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

doi:10.1177/10755470251376615

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

Group for Sustainability and Technology ETH Zurich Zurich Switzerland
Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA
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
Foundations of Software Systems Group, Department of Informatics, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 9QJ, UK.
Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA;
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Dr, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
Department of Psychology, University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania.
Department of Child Psychiatry, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
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.
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.
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 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;
Department of Biophysics, Ruhr-University-Bochum, Bochum, Germany
Department of Psychology, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
University of Technology Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
University of Sheffield
Schulich Faculty of Chemistry,Technion-Israel Institute of Technology,Haifa-32000,Israel
City University of Hong Kong
Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin Dublin Ireland
University of Minnesota School of Medicine Minneapolis Minnesota USA
University of Tasmania
Institute of Innate Immunity, University of Bonn, 53127 Bonn, Germany.
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

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 language	English
Number of pages	46
Journal	Science Communication
Early online date	21 Oct 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/10755470251376615
Publication status	E-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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10.1177/10755470251376615Licence: CC BY 4.0

Public Communication about Science in 68 Countries
(c) Authors 2025, published with a CC BY (Attribution) licence
Final published version, 1.83 MBLicence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

@article{674ef8ffb12746dfb89dfdf5cca4ab20,

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

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.",

author = "Mede, {Niels G.} and Viktoria Cologna and Sebastian Berger and {C. Besley}, John and Cameron Brick and Marina Joubert and {W. Maibach}, Edward and Sabina Mihelj and Naomi Oreskes and {S. Sch{\"a}fer}, Mike and {van der Linden}, Sander and {Abdul Aziz}, {Nor Izzatina} and Suleiman Abdulsalam and {Abu Shamsi}, Nurulaini and Balazs Aczel and Indro Adinugroho and Eleonora Alabrese and Alaa Aldoh and Mark Alfano and {Mbulli Ali}, Innocent and Mohammed Alsobay and Marlene Altenm{\"u}ller and Alvarez, {R. Michael} and Patrick Ansah and Denisa Apriliawati and Flavio Azevedo and Ani Bajrami and Ronita Bardhan and Keagile Bati and Eri Bertsou and Rahul Bhui and Olga Bia{\l}obrzeska and Michal Bilewicz and Ayoub Bouguettaya and Katherine Breeden and Am{\'e}lie Bret and Ondrej Buchel and {Cabrera Alvarez}, Pablo and Federica Cagnoli and {Calero Valdez}, Andr{\'e} and Timothy Callaghan and {Kaye Cases}, Rizza and Gabriela Czarnek and Ramit Debnath and Sylvain Delouv{\'e}e and {Di Stefano}, Lucia and Celia Diaz-Catal{\`a}n and {C. Doell}, Kimberly and Simone Dohle and {M. Douglas}, Karen and Dmitrii Dubrov and Malgorzata Dzimi{\'n}ska and {K. H. Ecker}, Ullrich and {T. Elbaek}, Christian and Mahmoud Elsherif and Benjamin Enke and Matthew Facciani and Antoinette Fage-Butler and Faisal, {Md. Zaki} and Xiaoli Fan and Christina Farhart and Christoph Feldhaus and Marinus Ferreira and Stefan Feuerriegel and Helen Fischer and Jana Freundt and Malte Friese and Albina Gallyamova and {E. Garrido V{\'a}squez}, Mauricio and Patricia Garrido-V{\'a}squez and Olivier Genschow and Omid Ghasemi and Theofilos Gkinopoulos and {L. Gloor}, Jamie and Ellen Goddard and {Gonz{\'a}lez Brambila}, Claudia and Hazel Gordon and Dmitry Grigoryev and Lars Guenther and Dana Harari and Przemys{\l}aw Hensel and Hern{\'a}ndez-Mondrag{\'o}n, {Alma Cristal} and Atar Herziger and Guanxiong Huang and Markus Huff and Mair{\'e}ad Hurley and Nygmet Ibadildin and {Tarikul Islam}, Mohammad and Younes Jeddi and Tao Jin and {A. Jones}, Charlotte and Sebastian Jungkunz and Dominika Jurgiel and Sarah Kavassalis and {R. Kerr}, John and Mariana Kitsa and {Klab{\'i}kov{\'a} R{\'a}bov{\'a}}, Tereza and Olivier Klein and {R. Pennington}, Charlotte and Reynolds, {James P.}",

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

year = "2025",

month = oct,

day = "21",

doi = "10.1177/10755470251376615",

language = "English",

journal = "Science Communication",

issn = "1075-5470",

publisher = "SAGE",

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T1 - Public Communication about Science in 68 Countries: Global Evidence on How People Encounter and Engage with Information about Science

AU - Mede, Niels G.

