White House science office pushes integrity upgrade

Presidential policy advisers propose protections for federal scientists’ “ability to freely voice legitimate disagreement”

Government advisers in the United States have called for federal science integrity policies to be strengthened with five additional principles, including on the fraught topics of researchers’ ability to speak to the media and get involved in policymaking.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy outlined the need to shore up existing policies in a major report released this week. While federal agencies’ science is “generally sound”, OSTP deputy directors Alondra Nelson and Jane Lubchenco say that “there have been lapses that could undermine public trust in science and jeopardise federal scientists’ and technologists’ morale and motivation to innovate”.