Trust Within Science: Dynamics and Norms of Knowledge Production

In this paper, the issue of re-establishing trust between science and society, which is the focus of the ALLEA Working Group Truth, Trust and Expertise (TTE), is tackled through a closer look at trust-enhancing practices within scientific research. As the conceptual analysis developed in Discussion Paper #1 reveals, trust means “deferring with comfort and confidence to others, about something beyond our knowledge or power, in ways that can potentially hurt us.”

The ways in which science is produced are thus extremely relevant to establish and re-establish trust in science, at least for two reasons: (1) Trust within scientific research encourages the comfort and confidence among researchers needed to share results and rely on each other’s work and methods; (2) Trust in the practice and production of science is socially relevant for resolving public controversies and enhancing a comfortable general acceptance of scientific results.