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.

2i Programme of ICT Division and UNDP Bangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

Behavior in Crisis Lab Institute of Psychology Jagiellonian University Cracow Poland

Cambridge Zero University of Cambridge Cambridge UK

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

Center for Social and Cultural Psychology Université Libre de Bruxelles Brussels Belgium

Center for Sociocultural Research HSE University Moscow Russia

Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation University of Bergen Bergen Norway

Centre for Climate Change Communication George Mason University Fairfax VA USA

Centre for Language Studies Radboud University Nijmegen Nijmegen the Netherlands

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

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

Centre for the Politics of Feelings University of London London UK

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

Communication Arts Programme Bowen University Iwo Nigeria

Computer Science Department Harvey Mudd College Claremont CA USA

Departamento de Psicología Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia La Molina Peru

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

Department of Advertising Public Relations Michigan State University East Lansing MI USA

Department of Architecture University of Cambridge Cambridge UK

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology University of Buea Buea Cameroon

Department of Biochemistry Faculty of Science University of Dschang Dschang Cameroon

Department of Biomedical Sciences University of Botswana Gaborone Botswana

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

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

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

Department of Clinical Neuroscience Karolinska Institutet Stockholm Sweden

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

Department of Cognitive Psychology Universität Hamburg Hamburg Germany

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

Department of Communication and Media Research University of Zurich Zurich Switzerland

Department of Communication George Mason University Fairfax VA USA

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

Department of Communication University of Muenster Münster Germany

Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of Notre Dame Notre Dame IN USA

Department of Economics Harvard University Cambridge MA USA

Department of Economics University of Bath Bath UK

Department of Economics University of Birmingham Birmingham UK

Department of Environmental Systems Science ETH Zurich Zurich Switzerland

Department of Geography University of Bergen Bergen Norway

Department of Government and Politics Jahangirnagar University Dhaka Bangladesh

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

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

Department of Information Science and Media Studies University of Bergen Bergen Norway

Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science University of Utrecht Utrecht the Netherlands

Department of International and Political Sciences University of Genoa Genoa Italy

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

Department of Labor and Social Policy University of Lodz Lodz Poland

Department of Management Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark

Department of Management and Supply Chain Studies Nkumba University Entebbe Uganda

Department of Management University of Adger Kristiansand Norway

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

Department of Media and Communication LMU Munich Munich Germany

Department of Nutritional Sciences University of Vienna Vienna Austria

Department of Philosophy Macquarie University Sydney New South Wales Australia

Department of Physics Egerton University Egerton Kenya

Department of Political Science Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark

Department of Political Science and Annenberg School for Communication University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia PA USA

Department of Political Science and International Relations Carleton College Northfield MN USA

Department of Political Science and International Relations KIMEP University Almaty Kazakhstan

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

Department of Political Science and International Relations University of Delaware Newark DE USA

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

Department of Psychological Science Pomona College Claremont CA USA

Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Boston College Chestnut Hill MA USA

Department of Psychology and Psychotherapy Witten Herdecke University Witten Germany

Department of Psychology Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen Tübingen Germany

Department of Psychology Education and Child Studies Erasmus University Rotterdam Rotterdam the Netherlands

Department of Psychology Erzurum Technical University Erzurum Turkey

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

Department of Psychology KU Leuven Leuven Belgium

Department of Psychology Ludwig Maximilians Universität München Munich Germany

Department of Psychology Nantes Université LPPL Nantes France

Department of Psychology New York University New York NY USA

Department of Psychology Royal Holloway University of London Egham UK

Department of Psychology Saarland University Saarbrücken Germany

Department of Psychology Universidad de Concepción Concepción Chile

Department of Psychology Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta Indonesia

Department of Psychology University of Amsterdam Amsterdam the Netherlands

Department of Psychology University of Cambridge Cambridge UK

Department of Psychology University of Crete Rethymno Greece

Department of Psychology University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN USA

Department of Psychology University of the Philippines Diliman Quezon City Philippines

Department of Psychology University of Victoria Victoria British Columbia Canada

Department of Psychology Ural Federal University Yekaterinburg Russia

Department of Public Health University of Otago Wellington New Zealand

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

Department of Science and Technology Studies Faculty of Science Universiti Malaya Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

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

Department of Social Research University of Turku Turku Finland

Department of Social Sciences University of Hamburg Hamburg Germany

Department of Sociology University of the Philippines Diliman Quezon City Philippines

Department of the History of Science Harvard University Cambridge MA USA

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

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

ELTE Institute of Psychology Eotvos Lorand University Budapest Hungary

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

Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences University of Groningen Groningen the Netherlands

