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

Niels G. Mede, Viktoria Cologna, Sebastian Berger, John C. Besley, Cameron A. Brick, Marina Joubert, Edward Wile Maibach, Sabina Mihelj, Наоми Орескес, Mike Steffen Schäfer

90 more authors

Sander van der Linden, Nor Izzatina Abdul Aziz, Suleiman Abdulsalam, Nurulaini Abu Shamsi, Balázs Aczél, Indro Adinugroho, Eleonora Alabrese, Alaa Aldoh, Mark Alfano, Innocent Mbulli Ali, Mohammed Alsobay, Marlene Sophie Altenmüller, R. Michael Alvarez, Patrick Ansah, Denisa Apriliawati, Flávio Azevedo, Ani Bajrami, Ronita Bardhan, Keagile Bati, Eri Bertsou, Rahul Bhui, Olga Białobrzeska, Michał Bilewicz, Ayoub Bouguettaya, Katherine Breeden, Amélie Bret, Ondrej Buchel, Pablo Cabrera Alvarez, Federica Cagnoli, André Sergej Calero Valdez, Timothy Callaghan, Rizza Kaye Cases, Gabriela Czarnek, Ramit Debnath, Sylvain Delouvée, Lucia Di Stefano, Celia Díaz‐Catalán, Kimberly C Doell, Simone Dohle, Karen M. Douglas, Dmitrii I. Dubrov, Małgorzata Dzimińska, Ullrich K. H. Ecker, Christian T. Elbaek, Mahmoud Medhat Elsherif, Benjamin Enke, Matthew Facciani, Antoinette Mary Fage-Butler, Md. Zaki Faisal, Xiaoli Fan, Christina E. Farhart, Christoph Feldhaus, Marinus Ferreira, Stefan Feuerriegel, Helen Fischer, Jana Freundt, Malte Friese, Albina Alikovna Gallyamova, Mauricio E. Garrido Vásquez, Patricia Garrido‐Vásquez, Oliver Genschow, Omid Ghasemi, Theofilos Gkinopoulos, Jamie L. Peterson Gloor, Ellen W. Goddard, Claudia N. González-Brambila, Hazel Gordon, Dmitry Sergeevich Grigoryev, Lars Guenther, Dana Harari, Przemysław G. Hensel, Alma Cristal Hernández‐Mondragón, Atar Herziger, Guanxiong Huang, Markus Huff, Mairéad Hurley, Nygmet Ibadildin, Mohammad Tarikul Islam, Younes Jeddi, Tao Jin, Charlotte A. Jones, Sebastian Jungkunz, Dominika Jurgiel, Sarah C. Kavassalis, John Richard Kerr, Mariana Kitsa, Tereza Klabíková Rábová, Olivier Klein, Hoyoun Koh, Aki Koivula

2025

Full text Open access: Hybrid Metadata (CSL-JSON)
DOI 10.1177/10755470251376615
Data confidence 70 medium
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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.