A new report shows scientists and researchers have growing concerns about the rise of misinformation during the pandemic and the growing role they have in helping counter false information on social media.

“Over the past two years, we have all witnessed the very public debates on the latest COVID-19 research and who and what to trust and believe,” said Ann Gabriel, U.S. confidence in research lead and senior vice president of global strategic networks at Elsevier, in a statement.

“Something very apparent in our study with Economist Impact was that in addition to their regular research activities, researchers now also work increasingly to combat false and misleading information as well as online abuse, and they want support to do so," she said.

The global report from Elsevier, reported first on Yahoo Finance, was conducted between December 2021 and August 2022, surveying more than 3,100 researchers, including 290 in the U.S.

It showed that 79% of researchers in the U.S. feel the pandemic increased the importance of science, while 51% feel the pandemic has shown the need to make science information available more quickly — as with the non-peer reviewed studies during the vaccine clinical trials.

It's why top science journals like The Lancet are starting to have peer reviews for preprints, adding another layer of quality checking to the data coming out quickly, according to Anne Kitson, SVP and managing director at publication.

But more context needs to follow the preprints in order to have a more informed debate in the public square.

"Although the public had a thirst and a hunger for science, that didn't necessarily show understanding," Kitson said of the pandemic learnings.

"So what we learned from that was that research is needed to think more carefully about how they communicate their research in context," she said.

The report amplified a debate that was taking place pre-pandemic on the role of scientists in battling misinformation and their use of social media, according to Elsevier spokesperson Esra Erkal.

About 27% of U.S. researchers felt it was their role to publicly counter false information, contrasted by only 13% feeling confident about communicating their research. And even if they are confident, the vitriol that has taken hold on social media platforms is another hurdle to properly communicate science.

Forty-four percent of researchers said they themselves or someone they knew experienced some type of abuse or acrimonious interaction online.

Kitson said that because the pandemic was unfolding in real time, the debates became very robust, but that sense of urgency has waned a bit now.

"I think it was simply the crisis of the moment that caused that intensity of communication, but also it is true that there was so much at stake in terms of reputations," she said.

Added to which there was a layer of geopolitics. The U.S. researchers were more likely to report a hostile online environment compared to their counterparts in the U.K., The Netherlands, Germany, Japan and China, according to the report.

It's why The Lancet and other organizations and academic institutions will now have to think more proactively about their approach to social media, Kitson said.

Especially since researchers are used to a slower communication process — and like to stick to the facts and the data, rather than extrapolate and engage in more general discussion publicly.

Researchers are "very confident about communicating about their research. I think where they worry is very much about the dimension of talking on social media," Kitson said.

"We can certainly give them much more training than we have done."

Follow Anjalee on Twitter @AnjKhem

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