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Public Communication about Science in 68 Countries: Global Evidence on How People Encounter and Engage with Information about Science

  • Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands
  • Group for Sustainability and Technology ETH Zurich Zurich Switzerland
  • Bern University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland
  • Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA
  • Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Lillehammer, Norway
  • Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Cape Town 7701, South Africa; Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study, Wallenberg Research Centre at Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa
  • Health Promotion and Community Health Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.; Global and Community Health Department, College of Health and Human Services, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA.
  • Department of Materials, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK
  • Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA;
  • Universität Zürich
  • University of Cambridge
  • National University of Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia
  • Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Ben Guerir, Morocco
  • Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary
  • Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
  • University of Bath
  • Foundations of Software Systems Group, Department of Informatics, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 9QJ, UK.
  • Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  • University of Dschang, Cameroon
  • Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA;
  • Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany
  • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Dr, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
  • Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kalijaga, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
  • National Institute of Science and Technology on Social and Affective Neuroscience, São Paulo, Brazil
  • Department of Psychology, University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania.
  • University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana
  • University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
  • SWPS University, Warsaw, Poland
  • Department of Child Psychiatry, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
  • Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
  • Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA, USA
  • Nantes Université, France
  • Institute for Sociology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
  • Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology, Madrid, Spain
  • l Department of Neuroscience, Ophthalmology and Genetics , University of Genoa , Genoa , Italy.
  • Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, Psychiatric University Hospital, University of Basel, Switzerland.
  • Boston University School of Public Health, MA, USA
  • Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, 2 Gronostajowa St., 30-387 Kraków, Poland
  • CNRS, Université de Rennes, Rennes, France
  • Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Chemistry School Complutense University of Madrid Spain
  • Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
  • Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine, University Hospital Bonn, University of Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany
  • Tizard Centre, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.
  • HSE University, Moscow, Russia
  • International Faculty of Engineering, Lodz University of Technology, Poland
  • Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
  • Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
  • University of Birmingham
  • University of Notre Dame, IN, USA
  • a2i Programme of ICT Division and UNDP Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • University of Alberta Faculty of Agricultural Life and Environmental Sciences, Dept of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; University of Alberta, School of Public Health, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Cancer Research & Analytics, Cancer Care Alberta, Alberta Health Services, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada;
  • Carleton College, Northfield, MN, USA
  • Department of Biophysics, Ruhr-University-Bochum, Bochum, Germany
  • LMU Munich, Germany
  • Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien, Tübingen, Germany
  • Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Switzerland
  • Department of Psychology, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
  • Universidad de Concepción, Chile
  • Leuphana University, Lueneburg, Germany
  • University of Technology Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  • Instituto Técnológico Autónomo de México, Mexico
  • University of Sheffield
  • Schulich Faculty of Chemistry,Technion-Israel Institute of Technology,Haifa-32000,Israel
  • Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City, Mexico
  • City University of Hong Kong
  • Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany
  • Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin Dublin Ireland
  • KIMEP University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
  • Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • University of Minnesota School of Medicine Minneapolis Minnesota USA
  • University of Tasmania
  • Institute of Innate Immunity, University of Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany.
  • Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland
  • University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand
  • Lviv Polytechnic National University, Ukraine
  • Department of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry , Charles University , CZ-128 40 Prague , Czech Republic
  • Department of Cardiology, H.U.B.-Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles , Brussels 1070 , Belgium

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

This 68-country survey ( n = 71,922) examines science information diets and communication behavior, identifies cross-country differences, and tests how such differences are associated with sociopolitical and economic conditions. We find that social media are the most used sources of science information in most countries, except those with democratic-corporatist media systems where news media tend to be used more widely. People in collectivist societies are less outspoken about science in daily life, whereas lower education is associated with higher outspokenness. Limited access to digital media is correlated with participation in public protests on science matters. We discuss implications for future research, policy, and practice.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages46
JournalScience Communication
Early online date21 Oct 2025
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 21 Oct 2025

Bibliographical note

(c) Authors 2025, published with a CC BY (Attribution) licence

Data Access Statement

Supplemental material for this article is available online at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/10755470251376615 For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with [CC BY].

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