Scientific evidence regularly guides policy decisions1, with behavioural science increasingly part of this process2. In April 2020, an influential paper3 proposed 19 policy recommendations ('claims') detailing how evidence from behavioural science could contribute to efforts to reduce impacts and end the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we assess 747 pandemic-related research articles that empirically investigated those claims. We report the scale of evidence and whether evidence supports them to indicate applicability for policymaking. Two independent teams, involving 72 reviewers, found evidence for 18 of 19 claims, with both teams finding evidence supporting 16 (89%) of those 18 claims. The strongest evidence supported claims that anticipated culture, polarization and misinformation would be associated with policy effectiveness. Claims suggesting trusted leaders and positive social norms increased adherence to behavioural interventions also had strong empirical support, as did appealing to social consensus or bipartisan agreement. Targeted language in messaging yielded mixed effects and there were no effects for highlighting individual benefits or protecting others. No available evidence existed to assess any distinct differences in effects between using the terms 'physical distancing' and 'social distancing'. Analysis of 463 papers containing data showed generally large samples; 418 involved human participants with a mean of 16,848 (median of 1,699). That statistical power underscored improved suitability of behavioural science research for informing policy decisions. Furthermore, by implementing a standardized approach to evidence selection and synthesis, we amplify broader implications for advancing scientific evidence in policy formulation and prioritization.

274th ASOS US Air Force New York Air National Guard Syracuse NY United States

Center for Adaptive Rationality Max Planck Institute for Human Development Berlin Germany

Center for Science Communication Research School of Journalism and Communication University of Oregon Eugene OR USA

Center for Social Norms and Behavioral Dynamics University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia PA USA

Centre for Applied Epistemology Educational Research Institute Ljubljana Slovenia

CESifo Munich Germany

Charles University Prague Czech Republic

City University of London London UK

Computation and Neural Systems Program California Institute of Technology Pasadena CA USA

Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas Buenos Aires Argentina

Cornell University Ithaca NY USA

Cowry Consulting London UK

Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics University of Maryland College Park MD USA

Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology Faculty of Psychology University of Vienna Vienna Austria

Department of Experimental Psychology University of Oxford Oxford UK

Department of General Experimental Developmental and Health Psychology Sofia University St Kliment Ohridski Sofia Bulgaria

Department of Health Policy and Management Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health New York City NY USA

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences California Institute of Technology Pasadena CA USA

Department of Politics and Center for Social Media and Politics New York University New York NY USA

Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science London School of Economics London UK

Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science New York University New York NY USA

Department of Psychology and Laboratory for Research of Individual Differences Faculty of Philosophy University of Belgrade Belgrade Serbia

Department of Psychology Carleton University Ottawa Ontario Canada

Department of Psychology Faculty of Arts University of Ljubljana Ljubljana Slovenia

Department of Psychology Humboldt University of Berlin Berlin Germany

Department of Psychology Loyola University Chicago Chicago IL USA

Department of Psychology Northwestern University Evanston IL USA

Department of Psychology Ohio State University Columbus OH USA

Department of Psychology Stanford University Stanford CA USA

Department of Psychology The Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR China

Department of Psychology University of British Columbia Vancouver British Columbia Canada

Department of Psychology University of Cambridge Cambridge UK

Department of Psychology University of Cologne Cologne Germany

Department of Psychology University of Zurich Zurich Switzerland

Department of Psychology York University Toronto Ontario Canada

Department of Social Policy and Evaluation University of Oxford Oxford UK

Department of Sociology Stanford University Stanford CA USA

Duke Kunshan University Kunshan China

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

Escuela de Negocios Universidad Torcuato Di Tella Buenos Aires Argentina

Faculty of Arts and Science Kyushu University Fukuoka Japan

Global Faculty Social and Economic Behavior University of Cologne Cologne Germany

Gordon Institute of Business Science University of Pretoria Johannesburg South Africa

Haas School of Business University of California Berkeley Berkeley CA USA

Harvard University Cambridge MA USA

Institute for Brain and Behavior Amsterdam Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Amsterdam Netherlands

Institute of Psychology Faculty of Philosophy University of Belgrade Belgrade Serbia

Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development University of Zurich Zurich Switzerland

Junior Researcher Programme Cambridge UK

Kellogg School of Management Northwestern University Evanston IL USA

Laboratorio de Neurociencia Universidad Torcuato Di Tella Buenos Aires Argentina

Lehigh University Bethlehem PA USA

Mackenzie Presbyterian University São Paulo Brazil

Mannheim Centre for European Social Research University of Mannheim Mannheim Germany

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge MA USA

MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit University of Cambridge Cambridge UK

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

National University of Singapore Singapore Singapore

Northwestern University Evanston IL USA

Organisation for Economic Co operation and Development Paris France

Policy Research Group Centre for Business Research Judge Business School University of Cambridge Cambridge UK

Psychology Department Faculty of Health and Life Sciences University of Exeter Exeter UK

Psychology Department University of Oregon Eugene OR USA

Rotman Research Institute Baycrest Academy for Research and Education Toronto Ontario Canada

Stanford University Stanford CA USA

Sungkyunkwan University Seoul Republic of Korea

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia PA USA

The World Bank Washington DC USA

Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience Trinity College Dublin Dublin Ireland

University College Dublin Dublin Ireland

University College Oxford UK

University of Amsterdam Amsterdam Netherlands

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

University of Chicago Chicago IL USA

University of Groningen Groningen Netherlands

University of Illinois Chicago Chicago IL USA

University of Kent Canterbury UK

University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI USA

University of Milan Bicocca Milan Italy

University of Oxford Oxford UK

University of Queensland St Lucia Queensland Australia

University of Tehran Tehran Iran

University of Texas at Austin Austin TX USA

Utrecht University Utrecht Netherlands

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