AU - Cologna, Viktoria

AU - Berger, Sebastian

AU - C. Besley, John

AU - Brick, Cameron

AU - Joubert, Marina

AU - W. Maibach, Edward

AU - Mihelj, Sabina

AU - Oreskes, Naomi

AU - S. Schäfer, Mike

AU - van der Linden, Sander

AU - Abdul Aziz, Nor Izzatina

AU - Abdulsalam, Suleiman

AU - Abu Shamsi, Nurulaini

AU - Aczel, Balazs

AU - Adinugroho, Indro

AU - Alabrese, Eleonora

AU - Aldoh, Alaa

AU - Alfano, Mark

AU - Mbulli Ali, Innocent

AU - Alsobay, Mohammed

AU - Altenmüller, Marlene

AU - Alvarez, R. Michael

AU - Ansah, Patrick

AU - Apriliawati, Denisa

AU - Azevedo, Flavio

AU - Bajrami, Ani

AU - Bardhan, Ronita

AU - Bati, Keagile

AU - Bertsou, Eri

AU - Bhui, Rahul

AU - Białobrzeska, Olga

AU - Bilewicz, Michal

AU - Bouguettaya, Ayoub

AU - Breeden, Katherine

AU - Bret, Amélie

AU - Buchel, Ondrej

AU - Cabrera Alvarez, Pablo

AU - Cagnoli, Federica

AU - Calero Valdez, André

AU - Callaghan, Timothy

AU - Kaye Cases, Rizza

AU - Czarnek, Gabriela

AU - Debnath, Ramit

AU - Delouvée, Sylvain

AU - Di Stefano, Lucia

AU - Diaz-Catalàn, Celia

AU - C. Doell, Kimberly

AU - Dohle, Simone

AU - M. Douglas, Karen

AU - Dubrov, Dmitrii

AU - Dzimińska, Malgorzata

AU - K. H. Ecker, Ullrich

AU - T. Elbaek, Christian

AU - Elsherif, Mahmoud

AU - Enke, Benjamin

AU - Facciani, Matthew

AU - Fage-Butler, Antoinette

AU - Faisal, Md. Zaki

AU - Fan, Xiaoli

AU - Farhart, Christina

AU - Feldhaus, Christoph

AU - Ferreira, Marinus

AU - Feuerriegel, Stefan

AU - Fischer, Helen

AU - Freundt, Jana

AU - Friese, Malte

AU - Gallyamova, Albina

AU - E. Garrido Vásquez, Mauricio

AU - Garrido-Vásquez, Patricia

AU - Genschow, Olivier

AU - Ghasemi, Omid

AU - Gkinopoulos, Theofilos

AU - L. Gloor, Jamie

AU - Goddard, Ellen

AU - González Brambila, Claudia

AU - Gordon, Hazel

AU - Grigoryev, Dmitry

AU - Guenther, Lars

AU - Harari, Dana

AU - Hensel, Przemysław

AU - Hernández-Mondragón, Alma Cristal

AU - Herziger, Atar

AU - Huang, Guanxiong

AU - Huff, Markus

AU - Hurley, Mairéad

AU - Ibadildin, Nygmet

AU - Tarikul Islam, Mohammad

AU - Jeddi, Younes

AU - Jin, Tao

AU - A. Jones, Charlotte

AU - Jungkunz, Sebastian

AU - Jurgiel, Dominika

AU - Kavassalis, Sarah

AU - R. Kerr, John

AU - Kitsa, Mariana

AU - Klabíková Rábová, Tereza

AU - Klein, Olivier

AU - R. Pennington, Charlotte

AU - Reynolds, James P.

N1 - (c) Authors 2025, published with a CC BY (Attribution) licence

PY - 2025/10/21

Y1 - 2025/10/21

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

UR - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10755470251376615

U2 - 10.1177/10755470251376615

DO - 10.1177/10755470251376615

M3 - Article

SN - 1075-5470

JO - Science Communication

JF - Science Communication

ER -

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

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Access Statement

Access to Document

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