Recommended Practices for Science Communication with Policymakers

This guide grows out of the research project “Evidence-based Science Communication with Policymakers” conducted by the four authors and sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences and the Rita Allen Foundation. In order to write these recommendations, we spent over a year studying science communication with policymakers from several vantage points. We reviewed hundreds of scholarly works on the topic published in over a dozen fields as well as numerous practical guides written by scientific societies. We interviewed both Democratic and Republican Congressional policymakers, including 22 Members of Congress and 20 staff members. We also conducted a random-sample survey of over 600 scientist members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). In our interviews and survey, we asked individuals to tell us, in their experience, what science communication practices are most, and least, effective. The recommendations in this guide represent our efforts to distill this research into one brief, useful document. Because our interviews and prior expertise focus on the U.S. Congress, this guide is most relevant to interactions with that body. However, we believe our advice is applicable, with some modifications, to other policymakers as well.