White House Issues ‘Restoring Gold Standard Science’ Executive Order
White House Issues ‘Restoring Gold Standard Science’ Executive Order
In a sweeping new executive order, President Trump has directed federal agencies to review and reform their use of scientific information by adhering to rigorous principles of transparency, reproducibility, and objectivity. Titled “Restoring Gold Standard Science,” the order is positioned as a corrective to what the Administration calls a crisis of public trust in science and scientific policymaking. The order mandates changes across all federal agencies that produce or rely upon scientific and technical data and rolls back scientific transparency and integrity policies introduced under the Biden-Harris administration.
The executive order lays out a vision for what qualifies as “Gold Standard Science,” emphasizing practices such as: (i) reproducibility; (ii) transparency; (iii) communicative of error and uncertainty; (iv) collaborative and interdisciplinary; (v) skeptical of its findings and assumptions; (vi) structured for falsifiability of hypotheses; (vii) subject to unbiased peer review; (viii) accepting of negative results as positive outcomes; and (ix) without conflicts of interest. The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is tasked with issuing implementation guidance within 30 days, which agencies must then incorporate into updated scientific integrity policies.
In a notable reversal, the order suspends and revokes the January 2021 Presidential Memorandum titled “Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking.” Until new guidelines are issued, federal agencies must operate under the scientific integrity policies that were in place as of January 19, 2021. The order directs agency heads to rescind any conflicting organizational changes, diversity-oriented initiatives, or scientific integrity policies adopted between January 2021 and January 2025.
Read the full E.O. at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/restoring-gold-standard-science/
The executive order lays out a vision for what qualifies as “Gold Standard Science,” emphasizing practices such as: (i) reproducibility; (ii) transparency; (iii) communicative of error and uncertainty; (iv) collaborative and interdisciplinary; (v) skeptical of its findings and assumptions; (vi) structured for falsifiability of hypotheses; (vii) subject to unbiased peer review; (viii) accepting of negative results as positive outcomes; and (ix) without conflicts of interest. The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is tasked with issuing implementation guidance within 30 days, which agencies must then incorporate into updated scientific integrity policies.
In a notable reversal, the order suspends and revokes the January 2021 Presidential Memorandum titled “Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking.” Until new guidelines are issued, federal agencies must operate under the scientific integrity policies that were in place as of January 19, 2021. The order directs agency heads to rescind any conflicting organizational changes, diversity-oriented initiatives, or scientific integrity policies adopted between January 2021 and January 2025.
Read the full E.O. at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/restoring-gold-standard-science/
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