Faculty of Data and Decision Sciences Technion Israel Institute of Technology Haifa Israel

Faculty of Health Sciences University of Bristol Bristol UK

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Trinity Western University Langley British Columbia Canada

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

Faculty of Management and Economics Ruhr University Bochum Bochum Germany

Faculty of Management University of Warsaw Warsaw Poland

Faculty of Philosophy and Social Science Nicolaus Copernicus University Toruń Poland

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

Faculty of Political Science and Economics Waseda University Tokyo Japan

Faculty of Psychology Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia Jakarta Indonesia

Faculty of Psychology University of Warsaw Warsaw Poland

Faculty of Technology and Bionics Rhine Waal University Kleve Germany

Graduate Institute of Journalism National Taiwan University Taipei Taiwan

Harding Center for Risk Literacy University of Potsdam Potsdam Germany

Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center Harvard University Cambridge MA USA

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

Independent Researcher Cairo Egypt

Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement University Grenoble Alpes CNRS IRD Grenoble INP Grenoble France

Institut Jean Nicod Département d'études cognitives ENS EHESS PSL University CNRS Paris France

Institut Langage et Communication University of Louvain Louvain la Neuve Belgium

Institute for Data Systems and Society Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge MA USA

Institute for Management and Organization Leuphana University Lueneburg Germany

Institute for Planetary Health Behaviour University of Erfurt Erfurt Germany

Institute for Sociology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences Bratislava Slovakia

Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism Charles University Prague Czech Republic

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

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

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

Institute of Medical Psychology University of Tübingen Tübingen Germany

Institute of Multimedia and Interactive Systems University of Lübeck Lübeck Germany

Institute of Political Science and Sociology University of Bonn Bonn Germany

Institute of Political Science University of Bamberg Bamberg Germany

Institute of Political Science University of St Gallen St Gallen Switzerland

Institute of Psychology Nicolaus Copernicus University Toruń Poland

Institute of Psychology SWPS University Warsaw Poland

Institute of Psychology University of Silesia in Katowice Katowice Poland

Institute of Sociology University Bern Bern Switzerland

Laboratoire Parisien de Psychologie Sociale Université Paris Nanterre Nanterre France

Laboratory for Research of Individual Differences University of Belgrade Belgrade Serbia

Leibniz Institut für Wissensmedien Tübingen Germany

Leibniz Institute for Psychology Trier Germany

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

LMU Munich School of Management LMU Munich Munich Germany

LP3C Université Rennes 2 Rennes France

Max Planck Institute for Human Development Berlin Germany

Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change University of Melbourne Melbourne Victoria Australia

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

Museum of Natural Sciences 'Sabiha Kasimati' University of Tirana Tirana Albania

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

Network for Economic and Social Trends Western University London Ontario Canada

Network Science Institute Northeastern University Boston MA USA

NOVA Institute of Communication NOVA University of Lisbon Lisbon Portugal

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

Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia PA USA

Psychology Department TED University Ankara Turkey

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

School of Arts Media and Communiation UCLan Cyprus Pyla Cyprus

School of Collective Intelligence Mohammed 6 Polytechnic University Ben Guerir Morocco

School of Communication and Culture Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark

School of Economics and Management Tongji University Shanghai China

School of Education Trinity College Dublin Dublin Ireland

School of Environment Tsinghua University Beijing China

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

School of Medicine and Psychology Australian National University Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia

School of Politics and International Relations Australian National University Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia

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

School of Psychological Science and Public Policy Institute University of Western Australia Perth Western Australia Australia

School of Psychology and Public Health La Trobe University Melbourne Victoria Australia

School of Psychology Aston University Birmingham UK

School of Psychology University of Birmingham Birmingham UK

School of Psychology University of Kent Canterbury UK

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

School of Psychology University of Sheffield Sheffield UK

School of Psychology University of Sussex Falmer UK

School of Psychology Victoria University of Wellington Wellington New Zealand

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

Science Studies Laboratory University of Warsaw Warsaw Poland

Sloan School of Management Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge MA USA

Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory Mackenzie Presbyterian University São Paulo Brazil

Sociology Department Vrije Universiteit Brussel Brussels Belgium

TRANSOC Complutense University of Madrid Madrid Spain

Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics University of Oxford Oxford UK

UNSW Institute for Climate Risk and Response University of New South Wales Sydney New South Wales Australia

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Perceptions of science, science communication, and climate change attitudes in 68 countries - the TISP dataset