Most Brazilians (68.9%) declare that they trust science very much or trust it. Although the percentage is not low, it is lower than what recent research indicates, such as the State of Science Index, prepared by 3M (USA) in 2022, which indicated a rate of 90% in the statement “I trust science”.

The figure is part of the Confidence in Science in Brazil in Times of Pandemic Study, conducted by the National Institute of Science and Technology in Public Communication of Science and Technology (INCT-CPCT), based in Casa de Oswaldo Cruz (COC / Fiocruz).

The work, released on December 12, was supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and the Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Research Support of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Faperj).

For the researchers, one factor that may have influenced the withdrawal points to organized disinformation campaigns, which have grown in quantity and impact during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they recommend caution when making comparisons of this kind, which may not be accurate “because of differences in the wording of the questions or in the calculation of the results”.

Among the sources of information that inspire confidence in Brazilian men and women, according to the survey, are scientists, whom the respondents identified as honest and responsible for work that benefits the population. The most common choices of respondents as reliable sources of information were physicians (60.1%), followed by scientists (47.3%), of whom 30.6% were universities or public research institutes and 16.7% were workers in companies and journalists (36.4%). He noted that “artists and politicians were cited less frequently, at 1.5% each”.

The percentage of respondents who mentioned an institution dedicated to scientific research in Brazil exceeded 25%. Among the most cited institutions are the Butantan Institute, Fiocruz, and the University of the South Pacific.