ways for the scientific community to garner higher levels of trust from the American public.

“Our analysis found that the scientific community’s commitment to practices such as basing conclusions on the best available evidence and disclosing potential conflicts of interest can help give the public more confidence in trusting scientific findings,” the researchers explain.

Faith in science

Here are the main discoveries from the research:

• 84% of respondents expressed high confidence, stating they are either very confident or somewhat confident in scientists for providing trustworthy information to the public.
• An overwhelming 92% emphasized the importance of researchers being open to changing their minds based on new evidence.
• 84% believed that it is somewhat or very important for scientists to disclose the organizations that funded their research.
• A substantial 74% reported that scientific findings from U.S. scientists in the past decade have benefited people like them.

“We found that the public expects scientists to adhere to core norms of science including transparency and correction,” the researchers conclude.